Shipping Canada-USA

[BlueOrchid 17]

Does anyone have any recommendations in shipping from Canada to USA. I see a lot of mixed reviews.

[acidrain 325]

Movers are a dime a dozen. We've opted to go the U-Haul route as the cost of paying someone to do the same thing is horrendous. Some people do PODS. Others hire big moving companies (Atlas, United, Bekins, etc). It might depend on how $$ you have.

[Ontarkie 14,378]

~~Moved to the Canada Furom, from K1 P&P ~~

[Ontarkie 14,378]

We did U-haul, upack wasn't an option for me they weren't near me. I called some full type of movers and they wanted something like 7k and that was just bs. 

[Flames9_RN 358]

Back in 2004 used Uhaul and it went fine.  1 thing to remember with Uhaul and I found this out a few yrs back when I moved my dad from Saskatoon to Kamloops....on the day of picking up ur vehicle, it may not be at the location you want to pick it up at!  We had to drive to Melfort (1.5 hrs away) to pick up our truck,lol   The lady at the Melfort Uhaul location says it happens a fair bit and yep, people are ticked off!!  If your in a bigger city, prob not an issue!.  They actually gave us a nice discount, so actually worked into our favor!! If you dont have a lot of stuff, then canada post.  I sold/gave away a lot..great time to lighten ones possessions!

[jle2234 68]

I used Atlas Van Lines in September 2017. The movers were awful and significantly damaged our furniture. The company has been terrible, fighting us over reimbursements that are rightly owed to us.

 

That said, shipping the items was very convenient. If I had to move internationally again (heaven forbid), I would probably opt to ship my items again -- just with a different company. Shipping companies will review your completed customs forms before loading your belongings for the move, which gives you some peace of mind to know that they are filled out correctly. There were no issues with getting our items over the border or anything like that.

 

Shipping was very expensive -- about $3,600 USD. I estimated that shipping was about $1,000 more than if we had rented a Uhaul and moved ourselves.

 

We opted to ship because 1) my husband has a high-demand job and it is hard for him to take more than a few days off at a time; and 2) we also had to bring our dog in to the U.S., and didn't want to get held up at POE (if they searched our belongings) and have the dog freaking out. So for us, it was worth paying for shipping for the convenience aspect.

[NikLR 13,231]

We drove a uhaul from middle of alberta to denver.  18 hours of driving, $3000 later including rental price, gas, and food. 

[acidrain 325]

On 2/14/2018 at 7:03 AM, NikLR said:

We drove a uhaul from middle of alberta to denver.  18 hours of driving, $3000 later including rental price, gas, and food. 

I swore up and down after our last U-haul fiasco I would NEVER do it again.

 

That was until I got quotes as to how much it would cost for movers. My goodness.

 

Even with my spouse taking a week off work, flying up here, hotels, gas and U-haul rental it's more than half the cost. I guess moving companies have to make a profit.

 

We are hoping to do it in 3 days (7 hours a piece). How was it for you or others who drove such a distance? Did you want to kill your spouse by the end of it? I'm trying to psychologically prepare myself.

[Flames9_RN 358]

u haul now has a new service (at least in the USA)  U rent their truck and then goto the site and find moving labor!!  Thats what we recently did when we did a local move....We packed....rented from Uhaul and then went to https://www.uhaul.com/MovingHelp/   and  picked out the company....there are reviews and prices do differ...worked out very well.

 

I drove from Greenwood NS to DC (Dec 2004) did it in 2 days.  Wife was suppose to fly up and then we drive down together, but she got sick just prior to it.  I like to drive, so not a huge deal.   Make sure u check out the truck before u accept it.  

[acidrain 325]

16 minutes ago, Flames9_RN said:

u haul now has a new service (at least in the USA)  U rent their truck and then goto the site and find moving labor!!  Thats what we recently did when we did a local move....We packed....rented from Uhaul and then went to https://www.uhaul.com/MovingHelp/   and  picked out the company....there are reviews and prices do differ...worked out very well.

 

I drove from Greenwood NS to DC (Dec 2004) did it in 2 days.  Wife was suppose to fly up and then we drive down together, but she got sick just prior to it.  I like to drive, so not a huge deal.   Make sure u check out the truck before u accept it.  

We used this service the last time. It's great because the movers are rated based on other people's experiences. The guys were so fantastic we used them in subsequent moves and will be calling them up for our next one!

 

I also agree with the comment about making sure you know where you are picking up the truck from. I called ahead of time and was surprised we had to pick up the truck from another location (in our case it was an extra half an hour). I was told not all locations allow their trucks into the US. U-hauls also do not have snow tires so one has to be cautious about when they travel.

 

We purchased a lock so when we stopped at a hotel someone could not easily open the door and help themselves. I wish I knew this before. We also parked the truck in a way a person could not steal the truck. There has been a couple stories of that happening.

[NikLR 13,231]

4 hours ago, acidrain said:

I swore up and down after our last U-haul fiasco I would NEVER do it again.

 

That was until I got quotes as to how much it would cost for movers. My goodness.

 

Even with my spouse taking a week off work, flying up here, hotels, gas and U-haul rental it's more than half the cost. I guess moving companies have to make a profit.

 

We are hoping to do it in 3 days (7 hours a piece). How was it for you or others who drove such a distance? Did you want to kill your spouse by the end of it? I'm trying to psychologically prepare myself.

 It was fine.  Hubs was very tired though as he did most of the driving (about 13 hours of it.)  The hard part was finding open gas stations in the middle of Wyoming in the middle of the night!  Plan your gas stops and stick to them!