Watch Out For These Two Sneaky Tricks When Moving!

There are two things I really, really hate – painting and moving. I will happily fork over piles of cash for someone else to do those jobs for me. So in preparation for our move to Washington, I called up a couple moving companies to get quotes for the move. I asked for the works – not only moving our stuff, but packing everything up as well. We were able to afford this little extravagance because my wife’s job offer included a rather generous relocation allowance. When you relocate for a job, moving expenses are tax deductible, so this this means we can pay for the move with tax-free money that was basically given to us from my wife’s new employer.

Trick Number One

I’ve heard all kinds of horror stories about moving companies. People’s stuff gets lost or damaged. Or the movers show up at the new house and demand thousands of dollars more before unloading your stuff.

It’s that last thing I want to talk about. It happens because people unknowingly agree to it.

How Your Cost Is Determined

Moving prices are based on two factors – distance moved and weight of items moved. The distance is fairly straightforward and easy to determine. Weight, however, is a different story. When the movers send someone out to your house to give you a quote, that person walks through the house, looking at all your stuff. He or she makes an estimate of how much all that stuff weighs and that is used to come up with a price. But you need to be careful.

Not All Estimates Are Equal

See, there are two types of estimates movers can give you: binding and non-binding. As the names imply, a binding estimate is one that the mover must adhere too. They may charge you less, but they cannot charge you more. A non-binding estimate is exactly that – a general amount that may not end up anywhere close to what you will eventually be asked to pay. Unless you specify which type of estimate you want, guess which one you’re likely to get?

My Experiment

Because I write a personal finance blog, I thought this would be a good opportunity to run a little experiment. When I got my two quotes, I asked one company (Company A) for a binding estimate. When I spoke with the other company (Company B), I played dumb and did not specify which type I wanted. Company B did not tell me I had two options for the estimate. Both companies sent someone out to look at my house in person. They came on the same day, about 4 hours apart, so the contents of my house were definitely the same for both estimates.

Company A’s quote, the binding estimate, came in at about $15,000. Company B’s quote came in at $10,000. Wow! Company B is 33% cheaper! I should go with them, right?

Wrong. Look at the small print in the estimate:

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If that’s too small for your to read, here’s the important bit: “The Non-Binding Estimate shows the estimated cost… The total cannot be determined until all of the packing and origin services have been performed, … the van loaded and the actual weight of the shipment has been determined.”

You might as well just hand them your wallet. That paragraph gives them a license to steal. It’d would be so easy for them to claim that the person giving the quote did not correctly estimate the weight of the shipment or the amount of work it would take to pack everything up. It’s so easy to fib here and there to come up with a low-ball quote to get your business, then sock you with a huge bill when they deliver all your stuff. And if they did that, there would be nothing you could do about it. Their estimate says they can do that.

Compare that to the language of the binding estimate:

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No wiggle room there. You will pay the estimated amount or less. (I seriously doubt anyone ever will pay less…)

Trick Number Two

Another little trick they use to come up with a lower quote is with insurance. When you pack and move stuff, things sometimes break. It happens. To provide some protection, all movers offer some sort of insurance. There are typically two types – full replacement value, which will reimburse you for the amount it takes to replace something that’s broken, and flat rate, per pound coverage. The former is more expensive. The latter is cheap. So cheap, in fact, it’s usually offered for free. You know why? Because they typically reimburse you at 60 cents per pound!

Think about that. Your brand new, $1,500 washing machine gets damaged? Well, those typically weigh between 150 and 200 pounds, so the most the mover will have to pay you if that gets damaged is $120. Your collection of rare stamps got damaged? Sorry, Those are pretty light, so you’ll probably be lucky to get $5.00.

Again, unless you specifically ask, guess which one will be included in your quote?

Look again at the language of the binding estimate. When you get a binding estimate, that default insurance coverage jumps from $0.60 per pound to $6.00 per pound. That still might not be enough to cover the full replacement cost, but it’s better than 60 cents per pound! About 10 times better, I’d say.

Be Sure You Are Comparing Like Estimates

I wanted to make sure I was comparing apples to apples with these estimates, so I called up Company B again and asked for a binding quote with a specified amount of insurance coverage. When I got that quote back, their price went up to around $15,000, just like the other company.

Think about that. Their estimate increased by 50% when they knew they would be forced to abide by it! If that doesn’t tell you the first estimate was a bait-and-switch, I don’t know what would.  Is it any wonder people get mad at moving companies?

So get educated and know your options and your rights. Read the fine print. Save yourself from nasty surprises!

Have any of you used movers recently? What was your experience like?