Sirva to Become a Private Company

Posted by David Piotrowski

Sirva, the parent for North American Van Lines and Allied Van Lines, will become a private company effective immediately. Sirva’s stock will no longer be publicly traded. Sirva’s reorganization plan to emerge from bankruptcy became effective Monday.

For more information, please visit Transport Topics.

The Sirva bankruptcy has been discussed in earlier blog posts on this site:

1. Sirva Bankruptcy
2. Allied Van Lines — Bankrupt!

Protect Your Move

Posted by David Piotrowski

Whenever you move your household, you want to make sure you protect your move by taking appropriate and prudent steps to minimize the possibility of problems. To help protect your move, you should do the following before deciding on a moving company:

• Get your estimate in writing.
• Get moving estimates from multiple moving companies.
• Protect your move by asking your sales rep to clarify and questions you have before the move day.
• Ask the mover to provide you with their delivery timeframe.
• Find out of your estimate is binding or non-binding.
• Protect your move by asking if your mover will provide a visual estimate. This is required unless an exception applies.
• Protect your move by reading and following this moving checklist.
• Visit the Protect Your Move website. This is a website published by the FMCSA.

The Protect Your Move website says, “Moving to a new home is a significant event that is often stressful, and the U.S. Government, in partnership with the moving industry, law enforcement and consumer groups, is arming consumers with the information they need to protect themselves against one of the most stressful situations that can plague a household move: being taken advantage of by a dishonest or rogue mover.”

The Protect Your Move site offers valuable ways to help protect against moving fraud and offers helpful information on making your move less stressful.

Movers Charging By Cubic Feet

Posted by David Piotrowski

Two of the most common ways movers like to charge is 1) by weight (price per pound) and 2) by cubic feet (calculated by the amount of volume the shipment takes up). Both options are legal in certain instances. Many moving companies and consumers, believe that cubic feet charges are illegal at worst, or misleading at best. So long as the mover is reputable and trustworthy, charges based on cubic feet are perfectly legal and reasonable in many cases.

In order for a mover to charge based on cubic feet, the following must apply:

1. The mover must have a provision in their interstate moving tariff that allows for charges based on cubic feet.
2. The written estimate that the moving company provides to the customer must be binding (if the estimate is a non-binding estimate, then the mover may not charge based on cubic feet).
3. The written estimate must state that the estimate is based on cubic feet.
4. The cubic feet charges should be based on the accurate volume of goods, based on a physical survey (unless a physical survey exception applies).

In sum, movers may charge their customers based on cubic feet so long as the movers tariff allows for it, the estimate is binding, the estimate states the the estimate is based on cubic feet, and the cubic feet charges are based on an accurate measurement of the goods.