Reasons why you should always ask for a contract

Moving is complicated. There are many aspects of the move that you have to take care of. From hiring a good moving company and preparing your moving budget to packing the entire household. For this reason, sometimes it is easy to overlook some important details. However, one thing you should not skip is a moving contract. Some companies might not offer one, which is a huge red flag. That is why you should always ask for a contract. Apart from this reason, there are many more. In order to avoid unpleasant situations, here are all the reasons why the moving contract is so important. 

Finding the best moving companies 

Before you can demand a contract, you need to find a good moving company. It is hard to organize a move without professional help. Movers are qualified to take care of your most valuable and fragile items. For this reason, find the movers that you like the best. However, when you search for some possible candidates, pay attention to moving reviews. They can be a quite good indication if the company is reliable or not. In addition to this, try to hire your company for at least 8 weeks in advance. If this is not possible for some reason, then you can find some good last-minute movers. Even in that case, you should always ask for a contract. Do not forget to skip this step even if you are in the hurry. 

Why you need to always ask for a contract 

A moving contract includes all the important details about your move. Those details are listed below. 

• The distance and mileage between two locations 
• Policies in the case of damage or loss of your personal property during the loading, transportation, and unloading 
• Moving insurance and what is covered 
• Specific conditions in the case of valuable items 
• Procedure concerning the complaints 
• Additional fees 
• Payment terms 
• Delivery dates 
• All the contact information 
• Inventory list 
• The number of boxes  

Once you receive your moving contract, make sure to read carefully through it. If something is missing, do not hesitate to ask why it is not included. This is your move and you have every right to demand your rights. Just do not forget to be polite. 

A contract is a good indication of whether the company is a reliable one 

When you are moving, you should be able to trust your moving company. After all, they will be responsible for your items. It would be a huge setback if they do not deliver your items on time, or even worse, they lose or damage your property. For this reason, it is important to always ask for a contract. As you can see from the previous paragraph, a moving contract should contain all the necessary information regarding the whole procedure. Anything can happen during long transport. You should be able to find guidelines about what to do in those situations. In addition to this, if movers do not offer the contract, this is a sign that you should find another moving company. Luckily, there are many of them, so you can easily hire another one that does offer a moving contract. 

What to avoid when asking for a contract 

As you can probably tell by now, you should always ask for a contract. However, some moving companies, usually the fraudulent ones, will offer a contract but rather the unconventional one. They might go for an oral agreement. This you should avoid at all costs. You can never know what movers can add and force you to pay some additional unnecessary fees. For this reason, always ask for a contract in a written form. This way, you will have solid evidence of your agreement if something goes wrong. In addition to this, some movers may offer blank contracts. Again, avoid these as well since movers can add whatever they want.  

Always ask for a contract and do not hesitate to ask questions 

Since this is your move and your money, you should ask all the questions you have. Moving contracts have special terminology that you might not be familiar with. For this reason, you can and you should ask for clarification if you do not understand. In addition to this, you should discuss your move with your movers. The reason is quite simple, you can see if there are some additional fees you will have to pay. Your driveway might be too narrow, the furniture cannot fit into the elevator, you live on the tenth floor, and so on. These are all the situations where your movers have to find another way to carry your items to the moving truck. For this reason, you should warn the movers in advance so they can prepare properly. Lastly, all these things should be mentioned in your moving contract.

When you need to file a claim against your moving company

In the case of damage and loss, you need to file a claim against your moving company. Your moving contract will serve as evidence in this case. Here is how you can do this.

• Talk to your moving company – the first solution is to speak with your company and try to solve it between you two
• Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration – the FMCSA can resolve the issue on your behalf. The moving company have 30 days to acknowledge the claim and 120 to resolve or deny it
• The American Moving and Storage Association – visit the AMSA website where you can fill out the form
• Better Business Bureau – the BBB will contact the movers and the company has to respond in 14 days. If you want to solve the claim quickly, go for this solution
• Small Claims Court – only if you do not have any other option available

The reasons you need to have a moving contract

As you can see, there are many reasons why you should always ask for a contract. For this reason, do not forget to ask for one.