Buyer guide
Written by a moving company, which you should factor in. Everything below is what we would tell a friend who was hiring somebody else, and most of it is how to avoid the two or three ways this goes badly wrong.
Most of the moving companies you find online are not moving companies. They are brokers. A broker takes your booking and your deposit and then sells the job on to a carrier, and you generally do not learn who is actually coming until the truck arrives. When something goes wrong, the broker points at the carrier and the carrier points at the broker.
A carrier owns the trucks, employs the crew and holds the liability. There is one company, and it is the one you spoke to. Ask any mover directly: do you perform the move yourselves, or do you subcontract it? Get the answer in writing. It is the fastest way to sort the list you are looking at.
For the avoidance of doubt about where we stand: University Van Lines is a carrier. Our crews are our employees, the trucks are ours, and they leave from our own warehouse in Rahway.
Hire the company that will actually do the work. A broker is a sales operation: it takes your deposit, then sells the job to a carrier you have not spoken to and have not vetted. You do not find out who is turning up until they turn up. A carrier owns the trucks, employs the crew and carries the liability. Ask one question - do you perform the move yourselves, or subcontract it? - and get the answer in writing.
Any company moving household goods within New Jersey must hold a New Jersey public movers licence and carry the required insurance. Any company moving you across state lines must be registered with the federal regulator and have a USDOT number you can look up. Ask for both, then verify them yourself rather than taking a badge on a website at face value. A legitimate mover will hand the numbers over without hesitating.
Local moves in New Jersey are normally priced by the hour, with the estimate built from your room count, the access at both ends and the realistic number of hours. A studio or one-bedroom can usually be priced accurately over the phone in a few minutes. A good hourly estimate is a ceiling the mover expects to come in under, not a floor they bill up from.
Differently, and this catches people out. Long-distance and interstate moves are priced on the weight of your shipment and the distance it travels, not on an hourly rate. A room-count estimate built for a local move will usually be lower than a real interstate quote. If a mover gives you an interstate price without ever discussing weight, ask how they arrived at it.
A large deposit demanded up front. No written estimate. No physical address, or an address that does not match the licence. A refusal to survey a large or complicated home. A price that is far below everyone else. Reviews that all arrived in the same fortnight. And the big one: vagueness about whether they are the company doing the work.
Do you perform the move yourselves or subcontract it. Are the crew your employees. Is the estimate binding, and what specifically would change it. What valuation coverage is included and what does the upgrade cost. Who do I call on the day if something goes wrong. Will you put the crew size and the arrival window in writing.
It is the moving industry's liability standard and it is not the same as insurance. Basic released-value coverage pays a set amount per pound, which on a damaged television is close to nothing. Full-value protection costs more and is worth understanding before you decline it. Any mover should explain the difference plainly; if they gloss over it, that tells you something.
In most managed buildings in New York City, and many in Hudson County and along the New Jersey waterfront, yes. The building's managing agent sets the wording and the limits, and a certificate written for one building is often refused by another. Get the requirements to your mover early - this is the single most common reason a move is stopped at the door on the day.
As much notice as you can give helps, mostly because it widens the choice of dates rather than because of price. That said, small local moves can often be arranged at short notice. If a mover tells you they cannot help unless you book months out, that is a scheduling preference, not a rule of the industry.
Not usually, and the reason is structural rather than moralising. Moving is labour and hours. A quote well below the others is normally built on fewer movers, less protection, or an hourly rate that grows on the day. Compare what is actually included - crew size, protection, valuation, materials - before comparing the totals.
A studio or one-bedroom local move can usually be settled in one short phone call. Anything larger, or anything crossing a state line, we will talk through properly before a number goes anywhere near an email.