I’ve been a mover since 2002, and owned my own moving company since 2005. Sometimes my friends or family who don’t live near me ask for help picking a moving company and this is PART 1 of how I evaluate their potential choices. I’ll post PART 2 as a “How to spot a good moving company”. Here’s what I look for.
Credentials/Licensing
Any moving company who transports household goods across state lines will have a DOT number. You can check that with the safersys if you can find the number. A moving company is REQUIRED to have their DOT number on their website and trucks. If they don’t have a license, they’re probably doing other sketchy stuff. If the company has authority in good standing, that means they have ample insurance, so if their authority is revoked, that can signal a problem. Also on safersys, you can see if they’ve been pulled over and put out of service, and how they compare to the national average.
Finding Lies.
I always try and catch a company telling half-truths or lies on their website. I start by looking up their address on streetview. If they’re representing themselves as a big moving company with multiple trucks and a warehouse, but their streetview is just a residential home, you know something is up. It’s perfectly reasonable to hire a new company that’s using rentals and running out of their apartment, but if they pretend to offer storage but then are just parking in a rented spot at a gas station, that’s worth knowing.
Media.
Check their instagram, the pictures on their website, facebook, google, and anywhere else you can find them. If they’re all just stock photos or photos of other mover’s warehouse, one wonders why don’t they have their own pictures? If they’ve got pictures of their truck loads and wrap jobs, are they tight and tidy compared to the competition or is it sloppy? Do you learn anything from the pictures of their trucks? An old truck in good shape is a good sign, a new truck with some holes… less so!
Read the reviews.
There’s a lot of fake reviews out there, so you’ll just have to bring your own intellect to the pursuit, but here are some tips. Read the bad reviews, do they sound like difficult or fussy customers or does this seem like a real complaint? Check the less popular review sites, often those are the ones that are less likely to be fake. Check the progression of the reviews, sometimes you can see some narrative, or tell when/if a company has bought fake reviews.
Get someone on the phone.
Does the person seem sketchy? Ask a few questions: if you find some things that are questionable, ask about them, see what you find out.