Give your friends and family a break: Hire the best professional movers with these tips

A question Twin Cities Consumers’ Checkbook members often ask when rating moving companies: “Where did they find these guys?!”

Sometimes, it’s in appreciation of staff who showed up on time, worked fast, minimized breakage and charged reasonable rates. On the other hand, an alarming number of consumers find frustration with companies that arrived hours or days late, lost or broke possessions, reneged on promises and/or overcharged.

Finding the right company is the most important step to ensuring success with a move. Checkbook’s ratings of area moving companies will help you find a business that will do a good job. Through a special arrangement, Star Tribune readers can access Checkbook’s ratings of area moving companies for free through July 10 by visiting Checkbook.org/StarTribune/movers.

Think first about what services you need. You’ll save a lot of money by packing your own stuff. For a local move, you can save by transporting your own boxes and other small items, which account for a substantial amount of the weight and expense of a move. Then let a mover handle the piano, dressers and other hard-to-move items. Plan to move jewelry, framed art and other especially valuable belongings yourself.

Be sure to field prices from several companies. Estimates should detail what services the company will perform and include an inventory of items. Checkbook’s undercover shoppers collected prices for local and long-distance moves, finding dramatic company-to-company price differences for both. For example, prices quoted to move the contents of a four-bedroom house from Eden Prairie to Edina ranged from $1,500 or less to $3,780. And to move 10,000 pounds of goods 1,120 miles from Edina to Berkeley, Calif., Checkbook’s shoppers received prices ranging from $10,000 to more than $18,000.

For local moves, companies usually charge based on the number of workers and amount of time. Most companies, if asked, will offer estimates with caps, as in, you won’t pay more than the cap, and you’ll pay less if it takes less time than estimated. Checkbook strongly recommends you find an estimate with a cap. Otherwise the company might work slowly, and you’ll pay more than estimated. Also, without a binding price from each company, you lack a sound basis for comparing prices.

For long-distance moves, moving companies operate under a tariff system that calculates the cost of moves using weight and mileage, not hours. Company tariffs also stipulate special charges for packing and exceptional matters, such as storage, extra stops and waiting time.

However, a company’s specific tariff rate for a given move is somewhat irrelevant because it can still impose exceptions to its filed tariff rates. Usually, a company agrees to discount its tariff rate, or portions of its tariff rate, by a specified percentage. It might, for example, offer a 35% discount for the long-haul part of its charges and a 20% discount for packing.

As with local moves, you should acquire either binding estimates or estimates with a binding maximum for long-distance moves, too.

If you need storage services, or if your goods will be in storage while awaiting transfer during a long-distance move, solicit prices for it and obtain documents indicating where the storage is and the charges. If possible, inspect the storage facility. Also, secure proof insurance will cover your belongings against theft, fire and other risks while in storage because insurance for goods in transit won’t cover them during long-term storage.

During your move, be present and attentive during loading and unloading of your belongings. Make sure the moving company prepares an inventory of your belongings. Carefully read the bill of lading (moving contract) before you sign it. Once unloaded at your destination, check the condition of each item. Don’t sign the inventory or anything else without first noting any damage that has occurred. Signing a document that does not note damage will make it hard to collect for it later.

If you find damage after the movers leave, notify the company promptly, and keep the broken items and packing materials as you found them in the box so the mover’s claims representative can check them.

Finally, when shopping for a mover, beware of brokers. Do an internet search for “local movers” and many of the listings will be for brokers posing as local outfits. These middlemen usually do not operate any trucks or employ movers; they collect a deposit and sell your job to a moving company. Because the broker chooses the mover, you might be stuck with an inferior outfit. And because the broker typically collects its fee upfront, it might be uninterested in mediating disputes. Brokers also sometimes can’t find moving companies to handle jobs they’ve taken on, leaving customers scrambling.

Twin Cities Consumers’ Checkbook magazine and Checkbook.org is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help consumers find the best service and lowest prices. We are consumer-supported and take no money from the service providers we evaluate. Star Tribune readers can view Checkbook’s ratings of local movers free until July 10 at Checkbook.org/StarTribune/movers.