How to find reliable long distance movers without getting scammed
First-time long distance movers struggle to identify trustworthy companies and avoid deceptive lowball quotes that spike after collecting a deposit. This leaves people vulnerable to unexpected price hikes or trapped with high full-service rates when trying to relocate households or ship cars across state lines.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Reaching out to multiple moving companies for price comparisons
- 2Checking company credentials and truck counts on the FMCSA licensing and insurance system
- 3Packing belongings independently into moving pods like U-Pack or 1800-Packrat
- 4Hiring local moving labor separately on each end to load and unload
- 5calling multiple places to compare prices and feel out the companies
- 6paying more for companies that provide better peace of mind
- 7reading reviews and avoiding moving brokers
- 8Shipping containers to a nearby city and renting a truck locally to complete the final leg of the move
- 9Using alternative freight services like U-Pack by ABF Freight that cover rural areas
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Hello! I am in the process of planning my first big move and I am struggling with identifying good movers.”source ↗
“I had an appointment with Mayflower and decided to go against it because we didn’t feel like we needed full service movers because the prices were through the roof.”source ↗
“What are some good reliable state to state vehicle transportation companies to use? This is my first time needing a vehicle transported from state to state, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! (:”source ↗
“That nice low price they quote you will be a nice high price the next thing you know. They lowball you to get your deposit, then run the price up after that when they have you trapped.”source ↗
“I’m looking for recommendations of transport service/ companies with reasonable pricing that can transport personal belongings from Barcelona to, let’s say, Bilbao?”source ↗
“It’s 5 big suitcases and a chair - I’ve come across information that it might cost 1200+ euro, and I am shocked.”source ↗
“Is it the normal range of pricing for such a service?”source ↗
“Moving cross country to a small town with no PODS or U-Haul services within 50 miles.”source ↗
“We could have it shipped to the city then rent a U-Haul to move our stuff but that seems like a lot of extra steps.”source ↗
“I'm following this conversation...I need to ship a car from MD to Texas.”source ↗
“Hey i am moving from Vienna to Tyrol and i need someone who can help me with moving furniture.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4Are full service moving quotes really this expensive?
- 10How to do a long distance road trip with a cat and dog
- 5Is it cheaper to ship a TV or buy a new one?
- 2How to move long distance without a trailer or a month-long wait
- 7How much do you actually tip movers?
- 2Why is it so expensive to rent a van one way internationally?