Hopefully the days of brokers misleading customers and hiding behind unclear regulations have come to an end. Few, if any, consumers seem to understand the distinction between brokers and carriers, with the result being frustrated consumers who often feel cheated of their rights. As we discussed in our previous post, a broker is not a mover. The new FMCSA requirements compel interstate household goods brokers to comply with a number of rules and consumer protection regulations – in the past some of them have been similar to those required for household goods carriers. Under the new regulations, brokers will be subject to the same consumer protection requirements as licensed interstate movers. 

Brokers must include their USDOT number in their advertisements and on their websites; they must provide the same consumer information brochures as required of interstate household goods carriers; they must make clear their policies on deposits, cancellations, and refunds; and by January 1, 2012, must provide an increased $25,000 surety bond (currently it stands at $10,000). Brokers can now only provide estimates performed by authorized carriers with whom the broker has a current agreement, and then only based on the carrier’s tariff. Physical surveys are required for shipments located with 50 miles of the authorized carrier’s place of business. An electronic waiver of the physical survey is permitted only if agreed to by both the carrier and the shipper. Broker advertisements and internet sites may now only include names and logos of FMCSA authorized carriers with whom the broker has a current agreement. The American Moving and Storage Assoc (AMSA) also recommend that broker fees or charges should be separately identified on estimates, and clearly distinguishable from transportation charges. These changes mean that consumers should have a much easier time figuring out if the company they are dealing with is a broker or an actual moving company.

There’s so much to do when you are moving! One of the most important tasks during this hectic time is changing your address and switching over all your bills to your new place. Changing your address in a timely manner will avoid the inconvenience of misdirected mail and late bills and notices. Be sure to send a change of address to:

• Post Office: file a Change of Address form online or visit your local post office to forward your mail
• Credit cards
• Magazine and newspaper subscriptions (this may require several weeks)
• Bank accounts (if your bank doesn’t have a branch in your new city, open a new account and transfer funds
• Insurance Companies:
  • Life
  • Health
  • Auto
  • Homeowners/renters
• Vehicle registration, driver’s license, and motor club membership (click here for TX online drivers license services and click here for TX online vehicle registration address change)
• Voter registration (click here for TX voter registration address change)
• Utilities:
  • Gas (TX Gas Service)
  • Electric (City of Austin; Pedernales Electric) 
  • Water (City of Austin; LCRA)
  • Trash (City of Austin; TDI)
  • Telephone (AT&T; Time Warner Cable
  • Cell Phone (AT&T; T-Mobile; Verizon; Sprint)
  • Cable TV (Time Warner Cable; Grande)
  • Internet (AT&T; Time Warner Cable; Grande)
• Your buyer or old landlord (don’t forget to arrange for refunds of any deposits)
• Doctor and dentist (ask for referrals or check out WebMD then transfer prescriptions, x-rays, medical records, etc.)
• School records (ask for copies or transfer children’s records to new schools-AISD)
• Church, clubs, civic organizations, etc.
• Friends and relatives

Remembering to do these things, and do them early, will help ease your transition whether you are moving across the street, across town, or across the state/country.

We are very excited to annouce a new partnership with Move for Hunger. Our moving crews will be able to pack up any non-perishable food items that customers don’t want to bother with moving, and donations will be delivered to the Capital Area Food Bank. Help us help out Austin area families in need! Nearly everyone who moves takes the opportunity to purge their unwanted items of every kind. Customers are always telling us not to count pantry items in our estimates because they plan to eat or toss much of the contents. So let us help! Simply set aside your unwanted non perishable food and on move day inform your moving crew that you want it to go to our Move for Hunger program. We’ll box it, cart it off, and deliver it to the local food bank where it can be used by someone who really needs it!  

Move For Hunger Program Letter

I scheduled a move with Elephant Moving Co. on June 26th from Cedar Park, TX to Bee Caves, TX. I am sending this email to express my extreme satisfaction with the quality and professionalism that was showed to me on a very hot Saturday in Texas! I did not get the names of the men that helped, but both were extremely polite and proficient. I appreciate all the assistance and professionalism that was given. Have a great week!
-Betsy V,  Austin, TX

Summer is here! This means that in every city in the U.S. everyone is moving, and when we say everyone we mean it! 70% of all the moves in the U.S. are performed during the summer months. Elephant Moving & Storage has years of experience on how to pass the peak moving season successfully.

Your Austin moving company is aware of the increase in move requests at this time of year, so scheduling is highly supervised in order to ensure that we are able to maintain our high quality services on every move that schedules. Elephant Movers makes careful efforts not to overbook our calendar in order to make sure we can provide every customer with an accurate time for his move and the high quality services we are known for.

Elephant Moving maintains crews of professional movers all year round (we don’t use day labor or sub contactors); our field crews are trained in how to maneuver and transport house hold goods in the most careful and efficient manner using techniques that have been developed by us over 12 years in the moving industry. Every crew member goes through a background check and doesn’t hit the field before he is a aware of all the aspects of household moving during the summer. As we all know, the temperature in Austin routinely climbs past 100 degrees Fahrenheit – Elephant Moving makes sure that the crew is capable of working in extreme weather conditions and that they have enough water with them for their day of work.

Your local Austin and San Antonio movers are affiliated with all the major truck rental companies in town in order to supplement our fleet of trucks whenever necessary. Elephant Moving can provide the trucks needed for any size move on short notice.

Summer is hectic, but with the right preparation your Austin movers make sure that every customer gets his money’s worth on each and every move!

Did you know the Western region is the most popular destination to move to in the United States, and the Great Lakes region sees the most outward bound migration? According to a recent van line migration study Michigan, Illinois and Indiana are 3 of the top 5 states that experienced the most outward bound moving. Washington DC was the most popular destination to move to, just ahead of Oregon which has had a high rate of inbound migration for 21 years! Nevada and Wyoming also experienced high rates of inbound moving.

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!

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!