There are so many moving companies out there that it’s hard to know who to choose. Unfortunately, I’ve had my fair share of bad experiences. Luckily, we learned with each sequential move. So, I can’t promise you a perfectly smooth move, but I can help you find a mover that will give you a decent move.
Ask for recommendations from your family, friends or realtor
The best thing you can do is get a recommendation from someone you know. You can trust your friend’s judgment whereas online reviews can be suspect. Crowd sourcing on Facebook is one of my favorite ways to get recommendations. People will tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly. Tip: even if your friend loved a moving company, you should still read reviews, check out their credentials, and speak to a couple other companies for comparison purposes.
Ask family and friends.
Find a mover through Move for Hunger
Move for Hunger is a non-profit organization that helps you donate the food you might leave behind when you move. It’s super easy. All you do is find a mover on the Move for Hunger website. The moving company will give you a Move for Hunger sticker or a Move for Hunger box. Then, you put aside your unopened, non-perishable food items. Your mover picks it up on moving day and delivers it to your local food bank. Just by picking up leftover food from moves and organizing food drives, Move for Hunger has donated almost 8 million pounds of food since 2009!
Move for Hunger works with over 700 moving companies in all 50 states and Canada, so you’re bound to find a mover in your area. Adam Lowy, Founder of Move for Hunger, assures us that these are solid moving companies. “All of our movers are vetted. They have to be BBB accredited or part of a van line or a moving association. We do say ‘no’ to a number of moving companies. That way we’re not promoting lousy moving companies.” So, you find a mover you like plus you get to help others.
Find a mover through the American Moving and Storage Association website
Another way to find a mover in your area is to do a quick search on the AMSA website. Type in your current zip code, your new zip code, the date of your move, and the size of your move. The American Moving and Storage Association (AMSA) requires all companies listed to go through a vetting process. This includes a background government screening as well as a screening with the Better Business Bureau.
Find a mover just to load or unload your truck through HireAHelper.com
If you don’t want to pay the cost of a full service move, you can find professionals to help you load and unload your truck. You pack up your things and drive your truck, but they’ll help you with the heavy lifting. HireAHelper calls this a HybridTM Move and it should save you some money. Alan Lopez of HireAHelper.com says that the process of finding help for a HybridTM Move is easy through their website, “Just by typing in your moving dates and zip code on our website, you can see every top mover in any area in order of review rating and price.”
Maybe you just need help moving the piano.
Double-check credentials with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association
If you are making an interstate move, the moving company must have a U.S. DOT number. You can search the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association’s website to see if the moving company has one. This site will also tell you the location of the company’s headquarters as well as contact information, registration status, and complaint and safety information. A quick search will help you see if the moving company is legit.
Look for complaints on the Better Business Bureau’s website
The Better Business Bureau is a good place to check out the moving company you’re considering hiring. If there are several unresolved complaints, consider booking a different mover. There are so many moving companies to choose from, so keep on looking until you find one with a good rating.
Look for complaints and reviews online.
Read reviews on Yelp
Before you ask for an estimate, check out the moving company on Yelp. All you need to do is type in their name and see what people have to say about them. Of course, stuff happens when you move and people like to complain about moving companies. If it’s a huge moving company, they’re likely to have a few complaints out there. Read through the positive and the negative reviews to get a good idea of what the company is like. Once you meet for an in-person estimate, you can get a better sense of whether it’s the right moving company for you.
Check out my Free Resources Page
To find a mover, I’ve made it easy for you. Just go to my Free Resources page and you’ll find everything you need to help you through your move. I do not endorse any moving company, truck rental company, portable storage container company or any other organization associated with moving. I just want to provide a one-stop shop for moving help. If there’s anything I’ve missed that you feel that I should add, please let me know.
Check out my Free Resources page.
32 comments
I’ve been wanting to use removalists for a while, and I think that being able to know how to find good ones would be good. We’re getting ready to move, and paying someone to do our removals for us would be so stress relieving. I’m going to have to see what our options are and try to get some good removalists to help us! Thank you!
Checking credentials is very important. Use a shady company to move, you’ll just end up having a bad time.
Absolutely! It pays to do some research first.
Hi Ali! Thanks for the tips, I didn’t know about the Move For Hunger organization. Good place to start looking for movers!
