Ask , Ask , Ask ... "Mr. Moving Company, What do you charge?"

A professional moving company can save you time and keep your back muscles in working condition, albeit at a financial cost. Here are some of the most common charges levied by movers.

• Packing Materials - Regardless of whether you are boxing everything up yourself or having the movers pack for you, boxes of various sizes, bubble wrap, packing tape and loose packing fill will all need to be purchased. If you rely on the moving company to pack boxes, they will charge top dollar for packing materials (sometimes double retail value). Movers may also impose an additional packing fee.
• "Line-Haul" Charge - This is the base charge for the transportation portion of your move. Line haul charges are based on the distance of the move and the quantity of moved items (determined either by weight or cubic space occupied).
• "Long-Carry" Charge - The "Long Carry" is an additional charge allotted if there is an excessive walking distance between your home and the mover's vehicle. .
• "Stair" Charge - Similar to the "Long Carry" charge, most movers will add an extra fee if they are required to haul your furniture and boxes up or down an excessive amount of stairs. Some movers will charge any stairs in place (by the flight).
• Third Party Charges - Many services involved in a move are not handled by the moving company directly, in which case the movers will pass the charges from third-party companies on to you (typically without markup). Examples of third-party charges include appliance servicing (disconnecting & hookup), disassembly/assembly of exercise equipment or playground furniture/equipment and the crating of fine/fragile items
• Insurance Surcharge - The moving industry faces high costs for trucking insurance. Insurance surcharges help the moving company off-set some of the trucking insurance costs they pay on the truck(s) that actually transport your goods and furniture. Note that an insurance surcharge does not offer protection against the loss or damage of your goods.
• Valuation Charge and Supplemental Insurance - The valuation charge compensates the mover for assuming liability of your goods during transportation. Moving companies are required by law to have a minimum protection, and federal law requires interstate movers to offer you the option between two different levels of liability (learn more here). Some movers may also offer to sell or obtain for you separate liability insurance on top of basic valuation coverage.

Article by Dan Vick with Re/Max kc, 816-453-7400