Best Interstate Moving and Storage Review: How Can It Simplify Your Move?

Best Interstate Moving and Storage (BIMS) is a moving brokerage company that connects you with a network of moving professionals to find the best situation for your out-of-state move. We all know what a headache researching and vetting moving companies can be, and Best Interstate Moving and Storage could offer relief by doing the research and negotiations for you.

The question remains, however: Do all of its negotiations pay off in your favor or are you better off enduring the headache and finding a good deal yourself?

Let’s walk you through our experience and tell you why trusting your move to Best Interstate Moving and Storage can do more than just cure your moving headache—it might save you some money, too.

What services does Best Interstate Moving and Storage offer?

BIMS offers a wide range of moving services to cater to the size and specific needs of both your move and your budget.

Services Best Interstate Moving and Storage offers:

• Long-distance moving
• Business and commercial moving
• Corporate relocation
• Over-the-phone estimates
• Boxes and moving supplies
• Packing and unpacking
• Furniture disassembly and reassembly
• Loading and unloading
• Custom crating
• Piano transport
• Auto transport
• Basic liability coverage
• Full-valuation coverage
• Temporary storage and storage in transit
• Assistance setting up home services and utilities¹

Many of the services are included in the cost of your move, but options like packing and unpacking, boxes and supplies, custom crate creation, piano and auto transport, and full-valuation coverage require an additional cost.

Check out the table below to get a better idea of which services are free and which will cost you a bit extra.

*Storage is free for the first 30 days and costs $0.05 per pound for every additional month.

How much does Best Interstate Moving and Storage cost?

Your overall moving cost with Best Interstate Moving and Storage will vary based on the specific conditions of your move. Since it specializes in long-distance moves, most of its charges aren’t based on an hourly rate like many local movers might be. It negotiates with its network of movers and bases your estimate on factors like the distance of your move, the time of year, the weight of your belongings, and the services you opt in to.

To give you an idea of what to expect to spend, we mystery shopped Best Interstate Moving and Storage and requested a quote for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house.

Here are the basic stats for our move.

• Estimated volume: 6,984 lbs. (998 cu. ft.)
• Distance: 1,071 mi.
• Time of year: Mid-January
• Additional services: Full-service packing
• Estimated Cost: $6,772.72

Depending on whether or not we chose to remove packing from our estimate or add the low-deductible option for full-valuation coverage, our price could range anywhere from $5,649.22 to $8,029.72.

You’ll likely see higher prices elsewhere for a similarly sized move. Although there are many contributing factors, two stand out above the rest: over-the-phone moving estimates and a pretty impressive price-matching policy.

We’ll dive into both of these later to show you how each benefits your move and affects your final costs.

If you’re planning a smaller household move than what we’ve outlined above, you can expect to pay a bit less, while those planning larger moves that require additional services should expect to pay more. Our estimate can serve as a good point of comparison, but the best way to get an accurate picture of what your moving costs will be is to call Best Interstate Moving and Storage and get an over-the-phone estimate.

What you can expect from a Best Interstate Moving and Storage move

Scheduling your estimate

After conducting some initial online research, the next phase in finding out which mover is right for you is scheduling an estimate. While many full-service movers require an in-home estimate, Best Interstate Moving and Storage conducts its moving estimates over the phone.

This presents two distinct advantages: first, you don’t have to take time out of your day for a stranger to come into your home to peruse through your belongs for an in-home estimate; and second, it helps drive down the cost because BIMS doesn’t have to pay the person who would be doing the perusing.

BIMS lets you schedule your over-the-phone estimate in two ways—filling out a simple online form or giving them a call. If you want to get the ball rolling but don’t have a lot of time to spend on the phone that very moment, I recommend filling out the form. It only takes a minute and a representative will call you back to walk you through your estimate or set up a time that works better for you.

If you have a spare 30–40 minutes and want to get everything out of the way, I recommend just giving them a call. After trying it myself, this was my favorite of the two experiences.

Your over-the-phone estimate

Overall, my over-the-phone estimate was a very pleasant experience. It allowed me to avoid some of the common pain points of an in-home estimate including taking time off work, making sure the house is clean, hoping the moving coordinator doesn’t open the closet the vintage Cabbage Patch Kids collection lives in, etc.

My estimate lasted just over forty minutes and I can confidently say not a single second was wasted. The consultant I spoke with began the call by asking for some basic information like the start and end locations of my move and my preferred moving date. After that point, she explained the pick-up dates have a three-day window and asked whether or not that would be okay.

Once you provide those pieces of information, your BIMS representative will ask if you would like to proceed with your moving estimate and then share some information about Best Interstate Moving and Storage—including its price-matching policy, which I’ll explain a bit more later.

Taking your inventory

Next, your representative will ask you to list the things you’ll need moved. I decided to go through my inventory room by room to keep my thoughts a bit more organized. If you are at home while you make this call, you could even walk from room to room and list your inventory that way. This might help produce a more accurate inventory of your belongings than if you did it from memory.

