Why You Should Be Careful of Cheap Movers

Cheap movers are appealing to renters who need to save money. However, many of these cheap movers are scam artists lying in wait to rob you of items you own. Others are inexperienced and entice you to hire them with low fees. Be careful of cheap movers, because you’ll end up paying more out-pocket expenses to recover your goods.

Uninsured Cheap Movers

Cheap movers are dangerous in part because they’re uninsured. If there’s an accident, there’s no insurance for your goods or their trucks. Don’t gamble on a move, thinking that the distance is too short for an accident to happen, or that the cheap mover will be cautions. Accidents do happen, and without insurance, you’ll have to pay to replace those items. Your renters insurance policy doesn’t cover your items when you hire a mover. You’ll also have trouble buying insurance on items being moved by uninsured movers.

Unreliable Verbal Estimates

Cheap movers often don’t give a written estimate. A verbal estimate will do you no good, as you’re likely to see a wild difference in the actual charges. It’s true that some written estimates are non-binding, but at least having that paperwork will help to prevent a huge price variation in transportation and other charges. You can also request a binding estimate from a established company that will send out someone to conduct a visual inspection of your inventory and quote you a price. It will cost you more, but at least you’ll have a true idea of what your final bill will be. Having a written estimate is one more piece of evidence in your legal documents, in case the movers you hired try to scam you.

Stolen Goods

Some moving operations are run by thieves that hold themselves out as cheap movers. Their entire goal is to get you to hire them, and then they’ll turn around and steal your goods. The truck arrives at the new location and there’s a sob story about someone robbing the truck, or smaller items are missing with the hope that you won’t notice it for months. This is easy to do when ask the movers to unload your items at a storage facility that you can’t get to right away. Be sure to research the company before hiring them, to see whether others filed complaints against the movers for stolen goods. You can check The Better Business Bureau at www.bbb.org to see whether a complaint was filed against them, and how (or if) it got resolved.

Don’t go with cheap movers simply because they offer the lowest price. You’re almost guaranteed to get scammed. Instead, find other ways to ship your things if you can’t afford to hire a proven moving company that charges more, including selling items beforehand and shipping goods through the mail. Ask people you know for the names and contact information of moving companies that they’ve been happy with in the past. Sacrifice luxuries in your budget for some time to save up to pay for professional movers that have a solid reputation in the industry.