<p>After recoiling in horror at the cost of professional long distance moving, DH and I have decided to maybe try DIY moving. I’m sure there are pitfalls and expenses of which we are unaware, so please deliver us from our ignorance! (I’d ask my neighbors, but where I live a long distance move is when you move from one end of the neighborhood to the other, so they’re no help.)</p>
<p>Our new neighbors used PODs to come from Minn., to Wa.</p>
<p>[Portable</a> Moving Containers for Local and Long Distance Moves | PODS](<a href=“http://www.pods.com/Moving.aspx]Portable”>Portable Container Moving Services | Moving & Storage | PODS)</p>
<p>For shorter distances we have used UHaul, as it had the size of truck we needed. ( regular pickup)</p>
<p>Not sure how it would go for a whole house, but ex-H and I just finished packing a pod with one room’s worth of furniture and some miscellaneous stuff for D1 (bike, etc.). They deliver the pods you need, then drop them off at your new location. You pack and unpack them (not a small task, though). You can hire help for that packing and unpacking process; we just payed a neighborhood teenager $20 for an hour’s labor, but we were not moving our biggest stuff (eg, not the piano :)). We bought packing materials on the U-Haul website (relatively cheap compared to some other online sites, and free shipping). The pod company we used was ABF (cheaper than a lot of other pod companies we checked, about half the price of PODS).</p>
<p>If you go the pod route, making sure you have materials to tie down the stuff is important. We found some packages of bungy cords (misc lengths) were very useful, and sisal rope (not too thick so it could be run through the openings for tie down on the pods) were what we used. There is also something called mover’s stretch plastic wrap was great. Also used a lot of bubble wrap, and furniture protection pads (surprisingly cheap at U-Haul).</p>
<p>If I were moving a whole house, I would buy moving boxes all the same size. Easier to stack/secure, I think.</p>
<p>One thing about the pod was that ABF said we needed to supply a padlock/combo lock for the pod. When it arrived, we found we needed TWO locks for one pod (two doors to secure). A minor detail solved by a quick trip to the hardware store. So far that is the only thing that was a surprise.</p>
<p>You have to be there when they deliver the pod to your house, but you do NOT have to be there when they pick it up. I think someone needs to meet it on the other end, though. You can pay some extra to have the pods stored for a period of time as well.</p>
<p>One thing I have heard about U-Haul is that you don’t always get the size truck you think you are getting. Have heard stories of people having to take bigger trucks than they expected (which would make me nervous to drive).</p>
<p>Biggest advice is start purging belongings NOW regardless of how you move. Getting rid of stuff you don’t need to keep is the best thing you can do now to prepare for your move.</p>
<p>Uhaul are the cheapest. Often high mileage trucks in medicore cosmetic condition.</p>
<p>Penske are the nicest and companies rent them for business use. Considerably more expensive than Uhaul but nicer trucks.</p>
<p>No other experience.</p>
<p>We recently used an ABF pod to move our D across the country. She didn’t have a lot of stuff, so one of the small mini pods was enough. However, they have a bigger option, or you can use several small pods. (They delivered two for us, and we didn’t need the second one. There was no charge for the unused pod.) This was the easiest, smoothest move we’ve ever done. When we added up the cost of renting a truck and buying gas, the cost was about the same for the pod, AND we didn’t have to spend 3 days driving across the country.</p>
<p>Friend used UHaul to move from one community to another. She was charged 2 days for using the vehicle 25 hours, even though the guy she got the truck from said they would prorate if she was late in returning. He was just a nice worker & the guy behind the desk never smiled once. It did the job, but she also hired movers to move the big stuff–she moved A LOT from a 3 bedroom to a 2 bedroom + a storage room. </p>
<p>Purging as much as you can will be the best thing you can possibly do.</p>
<p>UHaul is a near monopoly, and as a result they have terrible service (and enormous profits.) UHaul’s “reservations” are really more like suggestions. Nothing is guaranteed, regardless of how far in advance you reserve a truck. </p>
<p>The majority of the UHaul dealers have a tiny number of trucks and aren’t certain when they’ll have what truck, so there’s a high probability that you won’t get the truck you wanted, or, worse, you won’t be able to get a truck at all. If this happens, they’ll send you to another location. That might be many miles away, and there’s no guarantee you’ll find a truck there either. So my only advice is to make sure you reserve a truck at a dealer with a huge number of trucks (drive there in advance to check.) Also, show up as early as possible - be the first in line when they open in the morning. At least if you’re first you give yourself a great chance of getting something.</p>
<p>Movingscam.com recommends Budget and Penske.
