I've done this twice; once from west to east and then from east to west. The first time was on the company nickel with a not-to-exceed reimbursement and the second time was on me. You WILL save money if you forego the moving company and do the job yourself. I looked into the PODS, and for me, it didn't pencil. YMMV. As you will soon see if you go the professional mover route (i.e. Mayflower or the like), it is a pretty shady business and you have to really make sure they estimate your weight correctly and that you have it in writing that your final cost is your final cost. In my case from west to east, the local Mayflower low-balled the estimated weight and they were well below the actual weight (tools are heavy, who knew?
). The long and short of it is there was a brief pissing match between the trucker (his fees), me, and Mayflower. Fortunately, I had a guaranteed estimate and Mayflower had to eat it.
I'm guessing that you may be a more do-it-yourself guy who doesn't mind trading a little sweat to save some money $$$$. If so, compare pricing on the biggest truck available between Uhaul and Penske. Budget may rent them as well, but they were far more expensive so I ruled them out pretty quickly. I went with Penske because they were about $400 cheaper and their trucks were diesel, which I ASSumed would be better for towing and the hills ... Wrong! My Penske truck was a dog. It had cruise control ... keep the pedal to the floor and you'll hit the speed limiter (60 mph?) on the flats and 35 mph up the grade. The driver has an air-ride seat and the passenger seat sucks ass. The Uhaul, on the other hand, is essentially like driving a heavy duty truck with the box built on the back. The final straw for me was when I was limping up the grade at about 35 mph and I got the doors blown off by a gasser Uhaul that was towing a vehicle on a carrier (I wasn't). That said, I did get there. Price them out, take a look at the trucks and see what works for you.
Rent a trailer and haul one of your vehicles behind the truck. Have the wife and kid(s) follow you in your truck(?) and have them either tow the third vehicle on a trailer (if you have one to bring) or a Uhaul enclosed trailer if all your stuff doesn't fit in the main truck. The pet(s) can ride in the big truck or chase vehicle. Plan your motels in advance and you'll find plenty of pet friendly options. I only had one dog at the time and traveling with her was a non-issue.
Use the move as an opportunity to dump or sell all the things you don't think you'll need or want to keep. I sold a lot of things, tossed a bunch of things, and ended up leaving behind a lot of stuff which I thought I'd miss, which I didn't. I will confess to moving some boxes back which were never opened from the original move. Ooops!
Any vehicles which you can't transport yourself can be sent via carrier. I sent one open (the minivan) and one enclosed (classic vehicle). Everything I learned about shipping vehicles is to enter into a contract directly with the transport companies and NOT third-party sales companies. You can google on that, but I've read horror stories of additional charges after the fact and extra fees. The cheapest way to send a vehicle is open carrier and for you to drop off and pickup the vehicle from one of the company's hubs rather than door-to-door. For comparison, I paid about 2.5X the cost to have door-to-door enclosed transport thru Passport than the open-carrier thru DAS. FWIW, both made the trip without issue, though one was perfectly clean and got to share the ride with a Bugatti.
Plan on allowing up to three weeks for auto-transport if you want the cheapest price. It might sit in the yard until there is a spot on the truck which is passing through your destination.
Oh yeah, you can hire local crew on each end to load and unload your truck through Uhaul. I went this route rather than sourcing my own help since I figured there might be less chance for issue since they are backed by the large company. You can also choose how many hours you need them so there is no issue as to whether the job was estimated correctly. I was pleased with the crews that loaded and unloaded and even later directly hired the unloading crew a year later to move some heavy stuff for me. Even after tip, it was pretty reasonable and my back thanked me.
Lastly, I suggest creating a spreadsheet with all rentals, costs, dates, confirmation numbers, phone numbers, etc. so you have that all at your fingertips to verify prices, call if late or changes, and to see how much money. you saved when you are finished so you can remind yourself it was worth it while you are swearing you will never move again!!!
Oh yeah, I sent a bunch of the kids ahead via airline and travelled with the skeleton crew. Lastly, I'd recommend paying for the insurance which will allow you to walk away if you rack up the vehicle and even reimburse you for damaged goods if you so choose. Truthfully, I loved it and saw it as a great adventure. Good luck to you!!!
). When the truck arrived in Phoenix they unloaded and placed all furniture in appropriate rooms. Couldn’t have been easier. When I retired and we moved to Chino Valley we did all but the real heavy stuff. Wouldn’t want to do that again.
. I can't imagine doing it on my own with the little kids, pets, cars, etc., but I also can't think about writing that check on my own for a move.. Good luck to you!