This tips should be more accessible to everyone. You are a life saver, thank you very much!! Credentials should’ve been the first thing I checked. Great post!
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It is important to hire reliable movers.
My husband and I are moving houses and will be needing some help with moving all our stuff into and out of a truck. I really appreciate this article giving tips on hiring a moving service you can trust, I think it’s an excellent idea to get referrals from friends.
It sure is nice to know that one can find a mover that is not only accredited by BBB but can also help other people, and this is possible by finding one through Move for Hunger. We are planning to move to another city within the state in a few weeks. Since we also want to help others by giving them food, we will surely find an available mover through Move for Hunger and leave non-perishable food items that they can use for their cause.
Great tips to make sure your are hiring trustworthy movers. Thanks.
My sister is moving a across the country, and I suggest she hire a service that can help her move. Your article had some great tips for choosing a movie, and I liked how you said to go online to read reviews so you can get a good idea of customer satisfaction. Thanks for help; I’ll share this with my sister to help her with her move.
Reading reviews is definitely a good idea when it comes to hiring a mover. After all, you will want to make sure that you are hiring a good one that you can rely on. That way you know that you can trust them with your property.
Brilliant! I wish I came across this article before! Thanks!
good site thanks for sharing
I like that you talked about how you can ask recommendations from the people that you know for a moving company since they can provide you with unbiased judgments that you can trust. My husband and I are planning to hire a moving company before the month ends. We’d like to make sure that we can have peace of mind that our belongings are going to be moved safely to our new place since they are all precious to us, so we’ll make sure to ask around for references.
I moved several times for the past 5 years and the best company I used to move with was “Expo Movers” such a reliable guys. Smooth move, fast, accurate and affordable
My sister is moving across the country, and I suggested she hire a service to help her with this. Your article had some great tips for choosing a moving company my sister could use, and I liked how you said to ask family, friends, and others you know to get a recommendation for a moving service they used. My sister should still read reviews, check out their credentials, and speak to a couple other companies even if she receives a glowing recommendation from a friend, and I’ll share this with her to help her choose the best moving company.
I like the tip that you gave to check the credentials of a moving service before you hire them. My wife and I are looking to move to a home that is closer to my work, and I want to make sure that I choose a reputable service. I will be sure to check their credentials before I hire them, so I can be confident in their abilities as a moving service.
My wife and I have been talking about moving to a bigger home this fall, and it would be important for us to know that we could find a service to help us. I appreciated that you said to ask your realtor to help you find a reputable moving service. When we look for one, I will be sure to talk to our realtor about helping us find a service.
If you’re preparing to move, you may plan a budget for the necessities, but there could be some hidden costs. One of the best ways to keep the price low when moving is to understand some of the hidden fees of moving, decide if you don’t need them, see what you can do to exclude them.
Thank you for your tip to ask your friends and family for tips on how to find a mover. My brother is planning on moving closer to me so I can help him with babysitting his kids. I’ll pass this tip onto him so he can ask his friends for recommendations.
Checklist method is very useful and between moving remember all those work about moving. I like your blog and really happy with your information. Thanks for sharing.
Not all full-service long distance moving companies offer the same level of quality service. It’s a good idea to conduct some research about your mover to make sure they’re a trustworthy and excellent company. Trusted companies will give you a fair quote that satisfies your specific requirements.
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Thanks for writing this insight post! I learnt the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association backcheck years ago and has been a great way to vet for new movers. Going through all the tips listed are definitely on the most laborious side of things, but since we move rarely (hopefully), the extra effort to ensure a safe and reliable move is worth it. If you too are looking to move in Western Canada and would like to find reliable movers, give us a look!
Great Ways you mention for moving in the post Thanks dear for this amazing content.
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I am searching for a moving company and don’t what things to consider when choosing a moving company. Your post clears my doubts very easily. Thanks for sharing this post.
My husband and I are going to be moving to the city soon so that we can be closer to our jobs. I would like to hire movers to help make the process easier and less stressful overall. I will have to make sure to follow your tip to get recommendations from friends and check the reviews and credentials online to make sure I can hire a good moving company.
Thanks for sharing. I really appreciate it that you shared with us such informative post, great tips and very easy to understand.