Should you negotiate with moving companies?
Moving budget is one of the most common worries people have when using the Chicago area movers. Depending on the distance your movers will need to travel and the amount of stuff they are transporting, the costs can skyrocket pretty quickly. This is why many people want to negotiate with moving companies. It has, after all, always been one of the best tools people have. You can use it to settle issues, provide solutions or achieve results that satisfy both sides. But how do you do it with someone who is setting the cost of their services, to begin with? Find out in this article!
You need to find leverage
In order to negotiate with moving companies, you need to have some leverage. This is the basic premise of all negotiations. Without it, you cannot really request for long distance movers Chicago to lower their price, since you do not know how these are formed. To get it, you will need to read up on the moving industry and get a lot of information. Then, you should also interview a couple of other moving companies to form a median price. Finally, figure out what you want out of your move – your goals and priorities.
This is why the first step is to get an idea of what goes down in the moving industry. Read up on what you should look for in a mover and the different services each company offers. Then, figure out what an average cost would be for your home – you can even use a moving calculator for this, but keep in mind that they come with a margin of error.
Get multiple moving estimates to better negotiate with moving companies
After that, you should contact your movers. Ask for estimates from a couple of them in order to get an informed opinion about the moving costs. This also gives you bargaining power, since you can use various costs when trying to negotiate with moving companies. This is a competitive industry, after all. The movers will want you to pick them, so they might try to lower the costs down to their competitor’s levels.
A thing to remember though is that you should aim for visual estimates. Those given online or over the phone are never quite as accurate. Instead, an estimator should come over to your home and see what you have around. You should also talk to them about special moving costs – like handing fragile or heavy items, packing materials, etc. All of this informs the cost of the move, and you can find out more about how the cost is formed this way. After that, all it takes is for you to compare different costs and form your own opinion of the move.
It’s important that you are not scared to negotiate with moving companies. After all, this is a part of the business. If they are firm in their decision, then you can always pick someone else. If not, then you will be able to save some money which is always a great thing.