As I was explaining what items were in each room, my representative reminded me to include any framed photos that were on the walls and to clarify the size of certain belongings. She also asked the sizes of cabinets and cupboards and whether or not they were full to get an accurate estimate of their contents.

These reminders and clarifications are incredibly helpful in accounting for all of the belongings you need to move—especially if you aren’t at home when you make this call.

Going over perks and additional services

After you finish listing your items for your inventory, your representative will likely ask if you’d like any additional services like packing, piano or auto transport, or storage. They will also explain the Best Interstate Moving and Storage price-matching policy, Price Plus Promise.

The Price Plus Promise states that Best Interstate Moving and Storage will match any quote from another full-service four- or five-star moving company for the same estimated weight until your moving day.² My representative encouraged me at multiple points during our call to seek out quotes from other full-service movers to compare the costs. She assured me if I found a cheaper estimate, BIMS would match it.

Toward the end of the call, my representative emailed me my moving estimate so I could review it while I was still on the phone with her and ask any questions. The instant availability of your moving estimate isn’t just a small perk either—it can save you hours of playing phone tag if something on the estimate is incorrect or you have questions about specific services. I loved immediately knowing what I could expect to pay for my move.

Packing your belongings

If you’d rather not pack your belongings yourself, Best Interstate Moving and Storage will pair you with a full-service mover who offers packing and unpacking services.

During my over-the-phone estimate, my representative explained packing prices are based on the number of boxes you need during your move—not the time it takes to pack. She also said you won’t be charged for any boxes the packers don’t use. So unless you desperately want to use your leftover boxes to build the box fort of your dreams, you can save a bit of money on your final moving costs by returning any unused boxes.

Another way to minimize your packing costs is by asking your movers to pack a few select items instead of packing your whole home. This allows you to save money by packing most of your home yourself while leaving fragile or valuable items to the professionals.

The packing costs vary based on the type of box, and possibly even the moving company BIMS contracts with, but here are some of the prices I was given for my move:

*These prices are specific to our moving quote and may change based on a number of different factors. We recommend you call and speak to a Best Interstate Moving and Storage representative to get the specific packing prices for your move.

Since Best Interstate Moving and Storage doesn’t charge for the time it takes to pack your boxes, it looks like it builds the labor costs into the price of the boxes used to pack your belongings.

Buying boxes and supplies for DIY packing

If you decide you’d rather do all of the packing yourself, BIMS has a handy online resource to purchase anything from single boxes and rolls of packing tape to full-fledged moving kits.

The website has quite a few options to choose from, but we chose some of the most common boxes and packing kit options to give you an idea of what you can expect to spend.

Other packing services

Best Interstate Moving and Storage doesn’t simply find movers to pack your belongings. Its network of movers offers additional packing services, too—many of which are included in the cost of your move.

At no cost to you, your movers will disassemble and reassemble your furniture, protect your furniture with quilted blankets, take an itemized inventory of your belongings (or your boxes, if you did the packing), and load and unload the moving truck.

You can also pay extra for other services like custom crate creation for large or bulky items, or transport services for your car or piano.

Best Interstate Moving and Storage box pricing

Small boxes

• 15 for $28.00
• 25 for $35.00

Medium boxes

• 10 for $29.99
• 20 for $41.00

Large boxes

• 6 for $29.99
• 12 for $41.00

Best Interstate Moving and Storage moving kit pricing

1-2 room kits

• Economy Kit – $39.99
  • 5 small boxes
  • 10 medium boxes
  • 110 yards of packing tape
  • 1 marker
• Basic Kit – $49.99
  • 9 small boxes
  • 9 medium boxes
  • 110 yards of packing tape
  • 1 clamshell tape dispenser
  • 24 feet of bubble roll
  • 3 pounds of wrapping paper
  • 1 marker

3-4 room kits

• Economy kit – $99.95
  • 10 small boxes
  • 20 medium boxes
  • 10 large boxes
  • 220 yards of tape
  • 2 markers
• Basic kit – $129.95
  • 18 small boxes
  • 18 medium boxes
  • 9 large boxes
  • 110 yards of packing tape
  • 1 clamshell tape dispenser
  • 48 feet of bubble roll
  • 6 pounds of wrapping paper
  • 2 markers

5-6 room kits

• Economy kit – $198.50
  • 10 small boxes
  • 20 medium boxes
  • 22 large boxes
  • 10 extra-large boxes
  • 220 yards of tape
  • 2 markers
• Basic kit – $211.95
  • 18 small boxes
  • 18 medium boxes
  • 21 large boxes
  • 10 extra-large boxes
  • 110 yards of packing tape
  • 1 clamshell tape dispenser
  • 48 feet of bubble roll
  • 6 pounds of wrapping paper
  • 2 markers

Moving to your new home

Calculating the cost

Once the moving truck is all packed up and ready to go, it’s time to head off to your new home. Best Interstate Moving and Storage bases transportation and moving costs on a few different parameters, so we’ll break down our BIMS moving estimate so you can better understand what to expect for your move.

