Author Topic: Cross country move- cheapest options  (Read 5000 times)

Nikii

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Cross country move- cheapest options
« on: June 12, 2015, 07:56:49 AM »
Hello, we will be making an approx. 1000 mile move from the Midwest region to east coast next month. I am trying to figure out what will be the cheapest (and not very inconvenient) way to move all our stuff.
We currently rent a 2 bedroom apartment and will probably get rid of all the living room furniture before we leave. We will also get rid of the bed in the 2nd bedroom and buy these things at the new place.
Also we will need to move a car to the new location too.
I was looking at uhaul and it is coming out to be approx. 1200 for this move.

If we hire the movers, we are roughly getting an estimate of 2500-3000 for this move.
 
Are there more options? we have a little baby, so we don't want it to make very complex too. If we use the uhaul, I will fly with the baby to the new location and husband will take care of the move.
Thanks in advance!!

Hunny156

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Re: Cross country move- cheapest options
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2015, 08:33:24 AM »
Check out ABF U-Pack, Broadway Express & Uship for other options.  The first two are u pack, they drive.  I have used Broadway Express for my move several years ago, and they offered the best overall value for my needs.  I believe the min space you can get on one of their trailers is 10 ft.

The site movingscam provides lots of useful information - best of luck!  :)

Thegoblinchief

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Re: Cross country move- cheapest options
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2015, 08:36:44 AM »
How many boxes of stuff in addition to what's can fit in the car will you have? Depending on how many, look at using Amtrak to ship the boxes - assuming of course both ends are near an Amtrak route.

Otherwise, ABF is another moving option. Not sure if it will be cheaper than Uhaul but I know it's significantly cheaper than a moving van service.

Nikii

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Re: Cross country move- cheapest options
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2015, 09:41:08 AM »
Thank you! will definitely look into these options!!

La Bibliotecaria Feroz

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Re: Cross country move- cheapest options
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2015, 11:47:04 AM »
2nd vote for UPack! Very professional, smooth-running service when we used it. The only problem is finding a place to park that giant trailer. Also, you might want to have movers to help load it because it's really hard to stack your stuff that high.

FYI Penske is often cheaper than U-Haul for one-way moves.

It IS an option for one of you to drive the truck and one to drive the car. Mr. FP and I did that for 1500 miles.My kids were older than yours--ages 2 and 3 at the time--but obviously there were two of the, they had higher activity needs, and at the time, neither of them was fully potty trained. (We also had a cat with us.) We really wanted to keep control of our stuff and not have to wait for it. I'm not gonna lie, it was excruciating, but it was also temporary. Whole thing was over in a few days.

Our truck broke down and we were stranded in Strip Mall, Ohio, for five hours, but we negotiated an $800 discount off our quote, so  that's $40 per person per hour--not bad!

Nikii

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Re: Cross country move- cheapest options
« Reply #5 on: June 15, 2015, 01:30:45 PM »
Thank you very much!
We have an 18 month old and it will be very difficult to keep him entertained while driving alone. He gets very uncomfortable after a couple of hours, so one of us will just have to be busy distracting him. Also I am originally from the NYC area and have never driven long distances before, so I will not be very comfortable driving long distances too.
Right now, we are thinking we will take the 6x12 ft Uhaul trailer and hitch that to our SUV. So all of us can comfortably be in the car and take our own sweet time (3-4 days) for this move. When looking up online, I am getting an estimate of approximately 800 bucks including the cost of the hitch. Also, this will save our flight expenses which is approximately 300/ person. Any one have any experience with the trailers or is that a bad idea?

Paul der Krake

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Re: Cross country move- cheapest options
« Reply #6 on: June 18, 2015, 05:19:33 AM »
You can put the car on a trailer behind the moving truck and alternate driving the truck.

Retired To Win

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Re: Cross country move- cheapest options
« Reply #7 on: June 18, 2015, 06:33:27 AM »
I've twice had great results by (1) renting a one-way truck from U-Haul or whomever, (2) used a moving-labor outfit to come load the truck, (3) driven the truck ourselves, (4) used a second moving-labor outfit at the destination to unload the truck, and (4) delivered the truck myself to its return location.  The moving labor outfits are easy to find on the internet, actually bid for your job, end up very reasonable and have proven very well versed at getting maximum packability out of the space in the truck.  And this process certainly saves my back!

Good luck.

Clean Shaven

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Re: Cross country move- cheapest options
« Reply #8 on: June 18, 2015, 07:42:38 AM »


Right now, we are thinking we will take the 6x12 ft Uhaul trailer and hitch that to our SUV. So all of us can comfortably be in the car and take our own sweet time (3-4 days) for this move. When looking up online, I am getting an estimate of approximately 800 bucks including the cost of the hitch. Also, this will save our flight expenses which is approximately 300/ person. Any one have any experience with the trailers or is that a bad idea?

I've moved with trailers several times, including two U Haul trailers. They are much cheaper than renting the trucks - there's no "per mile" charge, and the U Haul trucks really suck down a lot of fuel. That hitch may also be useful later for bike racks and future trailer rental, like for home improvement projects.

If your stuff will all fit in the rental trailer, I think those are a good choice. Since it sounds like you haven't towed before, Google on how to load a trailer for weight distribution, and plan on driving a bit slower overall.  Other tips - stay under speed limit, leave more space when braking, inflate tow vehicle tires to max load on sidewall, shift tow vehicle out of overdrive for all uphills and use engine braking to control speed on sustained downhills.

Clean Shaven

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Re: Cross country move- cheapest options
« Reply #9 on: June 18, 2015, 07:44:45 AM »
Another tip if you are both driving in separate vehicles - buy a cheap set of walkie talkie radios for communicating back and forth between the caravan cars. Faster and easier than cell phone dialing.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!