Best Questions To Ask Local Movers

1. How Are Charges Determined?
2. What Services Are Offered?
3. Is Your Company Licensed?
4. Do You Have References?

No matter where you are moving, there is certainly a process that must be followed. This is true whether you are moving to the other side of town or around the world. However, even doing a local move can still be a stressful time. When considering whether or not to hire professional movers, you definitely need to spend some time asking them questions and researching your movers thoroughly. Here are the top questions to ask your local movers.

How Are Charges Determined?

It should be noted that most local movers will charge based on a flat rate per hour. This is also normally modified according to the size of the moving crew you may require. In other words, a larger home may require more movers to actually conduct the move.

When you get the estimate, also ask about the potential for extra fees. Yes, these are a real possibility and can depend on factors such as:

• Packing services or materials
• Stair carriers (going up a certain number of stairs can have added fees)
• Long carries
• Furniture assembly or disassembly

Types Of Estimates Provided:

You should also be sure to ask the moving company what types of estimates they will give you. There are significant

differences between types so you need to really understand this. Consider the following:

• Binding estimate: With a binding estimate, your price may not be altered, even if the move takes longer than expected. Of course, it will not be lowered, either.
• Non-Binding Estimate: In this case, your final price may be changed up or down. However, this cannot represent more than a 10 percent increase over the original quote.
• Binding-Not-To-Exceed: With this estimate, your price cannot be increased but it can be reduced if the move takes less time than was expected.

What Services Are Offered?

This question also implies that you pretty know what type of services you need. In some cases, you may only be looking for labor to actually load a rental truck. Or, you may be looking for a full-service local moving company. Maybe there are just a small number of items that will need to be moved? Ask the company if they will be able to accommodate your specific needs.

Is Your Company Licensed?

Whether or not your company even needs to be licensed will likely depend on the laws of your state. Many do require that even intrastate (within your same state) to be federally regulated with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Be sure to check with this agency directly.

Do You Have References?

It will always help to be able to contact previous customers. Sometimes, you will be able to find testimonies (or complaints) online. It is also a good idea to consider looking up the moving company's record with the Better Business Bureau, just to be sure.