How'd You Move Everything?

[Tala202 27]

So my husband and I have been discussing how to move my things down to Virginia for a while now and we're not quite sure how to go about it. I'm in Montreal, which is a ~11 hour drive from his apartment, so it's certainly doable by car, but his car is too small to fit my things and renting a U-Haul truck would be too expensive (gas & mileage; keep in mind he's only just started working full-time and I'm still in school, so money is a little bit of an issue). I don't have too much to move.. no furniture or anything, but a few boxes and probably two big suitcases mostly which would be filled with books, clothes, and other everyday stuff, with maybe a bit of kitchenware.

Anyway, I was wondering how you guys made/are planning to make the move from Canada to the US. I'd love to hear any suggestions! We've heard that Enterprise might be an option, but we've also received a lot of conflicting information, so we're not set on that.

[blest.but.strest 50]

So my husband and I have been discussing how to move my things down to Virginia for a while now and we're not quite sure how to go about it. I'm in Montreal, which is a ~11 hour drive from his apartment, so it's certainly doable by car, but his car is too small to fit my things and renting a U-Haul truck would be too expensive (gas & mileage; keep in mind he's only just started working full-time and I'm still in school, so money is a little bit of an issue). I don't have too much to move.. no furniture or anything, but a few boxes and probably two big suitcases mostly which would be filled with books, clothes, and other everyday stuff, with maybe a bit of kitchenware.

Anyway, I was wondering how you guys made/are planning to make the move from Canada to the US. I'd love to hear any suggestions! We've heard that Enterprise might be an option, but we've also received a lot of conflicting information, so we're not set on that.

Bonjour,

Well you got an option here, you can most definitely rent a minivan or a commercial van, most of the time the mileage are unlimited with those. The only thing is that you would have to bring the car back to Montreal. One way rentals to the US with Canadian cars are possible but very expensive, and not all companies do it. If all your stuff could fit in a minivan then i've seen minivans online at Trudeau airport (YUL) at NU Car rentals for 29.00/day, maybe even cheaper if you reserve the car a week or 2 in advance. Here check on this website www.Carrentals.com , once it tells you what company offers the cheapest price, check the companies website also, sometimes in cheaper going thru the rental company directly.

Make sure you make a list of everything you are bringing thru the champlain/lacolle border crossing for the CBP officers, that could save you hours at the border.

Hope this help.

Bonne Chance

Edited March 18, 2014 by blest.but.strest

[Tala202 27]

Bonjour,

Well you got an option here, you can most definitely rent a minivan or a commercial van, most of the time the mileage are unlimited with those. The only thing is that you would have to bring the car back to Montreal. One way rentals to the US with Canadian cars are possible but very expensive, and not all companies do it. If all your stuff could fit in a minivan then i've seen minivans online at Trudeau airport (YUL) at NU Car rentals for 29.00/day, maybe even cheaper if you reserve the car a week or 2 in advance. Here check on this website www.Carrentals.com , once it tells you what company offers the cheapest price, check the companies website also, sometimes in cheaper going thru the rental company directly.

Make sure you make a list of everything you are bringing thru the champlain/lacolle border crossing for the CBP officers, that could save you hours at the border.

Hope this help.

Bonne Chance

Thanks for all the advice!

We'd definitely like to rent something we could drop off in DC or something, so those minivans from the airport look great. Only thing is the prices for the mileage unlimited ones shoot up to ~$400 a day I'll look at the individual company websites tomorrow and see if they'd be cheaper that way.

OMG yes! Thank you so much for letting us know about that. I'll definitely make a detailed list of everything I'll be bringing in.

[Maria and Jason 55]

I didn't bother, left a lot behind, in the end it was simpler.

[NikLR 13,227]

Uhaul. Cost about 1600 total with gas for a 18hr trip. If you have a place to store some of it take it in trips. You have 10 years to move your things. You'll soon find out whats most important.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Just make sure you're allowed to drive over the border and dropoff is fine in the US.

I agree with NLR though - bringing your stuff gradually is good - just remember to bring everything really important on the first trip since you won't be back home for a while.

[serena28 2]

Just hire a moving company and let them take care of it.

I moved a lot of stuff from Toronto to NYC for $1300 (including sofa, bed, mattress and about 8 big uhaul boxes) Yes it was a cheap deal but they took longer (about 14 days because they have to consolidate your stuff with others.

Go online and call some cross border moving companies.

The other thing you can do is that you can fly over and usually its much cheaper to pay the extra cost of additional suitcase (on international flights its only $75 but I think with US flights its $50 per suit case with 50lbs allowed limit) $50 per suitcase is way cheaper than hiring a company to move your stuff. If you have heavy boxes then this option will probably not work.

You can even try shipping companies (not moving companies) that can move your boxes for a $100-$125 ( I shipped boxes to my sister from Toronto to Calgary with blender and kitchen stuff through Fedex for about $200 per box - the boxes WERE HEAVY!) So you can fly with suitcases and ship the remaining boxes through shipping companies. Moving companies can be tricky so this might be a better option since you have no furniture.

[ricnally 258]

look into Shipsmart for small moves without furniture.

[NikLR 13,227]

Shipping through fedex would be exponentially expensive across the border. I wanted to ship my husband's telescope to him once. Tried fedex, ups, and postal mail. Box was 22lbs, cheapest was $250ish. I took it as a checked bag next time I visited instead. $25 was better I thought. Lol.

Edited March 18, 2014 by NLR

[xprecious32 50]

Uhaul. Cost about 1600 total with gas for a 18hr trip. If you have a place to store some of it take it in trips. You have 10 years to move your things. You'll soon find out whats most important.

Really?? Uhaul quoted me $1400 just to rent the truck.

[Darnell 8,478]

you can get a decent Volvo stationwagon (940 or 740) for 1400 usd, drive it back and forth, then sell it. it'll hold yer stuff, I'm a thinkin...

[pro_star 52]

855 or 98 v70 may also work for this.

If you get a 99+ Volvo wagon make sure the etm has been replaced (electronic throttle had issues for the first few years)

[Darnell 8,478]

ew - a v70 or 855? no la. different electronics, needs electronics to run.

most 740s and 940s do not need that stuff. important on a longish road trip.

[pro_star 52]

Lol true but still decent and bulletproof. But even the "simpler" 245/745/945 may have some issues at this age. Montreal may have rust issues too.

(Had an s70 - sedan version) that I put half a million km on)

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Why doesn;t he rent a Uhaul van in VA - drive up, collect you and your stuff and drive back?