What tetrahedron described above about UHaul was what my D experienced at a Budget location.</p>
<p>In our last move, we shipped everything that wasn’t furnature via UPS (had to sell the furnature).</p>
<p>Uhal is pretty good though, have used them before.</p>
<p>If you get a price quote from uhaul you can usually go online chat or call penske and they’ll price match it or come up with something close enough - on my last move I tried that tip and they actually ended up being a bit cheaper as we had to make a 3rd (unanticipated) trip. </p>
<p>lol anyway, the truck was actually older than the uhauls in our area are (maybe 3 or 4 years old vs uhaul having 1 year old trucks?). Because the deck is higher, they’re also a bit more annoying to climb up onto when loading/unloading, unless you have a huge one that has a lift. </p>
<p>OTOH, U-haul trucks tend to be in awful shape, I guess the combination of poor maintenance and abusive customers really shows sometimes, I recall renting a truck for an in-town move a couple years ago that was made in the early 90s, and you had to turn the wheel a LOT to make it go one way or the other. </p>
<p>All I know is I’m happy to let a friend drive the truck now - it’s a lot less stressful for me lol.</p>
<p>Being a military family, we have moved more times than I can count- from local off base to on base moves and also cross country. These are the things we’ve learned: purge before you pack, you can never have too many boxes, paper or bubble wrap. Different size boxes are good because packing a truck is like playing Tetris. Penske is tons better than U-Haul in terms of truck reliability and customer service. PODS are also great because you can take your time unpacking.</p>
<p>If you are trying to save money on boxes, join freecycle. Its a great place to get moving boxes for free.</p>
<p>Oh! Don’t forget to keep the one box that has important papers out until the end or take it with you in the car…there’s nothing worse than realizing you can’t find the box that has birth certs, tax forms, etc because its ‘somewhere’ in the truck. Be sure to label it all over because one box looks like another.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>A zillion years ago, I was young, single and moving 1000 lbs about 1000 miles. I had a UHaul truck reserved and then for grins and giggles called a real mover. They were able to add my stuff to a larger load and it cost less to have them come and do all the work and all the driving that it did to rent the UHaul. And that was before gas, and before getting help to load the truck.</p>
<p>Your mileage will vary!</p>
<p>Thank you, everyone, this is exactly the info I am looking for. I had heard stories of Uhaul’s terrible condition/reservation snafus/customer service and their online price quote seemed so cheap I figured there had to something I was missing. Thank you also for the info on actual packing, I think I have been hesitant about PODS because I feared I wouldn’t pack it right and my stuff would get bashed to bits. Maybe I’ll reconsider that…</p>
<p>Our experience? We reserved a specific truck length but they didn’t have it when we arrived to pick it up. They gave us a much larger truck “at the same price.” They acted like they were doing us a favor, but the larger truck was much more difficult to drive and maneuver on the streets around OSU.</p>
<p>The unavailability of what you thought you’d reserved seems to be a common thread among all the different people I’ve spoken with about this. Lots to consider (while I’m steadily purging.)</p>
<p>Professional movers are worth every penny if you are moving an entire household. They pack your things, put them in the truck, drive the truck to your new house and unload the truck putting various boxes in whatever room you want them in. Unless you have a ready work force of young, strong people to haul your stuff on both ends, go with the professional movers :D.</p>
<p>U-Haul around here will guarantee truck size for out of state/one way moves. The problem is, do you know how big of a truck you will need and how good are you at organizing that space. U-Haul type moving is great when you are moving across town and can make several trips but not so much for long distance moves.</p>
<p>After moving myself last time in a 24 ft UHaul, I vowed to never do it myself again. It is a lot easier, and not that much more expensive, to call around and get 6 quotes for professionals who know what they are doing and have insurance in case your stuff gets broken. If it is not worth insuring, then it may not be worth moving. My brother moved himself from CA to TX in a Ryder truck. After breaking a table and ripping a couch, it would have been cheaper (and WAY easier) to have had it done for him.</p>
<p>As for the UHaul, my previous experience with manual transmissions was in an Audi - this was way different.</p>
<p>Maybe I’m letting my one (bad) experience with (allegedly) professional movers color my judgment.</p>
<p>We have moved several times using professional movers and one time had not so professional movers do the job. I would never use that branch again, but the rest have been good to excellent.</p>
<p>My H just moved our S1 this past spring. Budget was half the price of UHaul for the same amount of day and the same size truck. While the truck ran just fine, my H said the armrest was missing and the seats were very worn and uncomfortable. I asked him if he felt it was $100 a day worth of uncomfortable and he said “no.”</p>