So, you are planning to relocate and find a new home. You have probably surfed the Internet tirelessly trying to find information about moving. As you may know the most important factor in every relocation is finding a good moving company. If you are planning to move to NYC you have nothing to worry about. There is an abundance of NYC movers you can choose from. The question is how to choose the best one out of so many moving companies. Well, you have come to the right place. We are here to provide the steps to take when looking for a perfect moving company. You will also read some tips that will be useful when hiring your movers. We will warn you about some red flags you should pay attention to when negotiating with the companies.
It is important to find good movers
How to find moving companies
When you are looking for the best moving companies it is important to know where to look. We are going to present some of the most common and most reliable sources you can explore.Word of mouth suggestions
You probably know people who have moved and who have experience with hiring moving companies. Ask around and call you family and friends. You can ask them for advice and they will give you an honest opinion. These word of mouth suggestions and advice might be a lifesaver for you.
Contact local real estate agents
Local real estate agents have a lot of information about the best moving companies because they often work closely together. You can ask them to recommend top three companies from their experience. This is probably not their first time to recommend a moving company.A lot of clients ask them for these kinds of advice.
Ask your local real estate agent for advice
Don’t skip the phone book
This might skip your mind, but is actually a good method. You can find a NYC phone book and go to the ‘Moving’ section. There you will be able to find the phone numbers of all operating moving companies. Research has shown that the companies in the phone books are actually even more reliable than some of those you can find online. So give those yellow pages a shot.
Search for moving companies online
This is definitely the easiest way to find your perfect movers. You need to type ‘moving company’ and the name of your area and you will get a plethora of search results. When it comes to moving companies and storage NYC you will be overwhelmed with results. But watch out for scams. If you encounter a site that wants to hire movers for you you should know that it is probably a scam. You should never hire these moving brokers. Moving brokers are not punished by the law if they scam you and moving companies are. So you will be hiring them at your own risk.
Search for moving companies online but watch out for scams
Check moving companies
Most of the companies you can find online have some kind of reviews on different sites like movingscam.com or Yelp. You are looking for good comments and positive reviews. If you find information that a certain company was involved in a scam you should avoid it. Negative reviews, at least serious ones, are not there for no reason.
Go to the websites of moving companies
Almost all moving companies you can find online have their websites. Be sure to visit them and get informed about the company. You can read what kind of services they offer. Other than offering NYC moving service, they should also provide packing and unpacking services NYC, since this is the essential part of every relocation. And don’t forget to read the reviews and comments of previous customers on these websites. You should pay attention to the following
- The full, official name of the company has to be on the website. If there are more names than this might be a scam, meaning that it might not be a real company
- The address of the company or it’s local offices has to be listed
- You have to find some information on how to contact them, like a phone number and an e-mail address
Don’t forget to call the references
You can ask the company to give you some references. That means that they might give you contacts of some previous customers.Ask for at least three of them. You can call these people and ask them to give you some information.Ask them about the pros and cons of hiring the moving company and about their overall impression. Also check if your NYC moving company has all of the necessary documents and licences. They need to own the USDOT Number and the Motor Carrier license number. If you check the USDOT category it must not say ‘Out of Service’ or you have tricksters on your hands. If you are checking the Motor Carrier category, it should state ‘Satisfactory’.
Check if the company has all the documents and licenses
It’s time to estimate the price
When you have checked everything and found your perfect NYC moving company it is time to talk about the price of your move. The best option would be to organize an ‘on-site’ estimate. Someone from the moving company will come to your home, or the moving site and estimate how much the move would cost. It is better to choose a ‘binding’ over a ‘non-binding’ estimate. In a binding estimate, you will get the fixed price of all the services the moving company provides.
Ask about additional costs
Some moving companies may have additional or extra charges you might not know about. Ask them to give you all of the information before you hire them. The might charge extra for packing, unpacking or moving certain items. They might even charge you for using additional packing material on site. For all of these fees, they need to offer you a special ‘tariff ‘ list, so that you know how much you should pay.
Ask for a cost estimate ‘on-site’
