Questions to ask movers before you book
The call where you book a mover is short, and it is usually the only conversation you have with the company before a truck is outside your house. It is worth spending fifteen minutes on rather than five.
These are the questions that change something. They are grouped by what they are actually testing, and each one has a note on what a good answer sounds like, because a question you cannot evaluate the answer to is not much use.
Who is doing the work
Everything downstream depends on this. If the company on the phone is not the company on the truck, none of the other answers are binding on anyone.
- Will your own employees do this move, or is it subcontracted? A yes or a no is the answer. A description of a network is a no.
- What is your USDOT number? They should say it without looking, and you should look it up.
- Where is your yard? A metro address you can find on a map.
- How long have you been operating under this name? Companies that rebrand often are worth a second look.
What the number means
The point of this group is to make two quotes comparable. Most of the gap between a low quote and a high one lives in these five answers rather than in the rate itself.
- Is this binding, not to exceed, or an hourly estimate? These are three different promises.
- How many movers and how many hours does it assume?
- Is travel time to and from your yard billed to me?
- Are packing materials included, and what happens to the ones we do not use?
- What happens if the job runs long? Ask for the answer in writing.
What happens if something breaks
This is the question people skip and later wish they had not. Moving companies handle damage under valuation, which is a legal framework rather than an insurance policy, and the default level is usually far lower than people assume.
Ask what valuation level the quote includes, what the alternatives are, and how a claim is filed. The answer should be a process with a form and a deadline in it. If the answer is that nothing ever gets broken, you have learned something about how claims are handled.
- What valuation level does this quote include?
- What are the other options and what do they change?
- How do I file a claim, and how long do I have?
- Do you note existing damage before loading, and can I have a copy?
The logistics you are about to discover the hard way
The last group is about your specific move. Ask these even if you think the answer is obvious, because the mover is the one who has to plan around them.
If you are moving downtown, into the East Village, or into any managed building, the certificate of insurance question is the one that most often derails a date. Buildings ask for a certificate naming them, movers issue them routinely, and the lead time is the problem rather than the document.
- What time will the crew arrive, and is that a window or a time?
- Where will the truck park, and have you looked at the street?
- Can you provide a certificate of insurance for my building, and how long does it take?
- What do you need me to have finished before you arrive?
- What will you not load?
- Who do I call on the day if something changes?