Planning a vehicle relocation with your move: Advice from ReloTrans

If you are moving interstate, you may require the help of more than just a moving company to complete your relocation. If you are flying to your new home, or only able to drive one of multiple cars, you may need to include vehicle transportation services in your move planning.

We asked our partners at ReloTrans®, a leading, independent provider of vehicle and specialty transportation services, focused exclusively on managed relocation, to share some advice with our customers who are need to plan a vehicle relocation with their move. With more than 14 years of experience in transportation, ReloTrans® had few tips for those embarking on a move and for those on the corporate side selecting third party service providers.

What’s a common mistake families make when planning a car transportation?

Vehicle transportation is very different from the process of shipping the family’s household goods and that is one of the most important distinctions that needs to be understood from the onset.

For household goods, the family’s items are typically on the truck alone or one of maybe two shipments, so the pick-up and delivery dates are more easily defined. With vehicle transportation the family’s car or cars are one/two of many on a car carrier, so the driver must make numerous stops both for pick-up and for delivery along the way. Because of this, it’s important, and we stress this with the transferees that we work with, to note that the car carrier is not going directly from point A to point B; they’re not going directly from the family’s existing home to their new one. Helping the transferee understand the spreads (range of dates) for pick-up and especially delivery are key.

One of the other major keys for a transferee to understand is that most often vehicles are being moved in an open air truck, or car carrier, whereas household goods are moved in an enclosed truck. This presents two additional differences that transferees need to understand.

  1. Because household goods trucks are contained, they can often get into tighter areas where car carriers cannot due to the risk of damaging the vehicles on the top row of the car carrier.
  2. Vehicles traveling on an open air car carrier are exposed to the elements, such as rain, road dust, etc., so it’s important to remind the transferee that their vehicle will likely need to be washed once it’s delivered.

Finally, and this is one that we review with every transferee, is the restriction that they cannot place items in their car for shipment. We’re often asked about this and it’s due to insurance regulations, but personal items, sporting goods, food, plants, etc., cannot be shipped in the vehicle. All household goods items must be shipped through the household goods carrier or carried on person during the final move trip.

How does ReloTrans utilize technology to differentiate ourselves from other transportation companies?

ReloTrans has a proprietary, cloud based, eTrans™ technology solution that provides all transferees with unprecedented real-time access to their comprehensive move data. Through eTrans, transferees have the ability to complete a pre-move assessment, check on the status of their move, track their vehicle, reach their Relocation Coordinator, and check the status of a claim.

Leveraging eTrans and our one-to-one counseling we tailor our experience to each transferee, based on their individual communication preferences. During our initial conversation with the transferee, we ask them about their communication preferences (telephone, email, SMS text messaging) and we align our process with those preferences. If they prefer more than one, then we make that happen. As a service based business, specializing in relocation, we understand that communication is key and we’ve invested in tools and training to ensure that ours is best-in-class.

ReloTrans works with a lot of moving companies, what are some qualities families should look for in a mover?

The moving industry is more competitive than ever today and there are many companies offering low cost, discount services. Buyer beware, because like many things, you may be getting what you pay for. Our best advice for anyone looking for a mover or transportation service is to do your research.

  • Conduct online research.
  • Did they come recommended? If not, seek out recommendations.
  • Review any and all estimates in detail.
  • Speak with them either on the phone or in person.
  • Ask about their communications processes, their support, insurance, and online tracking resources.

Responsiveness, attention to detail and excellent follow through on commitments are all qualities we pride ourselves on ReloTrans. There are many companies competing for relocation business these days, but not all of them are willing to put forth the customer service that makes a difference during this important and what could potentially turn into a stressful time in a relocating family’s life.

You can learn more about ReloTrans at http://relotrans.com 

Ready to plan your move with vehicle transport? Request a free moving estimate and select “car transport” under additional services.

Creating the Most Successful Yard Sale Possible

If you plan on moving you will be going through every last item that has been put away in your house for years. Whether you are downsizing and need to get rid of stuff or just realized how much extra “crap” you have lying around, a yard sale is a great way to declutter your belongings while also making a couple extra dollars. To ensure you have a successful yard sale you do need to plan a little ahead of time. Follow these tips to make sure your yard sale is a home run!

