Household Goods Moving FAQ: How Far In Advance Should I Book My Move?
In the auto transport industry, generally it takes anywhere from a few days to a week or more to get your vehicle picked up from the date that you book it, depending on where you’re shipping from and to.
This is fairly standard, because it doesn’t take nearly as much prep work as shipping household goods – there are no boxes to pack when shipping a vehicle, it’s all fairly straightforward.
When you’re moving all your worldly possessions to another part of the country, though, that takes some time and planning, especially if you need to be out of your old home (or into your new home) by a specific time or date.
This requires you booking your order a lot further out than a week or two, because household moving companies need to be able to plan everything accordingly.
Household moving is not like auto shipping other than the fact that huge trucks are going to be moving your stuff for you and that you may not be the only person who has stuff on said truck.
Household movers usually ship three or four different loads at a single time, and unlike auto transport loading and unloading of household goods can take an entire day, or even two, as opposed to a half an hour or less.
This requires moving companies to plan further ahead, generally a month or two out, and also requires a lot more work on your part in order to make things run smoothly.
You want to book your household move at least a month in advance, though 6-8 weeks is generally best. This gives your household moving company time to arrange the pickup and delivery of your goods while also planning other household moves as well, and gives them plenty of leeway in terms of scheduling so that they can make sure things run smoothly.
You’ll want to decide on things like whether you want full-service or self-service (i.e. they-pack vs. you-pack) moving, how much coverage you want in terms of valuation or insurance, and you also want to give yourself time to budget your shipment accordingly.
You want to give your household moving company as much time as they need to complete your order the way you want it done and to prevent any problems from arising that could result in delayed pickup or delivery of your household goods.
If you need quotes to ship some household goods, make sure to visit our household moving articles page, which is also the home of our separate household goods moving quote request form. You can get a free household moving quote by filling out the form on the link provided and get started on your household move today.
If you’re shipping a vehicle and need additional household moving quotes, you can select the “yes” button on the contact portion of our free auto transport quote form, which you can find on the left side of this (and any) page. That will get you an auto transport quote as well as a household moving quote, all for free. If you have any questions or concerns, you can also call us at 800-930-7417 toll-free to speak to one of our live agents, who can help you navigate our website or get your free auto transport or household moving quote – or both – today.
Since 2007 Dave has written all the content and blogs for American Auto Shipping and during this time added the duties of customer support and transport logistics.
He currently resides in Washington with his three kids and their mom and cat. A fan of Marvel movies and good stories, when not shipping cars Dave can be found working on his novel, enjoying a good book or playing some tournament HALO.
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