Moving Company from California to Colorado
Question:
Alex Moving and Storage (Santa Ana, CA) [North American] All-Ways Moving and Storage (Laguna Hills, CA) [Mayflower] Schick Moving and Storage (Tustin, CA) [Allied] Thank you in advance for any information you can provide.
Answer:
I used several movers and found that they are all pretty much alike. It
all depends on the ability of the guy who does the loading to make
certain it is tightly packed into the truck such that it does not move
around a lot.
I made the LA to Colorado move many years ago. If your stuff is going
into storage once it gets to Colorado you might want to specify items
that you might want to access. We traveled in the late fall and did not
know when we would have a house so we asked that our winter clothes be
put in boxes that we could get at when in storage. Since we did not get
into a house until mid December (temperature that night was -18 degrees)
we were thankful we were able to retreive that stuff.
I just wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to respond to my
request! You have given me some very useful information, especially
regarding the marking of boxes. My mind was also set at rest by the idea
that the 'better' drivers are more common at this time of year.
In case you are interested, I think we will go with North American. All the
quotes were around $3200-$3300 (for an estimated weight of 9000 lbs) and we
were told by the NA rep that the figure could be less, but not more. He also
provided us with the most comprehensive packet of information, including
several publications which I believe they are supposed to give us by law. I
have found many references to the local company on the web, but nothing bad.
They also use only their own employed staff to do the moving. Having seen my
neighbor's car partially trashed by the 'competition' at our local day
laborer's site, that also set my mind at ease! The rep used to be a driver
himself and my gut instinct tells me he knows what he is talking about.
With regard to the other advice, which was also very much appreciated, we
will be doing all our own packing and taking the most valuable items with us
in the car. We are moving into a new house and need to be there a couple of
days before we close, to do the final walkthrough. So, we will have the
basics with us. I also intend to back up all my PCs to a 60GB hard drive I
use for video editing, since both my wife and I depend on the computers for
our living. I have read horror stories where computers were 'lost' in
transit! I already checked with my insurance agent and we are covered for
the move as if our belongings were in our house, so there is no need to take
the mover's insurance.
Be aware you will if you put your stuff in storage be dealing with 3
different companies.
1 that packs your stuff.
the driver who is an independent contractor and if stored the local company
that delivers your goods!
That said the important thing is to make sure of the condition of items is
marked properly. I moved from Mass to Ca years ago and had several pieces
of furniture reupholstered and refinished. The went from the delivery guys
truck to the moving van and they tried to mark the stuff as soiled /stained/
scratched!
Just watch them marking and loading the stuff.
Don't have them move anything you can't afford to lose like pictures
computers policies etc..
I if they are going to move your car see if it is going in the van or by car
carrier.
In the van make sure the deck they put above the car is done right had a
dent in my hood due to dropped decking!
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