Preparing For The Yard Sale

Pick a Date: Your first step is to decide which day you want to hold your event. If you plan ahead of time you can even pick the best season to hold your yard sale. We suggest starting Saturday mornings and during the spring time. The earlier you start, the bigger the crowd you’ll get, as people are usually busier later in the day.

Gather Your Goods: Go through every room in your house and pick out things you don’t want or haven’t used in months. Be sure to even go through closets, attics, basements and garages. Even if you don’t want something, there are plenty of other people that would pay money for it. The worst case scenario is people won’t buy something.

Permits: Many towns now require that you have a permit in order to have a yard sale. If you’re not sure, then double check with the city or town hall to find out if you need one. If you try to have a yard sale without a required permit you can get shut down and fined.

Great printable signs at cul-de-sac cool

Advertising Your Yard Sale

The more people you get to your yard sale, the more you will sell. The better you advertise and people know about it, the more people that will show up.

Make & Place Yard Sale Signs: Most towns have laws prohibiting posting yard sale signs. Checking in with a clerk at your local police station will tell you what you are allowed and not allowed to do. If you are allowed to make signs then make sure they are easy to read from a passing car. Write “Yard Sale” or “Garage Sale” in large letters with your address and an arrow pointing to your house.

Online: The internet has become a critical advertising tool that all yard salers should utilize. People are using websites to look for Yard Sales in your area and you don’t want to miss out. When posting an ad online be sure to include dates, starting time and your address. If the site allows it, then also take some pictures of your hottest items to spark people’s interest. Some places online you can advertise include:

Preparing for the Sale

Cute ways to arrange displays at your yard sale (Via Good Housekeeping)

Now that you have your yard sale date picked out and people are going to stop by, it’s time to prepare for the showing.

Sort Items: In order to give your yard sale some organization and order, try placing similar items together.

Pricing Items: As a general rule of thumb, price items a quarter or third of what they would cost new. There are certainly exceptions to this rule, but at least it gives you a starting point.

Display & Ambiance: Make sure that your yard sale is easily visible from the road as catching people’s attention is crucial. Another tip to catch the eye of people is to place some of your more interesting items towards the end of the driveway. You can lure previously uninterested people if the see a handful of things that would make it worthwhile.

There is surely more that goes into a yard sale but hitting these main points will get your Yard Sale off to a great start.

After the Yard Sale

After your sale there will surely be things left behind. If you can’t give items away to friends and family hold off on throwing everything out.

Check out our blog posts on charities that will pick up furniture donations in Washington D.C. and Boston. You can also check out this furniture disposal directory from Wayfair.

You can also try listing & selling your leftover items on these websites and apps:

Done decluttering and ready to get moving? Contact us for a free moving estimate from Boston, Washington DC, and Philadelphia.

Olympia Moving & Storage Launches New Website

Just in time for moving season, Olympia Moving & Storage is so excited to re-launch their website; olympiamoving.com

The Olympia team worked on the new website for almost a year, and it is their most major website upgrade yet. As almost all our customers utilize the Olympia website to plan their move, get moving estimates, and learn more about this Boston-based moving company, Olympia wanted to overhaul and streamline the entire online experience for their clients.

The new website features:

  • A sleek, modern design that’s equally beautiful and functional on mobile devices. This was essential, as more and more of our clients are now planning their move on their phone.
  • Simplified navigation, designed to guide clients through the site to plan a move customized to their needs.
  • A complete content rewrite, clarifying and eliminating fluff to ensure that all the pages are valuable and setting the table for a transparent, guided moving experience for our clients.
  • Olympia’s industry-famous Move Planning Center has a new look and more content than ever, including a new How to Pack video series, easy access to The Olympia Move Portal (where clients can track and manage their move online), and address change tools.

This website launch is only the first phase to the changes coming to olympiamoving.com, with a new commercial website and online estimate experience coming later this year.