You’ve probably heard that hiring a moving broker is not a good idea and can lead to very rough if not tragic move. As we’ve written about before in our article about avoiding moving brokers we recommend that you do not use moving brokers. It’s not just us, you can also read this article by the Washington Post and this article on White Fence. Or just Google “moving broker” and see the wonderful list of articles that appears.
The real question is how can you tell a moving broker from a moving company. Unfortunately it’s not that easy but I do have a couple of tips to help you if you’re looking at a website and trying to find out if the company is strictly a broker.
1. Does the company appear faceless? In other words, are there any pictures of employees, the office, their trucks or anything else that “personalizes” the company? And I don’t mean stock photos of moving trucks or employees. Seeing real pictures makes it very likely it is not a broker.
2. Is the company an agent of a major van line? If you see any signs on the site that the company is an agent of United, Atlas, Allied, National, Global, Mayflower, North American, Paul Arpin, Bekins, Stevens, Joyce or any of the other major lines that I happen to be leaving out here it’s likely that it is not just a broker.
3. Does the company provide you with a history of the business? For example: when it was founded, if it’s a family business, how it started etc. If there’s any type of history provided it’s most likely not a broker.
4. Do they have a physical address listed on their website? This is not a for sure but most moving companies will list a physical address and most brokers will not.
Determining whether the company is a broker or not by reviewing the website is not an exact science but by looking at these elements you can usually get a good idea. And in most cases you can determine if it definitely is a moving company.
One last thing to remember is that many movers will still have to broker some moves but it doesn’t mean that they are strictly brokers. They still have trucks, workers and experience with their own moving company and have more knowledge about the industry than a strict broker will. And if a moving company has to broker your move they are still a better bet than a strict broker. The ideal situation, however, is using a mover that will complete the entire move by themselves, with their workers and their trucks.
