How an Interstate Move Works - the Estimate

If you're looking to have us give you an estimate for an interstate move - during the summer we stick to New England and NYC, the rest of the year we will go up and down the Eastern Seaboard - give us a call or shoot us an e-mail to let us know.

Once you've contacted us we'll want to give you an estimate for your move. If you live within 50 miles of our warehouse we are federally required to do an on site estimate. We would do this for interstate move anyway because it gives us a better sense of what's going on, but it is also the law. If you'd rather not have us come to your home or you just don't have time you can say you don't want an on site estimate. In that case, we'll either have you answer our questionnaire through e-mail or we'll go over the details of your move over the phone. We will also have you sign a piece of paper that states you were offered an on site estimate but did not want one. That covers us in case of a federal audit. Either way, we will provide you with a booklet called "Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move" and a pamphlet called "Ready to Move?" as required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

image courtesy of http://www.cpatrucking.com/tag/fmcsa

If you do not live within 50 miles of our warehouse we'll get the details of your move through the e-mail questionnaire or over the phone. For instance, if you are moving from Portland, Maine to Cambridge, Massachusetts we would not travel up to Maine to do an on site.

Once we have taken and/or received the details of your move we will work up an estimate. We take into account all the same things we do with a local move - travel time, labor time, stretch wrap, etc. - but also interstate specific things like gas, tolls, hotels (if necessary), etc. Once we've done all the math we send you an e-mail estimate with the flat rate that we're offering you. If you are comfortable with the flat rate we've sent you then we book you (assuming the days you wanted are still available).

This is technically an informal booking according to the federal government. To make it formal in the eyes of the law we send you some paperwork to sign and return to us. The first is an Estimated Cost of Services, which details the estimate we've already sent you by e-mail. The other is an Order for Service. The Order for Service and all the other many documents associated with an interstate move will be detailed in another post. Stay tuned!