Moving from San Antonio to NY/NJ area in a couple of months. Any suggestions for moving companies? Opinions on self-pack vs. full service? Any help is greatly appreciated!

UHaul will screw you no matter what. We purchased emergency services from them and all we could get when our trailer started trying to kill us 10 miles out of B/CS was:
"Please hold. We are trying to assist families stranded on the side of the road." and "Why don't you call back tomorrow."

Apparently, MY family stranded on the side of the road wasn't important.

There have also been a lot of stories (at least in LA papers) about how their maintenance and renting policies have lead to a lot of accidents and some deaths.

They are definitely the cheapest option, but if you can afford any of the others, I would certainly pick something else.

when we moved to denver, we rented a truck from budget (similar prices to u-haul, but much better reviews), loaded it ourselves, then drove up, and hired 2 workers to unload once we arrived. hiring the guys was well worth the money, as they unloaded in 2 hours what it took us 2 days to load.

i had a friend a few years ago that used www.upack.com to move from houston to philly...and that sounded pretty cool (and affordable compared to just hiring movers). basically, you pack your own stuff in the boxes and materials that they supply, then they show up with a truck and load it all up, drive it up for you, and unload at the new address.

we used penske trucks to move from Texas to Kentucky, and then back from KEntucky to Texas. they were the cheapest (we checked uhaul and budget). the truck was well maintained and it was a smooth ride. moving sucks. if you can afford to pay someone to move your stuff for you, i'd recommend that. moving sucks.

quote:

---

if you can afford to pay someone to move your stuff for you, i'd recommend that

---

This is a great idea as long as you don't have nice stuff or don't care how people treat it.

Used upack from Kansas to NC and it went real smooth, and was the cheapest thing out there when I did it. No problems with them at all, even got some of my money back cause I did not use all the space.

quote:

---

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
if you can afford to pay someone to move your stuff for you, i'd recommend that
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



This is a great idea as long as you don't have nice stuff or don't care how people treat it.

---

Not true. Real moving companies like Allied, United, New World, etc. do an excellent job and move nice stuff all the time. If they damage it, they replace it. The chances of them damaging it is probably slimmer than the chances of you and your buddies you bribed with beer and food messing something up.

I use real movers now... since when I relocate it is due to work. When I was in college, I used Budget. Nicer than u-haul and cheaper.

I think that paying someone to atleast load, drive and unload is worth it.

A guy at work was moving across town and someone was asking if he was hiring movers or getting friends to help him. He said that once you hit a certain age, if you can't afford movers, geography isn't your problem ;-).

quote:

---

moving companies like Allied, United, New World, etc. do an excellent job and move nice stuff all the time.

---

Very true. I grew up in a military family moving every few years and those were some bad moves (government contracted). I moved from Texas to Florida 3 years ago and my company used Allied and they did a fantastic job. There were some minor damages and a few small things came up missing, but once everything was inventoried (the movers on this end did a great job of letting me know exactly what was missing) and damages were assessed, I had a check FedEx'd to me that very week.

Jock,
Just moved the wife, myself and two young kids from DFW to Delaware two weeks ago. We looked into online movers, the big ones, do-it-yourselfers like u-haul, budget, etc.

Depending on your situation (size of home, timeframe for move, availability to pack, etc) i would suggest a big company for peace of mind. We went with United via Mayflower but saved some money packing ourselves. They basically came in, loaded everything and met us 5 days later in Delaware to unload it.

I researched and found that the online movers have great prices but will typically tack on serious money the day of the scheduled move in a sort of "got you by the short and curlies" because you need to move...you get my point.

In my opinion, that long a haul, the last thing you want to do when you arrive is unload.

good luck, god-speed and Gig'em!

Jock,
Just moved the wife, myself and two young kids from DFW to Delaware two weeks ago. We looked into online movers, the big ones, do-it-yourselfers like u-haul, budget, etc.

Depending on your situation (size of home, timeframe for move, availability to pack, etc) i would suggest a big company for peace of mind. We went with United via Mayflower but saved some money packing ourselves. They basically came in, loaded everything and met us 5 days later in Delaware to unload it.

I researched and found that the online movers have great prices but will typically tack on serious money the day of the scheduled move in a sort of "got you by the short and curlies" because you need to move...you get my point.

In my opinion, that long a haul, the last thing you want to do when you arrive is unload.

good luck, god-speed and Gig'em!

sorry, AK, not Jock.

quote:

---

Not true. Real moving companies like Allied, United, New World, etc. do an excellent job and move nice stuff all the time. If they damage it, they replace it. The chances of them damaging it is probably slimmer than the chances of you and your buddies you bribed with beer and food messing something up.

---

It doesn't work quite this easily when Uncle Sam is moving you.

I've moved from Oregon to Texas, Texas to Florida and now upcoming Florida to Cali. We've used Penske and Budget so far, they are both fine for doing it all yourself, don't use UHaul.

I'm looking at things like UPack for this upcoming move, hoping to just drive the cars ourselves. Costs seem decent so far, if anyone has suggestions on these type of companies I'd love to hear info. I think I'm leaning toward a pack a bin type move instead of partial use of a truck because I think we get it quicker that way.