Elephant Moving and Storage has just finished a USDOT random compliance inspection and has received a rating of ‘satisfactory’. The US Department of Transportation is the agency that is in charge of regulating the household goods movers that engage in interstate operations. Elephant Moving was picked randomly for inspection by the main office in Washington DC along with another 50 household goods movers in TX. The inspection covers every aspect of a moving company’s operations. Household goods movers must comply with paperwork regulations: moving contracts, moving estimates, moving tariff, claims files and more. The inspection covers safety regulations for drivers: alcohol and drugs programs, hours of service driving rules, accident reports and more. Safety regulations apply to the trucks as well as to the individual drivers. The trucks have to comply with maintenance and weight regulations. Elephant Moving passed this inspection with the best possible rating there is for moving companies! We were happy to see that Elephant Moving is fully compliant with the USDOT requirements. Perfectionism in the office leads to high quality moving services in the field! Thanks to our wonderful office staff for keeping everything in order and helping us be the best moving company in Texas!

It is SXSW weekend in Austin and Elephant Moving wants to remind you that some roads in the 6^th street entertainment district will be closed and many other streets downtown will be affected. If you are planning on moving in/out of the downtown area don’t forget to reserve parking for your mover as close as you can to the loading area (if you need to, park your car where you think will be the closest for the movers). You might expect some traffic delays so be patient – move day is already stressful. Call your Austin moving company and let them know if the road to your location is blocked and there is different access to your location. Here is the map for the road closures during the SXSW festival 2010:

SXSW 2010 road closures

The city of Austin has approved a “zero waste plan” (Read the approved Zero Waste Plan); the goal is to reduce the amount of waste Austinites send to landfills by 90% by the year 2040. In order to reach this goal Austin needs everyone to pitch in and help us become a zero waste community. Elephant Moving and Storage is the first Austin moving company to offer our customers a “plastic moving crate rental” program to encourage our friends and customers in Austin to reduce their waste. These plastic moving crates are an earth friendly alternative to the traditional method of packing in cardboard boxes. If you are moving locally in the Austin metro area Elephant Moving offers free drop off and pick up. Using the crates means you do not produce any waste from cardboard with your move and the crates will be used by more families and businesses that are planning an Austin move. So take action and help reduce Austin moving waste – use reusable moving crates instead of cardboard on you next move.

Place an order for earth friendly packing crate rental!

Get your local or cross country Austin moving quote now!

Place an order for moving boxes and packing materials now!

Did you know that Elephant Moving & Storage has teamed up with local Austin apartment buildings and communities to help save our customers money? If you live in one of these partner communities your management or leasing office can provide you with valuable coupons to help save on your next move with Elephant Moving! Simply visit the office and ask for your discount card. Partner communities include:

Verde Shadow Brook Apartments, Saddlecreek Apartments, Waterstone Apartments, Crossing Apartment Homes, Colonial Grand at Onion Creek, Terraces At Southpark Meadows?, Ridgeview Apartments, Regency Park Apartments, Deerfield Apartments, Sedona Springs Apartments, Stonegate Apartments, Villages of Bella Vista, Highlands Hill Country, River Oaks, SoCo Apartments, Alexan Onion Creek, Camden Stoneleigh, Gaines Ranch Apartments, Alexan City Lights, Austin Trails Apartments, The Cottages of Onion Creek, River Stone Ranch, Archstone Monterrey Ranch, Cliffs at Barton Creek Apartments, Barton Creek Landing, Austin City View Apartments, University Commons Apartments, Falcon Ridge Apartments, Gables Townlake, Barton Hills Park Place, 404 Rio Grande Apartments, Waters at Bluff Springs, Congress Square Apartments, State House on Congress, Hudson Miramont, Windsor at Barton Creek, Camden South Congress, Grand Reserve at Sunset Valley, AMLI Downtown, Park at Monterrey Oaks, Circle S Apartments, Breakers on the Lake, AMLI at Lantana Ridge, Camden Circle C Ranch,  Legacy on the Lake Apartments, Monarch, AMLI on 2nd, Robertson Hill Apartments, Villas on 6th, University Estates at Austin, Settlers Creek, Crescent Apartments, Gables Town Lake, Gables 5th Street Commons, The Triangle Residences, The Block on Pearl, Jefferson at West Campus, and many more!

Visit your office today to save money on your move. If the office is out of discount cards or is unsure whether they are a partner have them call our office at 512-442-6622 and we’ll be sure to send over another stack of discount cards for their residents! Many communities provide these cards automatically to new residents with their move-in packages, but these cards are good whether you are moving in or out, so be sure to ask for yours!

Get your local or cross country Austin moving quote now!

Place an order for moving boxes and packing materials now!

Place an order for earth friendly packing crate rental!

Our city is growing! The Austin downtown sky line has started to fill up and look more like NY these days. It is so exiting to see Austin’s downtown area changing and becoming a thriving metropolis.

As a local Austin moving company that works often in this growing area we have gathered some feedback from the field to help you pass moving day downtown faster, smoother and more efficiently.

Parking: make sure to reserve parking for the moving truck if necessary. Not all buildings downtown have a loading zone inside the parking structure, so if the moving truck needs to park outside on the street you want it to be able to park as close as possible to the entrance in a legal spot where the movers can load or unload without wasting time walking down the block and most importantly, without getting a ticket!

Elevators: reserve the freight elevator for the full amount of time that your Austin mover is expecting to load or unload. Ask the building maintenance to lock the elevator for your mover’s use during the entire estimated time of your move to avoid costly delays caused by waiting for the elevator or having to share with another building contractor.

Insurance: Some of the newer buildings require an insurance certificate from your mover – be sure to request this in advance and provide all of the building’s requirements to your Austin movers to avoid any delays or problems on move day.

Plastic Crate Rental: Did you know that Elephant Moving & Storage offers crate rental for commercial and residential moves in the Austin area? These earth friendly stackable crates cut down on waste, cut down on packing time, and best of all cut down on cost. Not only do they cost less than traditional cardboard packing materials, but they make your move a snap! The crates stack easily on one another and have special dollies to move them, which means your Austin mover will spend less time lugging boxes by hand, thus saving you even more.

Get your local or cross country Austin moving quote now!

Place an order for moving boxes and packing materials now!

Place an order for earth friendly packing crate rental!