You might consider that all moving services are the same. After all they move you and your belongings from A-B right. Anyway, on this summation you might also think that most quotes would at least be in the same ball park. The reality is that you couldn’t be further from the truth. A One man band plus a van for instance is going to charge you far less than a large removal company. Then again, you can guarantee that the man with a van won’t be able to offer the same degree and type of service that a larger company can, so it can be a little confusing. So how do you know if you’re paying over the odds for a particular kind of service?
Here are 4 essential aspects to help you…
Obligatory vs free quote
There are some companies that will offer you a free (no-obligation) quote based on a rough pre-estimate weight of your belongings. Others on the other hand offer what is known as binding estimates. The difference here is that with a binding estimate, the price that you pay is fixed. So you won’t or shouldn’t pay any more. Conversely a no-obligation quote isn’t usually binding and this is where many people come unstuck. Often it isn’t until the moving contract is put in front of them that they realise they’re paying more because of under-estimated weights. With this in mind it’s well worth asking about the type of quotes you’ll be receiving, this way you’ll have a good idea of whether the priced quoted is genuine or estimated.
Volume and weight
Many removalists will try to make things simple and charge by the van weight. For example here at On The Move we give you three options of van, ranging from a three to a ten tonne truck. We even break things down further by giving you a rough idea of the kind of quantities each van will take. Ranging from a small office or apartment move (3 tonne van) up to a large 5 bedroomed house (10 tonne van). Others will quote van size based on cubic volume. The key is to be able to measure the rough cubic volume or weight so that you don’t end up spending money on a van that you don’t really need, or worse still using a van that’s way too small. The good news is that many removal boxes are marked in cubic litres so for example if your boxes added up to 2800 litres, then that’s 2.8 cubic metres. If not, then you might have to resort to weighing them individually and keeping a running total.
Distance
This is probably the factor that will determine most the price that you pay. This being the case then it’s worth asking removalists how much they charge per kilometre. A simple check on a site such as Google maps or Mapquest should give you your total distance. This combined with the weight/volume price should give you your defined final price.
Additional requests
In any so called ‘straight forward’ move whereby you’re simply shifting goods from A-B and don’t require a helping hand packing or unpacking there’s no need to worry about add-on-services. However, if you have any valuable artwork or heavy items such as a piano then they may require specialist handling, which could of course alter the final price.
So there you have it, the 4 essential aspects of a moving quote. All you’ve got to do now is select he right company at the right price.
If you would like us to give you a removal quote contact On The Move Removals 1300 66 84 36 . Alternatively visit our website at www.1300onthemove.com.au and fill in our online form to get an instant quote
