Imagine this scenario (if it hasn’t already stoked your nightmares!):
- You’d planned your long-distance move for ages.
- You examined three different El Paso interstate moving companies, all of which seemed trustworthy, and finally opted for the one that provided the most reasonable estimate.
- It’s now Moving Day.
- The moving crew loads your heads out for your new home.
- And it never shows up. It vanishes – as does most of your worldly possessions.
Ah, no way! You’re making that up, right? Sadly, we’re not. But that is an atypical scenario. What you’ll more likely find with, shall we say, “less than honest” movers is that they won’t run off with a homeowner’s possessions outright; they’ll just hold them hostage until the homeowner agrees to pay a higher fee. Of course, these are just two of many types of moving scams. Sites like
Moving.com and
MovingScam.com alert you to more.
So if you’ve experienced any qualms – any nightmares – about something like this happening to you, take them as a warning: DON’T ENGAGE A MOVING COMPANY UNTIL YOU KNOW THAT COMPANY IS WHAT IT SAYS IT IS!
Bypass moving companies that …
- don’t have a physical address. P.O. boxes are a good sign they don’t. Look them up in the phone book. And check online at Google Maps or Google Earth.
- have a shoddy record with the Better Business Bureau. Visit bbb.org. There you’ll find reviews of better than 20,000 moving-related companies.
- charge a fee to provide you with an estimate. That’s not anything a respected mover would do.
- don’t offer written estimates – or say they’ll determine your charges once they’ve loaded the truck. Again: that’s simply not done by respectable movers.
- turn in an estimate that seems to good to be true. It surely is! (You know the old axiom!)
- ask you to sign documents that have blank lines to be filled in later. All contractual elements should be described fully in writing and agreed upon before you affix your signature to anything. (Another old axiom you certainly know!)
- don’t have a current U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) license,
- don’t have a current Motor Carrier (MC) license, and
- don’t have a DOT or MC number that’s less than 3 years old …
- or aren’t insured. You can check all this out at the DOT website’s Mover Registration Search, https://ai.fmcsa.dot.gove/hhg/search.asp. Don’t forget, all moving companies for hire as interstate movers have to be licensed and insured for interstate commerce.
Here’s still another ripe cliché for you: It’s better to be safe than sorry. Exercising a certain amount of due diligence up front and discovering all you can about the movers you’re considering before you hire can save you lots of drama and despair when your move is well along.
And your best information source? The Internet! Or it is so long as you’re not just checking out the websites of the movers you’re considering. Follow the links we provide above for solid, dependable third-party confirmation of a long-distance mover’s credentials … or lack thereof.
While you’re at it, we heartily encourage you to use these sites to investigate A-1 Freeman Moving Group here in El Paso too. We’ve been
long-distances movers – not to mention local and intrastate movers – of excellent repute for many, many years. And we’re pleased to provide tools like these to help you make savvy decisions for smooth moves.