Moving Options From Western Canada to Eastern US

[maplehoney 3]

Hi All,

 

My wife and I will soon be moving from Central Alberta to Cleveland, Ohio now that I have my CR1. I've been looking for the best way to move our 2 bedroom apartment and possibly a truck. Some of the threads on moving I've seen were a bit old, so I thought I would check to see what people have used recently to make a long distance cross border move. I know with gas prices now it will be tricky any way, but thought I would explore options. I have looked into UPack, but we would have to move our belongings to load in Calgary first, so that's an extra step.

 

Thanks for suggestions and stories of your experience!

[mam521 1,742]

If you own the truck, slim down your goods and rent a Uhaul trailer.  In 2020, we did Calgary to Houston for $700 CAD on the trailer rental plus gas and we got excellent gas mileage because we had to drive 62mph or the trailer would start walking.  My husband deserves a PhD in Tetris - the trailer was packed with every inch of space used!  

[sarrobo 18]

We've done the midwest Canada to Northeast US move 2x now (2011 and 2018). We used ABF UPack both times to ship all of our stuff (they're very good with cross border moves). Drove our car down with minimal stuff. This cost about $1200-1500 for a large one bedroom apt, which was cheaper than UHaul for us (we would've had to tow our car behind the Uhaul, neither of us were super comfortable with this). We took a decent amount of stuff, but only a couple furniture items. If you have a truck and can slim down your stuff to the size of a UHaul trailer, it may be cheaper for you. Check out ABF though - they had great customer service both times I used them.

 

ETA: Ugh, reading fail. I see you've already looked into UPack. SORRY!

Edited April 26, 2022 by sarrobo

[3LabMom 76]

I am in Calgary and UPack isn't even an option right now, this was our first pick too.  They have no trucks available until next fall, or at least that is what I was told a couple months ago.  We looked into PODs, but it seemed pretty expensive and very up in the air as to when the PODs would actually arrive.  I want to say it was around $8,000 USD (but we had to send the POD to Edmonton first!).  I also got quotes on packing our own stuff and having a mover load/haul it.  For us it is about $3,000 more to use the mover (delivery would likely be 4 days, worst case 21 days but would be able to give us a firm date once we have a load date), but we are willing to pay the extra $$ to save us some stress and we can enjoy our drive down when the time comes.  We have some time, so we will be saving our nickels and dimes.  Uhaul is hands down the way to go if you don't mind packing, loading and hauling it yourself as it's very economical.  I want to say the rental fee was going to be around $800 for us...it was a great deal!  But we aren't comfortable driving a huge truck and still having to find a way to drive two personal vehicles across.  Good luck!!

[ACC24 40]

Any recent experiences/suggestions on efficient ways (  $$ and professionalism of packing) of moving household things ( 3 BR townhome) between Toronto to North Carolina other than Upack?? Thanks!!

[farzady 42]

On 11/30/2023 at 1:51 PM, ACC24 said:

Any recent experiences/suggestions on efficient ways (  $$ and professionalism of packing) of moving household things ( 3 BR townhome) between Toronto to North Carolina other than Upack?? Thanks!!

Is there any issues with  Upack?

[ACC24 40]

15 hours ago, farzady said:

Is there any issues with  Upack?

Not really, we just wanted to hear more options and experiences better than Upack  If possible, would like to avoid us packing the bigger furniture and any items that does not easily fit into boxes. Thanks!