Remember, even if you’re moving a similarly sized home an equivalent distance, your costs may differ from ours. The only way to get a clear idea of your moving costs is to call and complete an over-the-phone estimate.

*This table is meant to serve as a general example of what you can expect for your moving costs and does not guarantee the price of your estimate by Best Interstate Moving and Storage.

Full-service moving companies often base your estimate on the distance of your move and the weight of the belongings that you’ll be moving. BIMS follows a similar trend, but it doesn’t use the distance of your move to directly calculate your transportation costs, unlike traditional moving companies.

The distance of your move influences which mover BIMS will choose for you. If you move 1,000 miles, BIMS may assign one mover. If you move 2,500 miles, it may assign a different mover. Although each mover works with BIMS, the two may charge slightly different rates for your cost per pound to complete your move.

Even though Best Interstate Moving and Storage includes a fuel surcharge in your estimate, the estimate also states that transportation, taxes, tolls, and mileage are included in the cost of your move. This means it calculates these into the total moving cost up front, and you won’t have any unexpected fees pop up once your move is complete.

Volume also comes into play in calculating costs—which may be why BIMS charges an additional $200 fee for moving a washer and dryer. Other bulky items might require a fee too, so be sure to ask about any large items you own to see how those will affect the price of your move.

You’ll also see a “binding estimate fee” on your estimate. Best Interstate Moving and Storage doesn’t offer a true binding estimate, however. Traditionally, binding moving estimates are fixed-priced estimates—meaning you pay the estimated cost, whether your shipping weight is far greater or far less than the original estimate.

BIMS structures its binding estimate a little differently. Once you decide you’d like to choose BIMS for your move, you must pay a reservation fee. Our fee was about 20% of the cost of our estimate and went toward paying the balance of the final bill.

This left $5,440.73 on the balance of our estimate. Half of this ($2,720.36) would be collected during pickup and the remaining cost would be due at delivery and depend on the actual weight of the move. If the actual weight matched the estimate, we would pay the remaining half of the balance. If the actual weight was less, we’d pay less. If it was more, we’d pay more.

The BIMS representative I spoke to said it was very rare for anyone to exceed the estimated weight of their move, so it may not be something you’ll have to worry about too much. Even so, because this part of the estimate cost still fluctuates, I wouldn’t call this a true binding estimate. It may still work out in your favor, though, if your shipment weighs less than expected.

Protecting your belongings

Moving coverage

Best Interstate Moving and Storage offers two levels of coverage to protect your belongings as your movers make their way to your new abode: basic liability and full-value coverage.

Every move comes with basic liability coverage as a free benefit. The basic liability limit provides coverage up to $10,000 and is based on $0.60 per pound per item. Even though it’s free, this isn’t a substantial amount of coverage and won’t cover much if something gets damaged during the course of your move.

For instance, if the movers drop your 30-pound crystal corgi while loading the truck, BIMS will only pay $18 to replace the poor shattered pup—regardless of its actual value. (Let’s be real though, that corgi is priceless.)

BIMS also offers full-value protection, which you can purchase for an additional fee. For our moving estimate, it quoted a protection amount of $41,904. This works out to roughly $6 of value for each pound we’re moving. If you’re moving a lot of valuables and think you might need coverage above $6 of value per pound, make sure to let your BIMS representative know during your over-the-phone estimate and they will walk you through your options.

We recommend full-value protection for most moves since it provides a far greater amount of coverage and isn’t limited to a certain dollar amount per item. If you purchase the full-value protection and something happens to any number of delicate dog statues, as long as their total value is lower than your quoted protection amount ($41,904 in our case), BIMS has you covered.

The cost of full-value protection depends on the deductible level you choose. Our quote listed a $500 deductible and a $1,000 deductible. The $1,000 deductible was the cheaper of the two options and would cost $838 for our move. If you would like a lower deductible, you’ll pay a bit more up front—our $500 deductible plan was listed at $1,257.

Despite needing to pay a deductible on top of the cost for full-value protection, I still recommend choosing it over basic liability for almost any full-service move.

Storage

BIMS works with its network of movers to offer both short- and long-term storage for your move. During my over-the-phone estimate, my representative told me that storage is free for the first 30 days and costs $0.05 per pound for each additional month you need. She also let me know there isn’t a limit to the amount of storage you can use. BIMS will simply base the size of the storage container on the items you need to store.

Many full-service movers don’t offer a free period of storage and several set high minimum charges to store your belongings, even if you need to store a single piece of furniture. Knowing BIMS offers 30 days of free storage puts it head and shoulders above some of the other movers in the industry in this regard.

Our recommendation

Best Interstate Moving and Storage is a great option if you are preparing for a long-distance move and want to quickly learn just how affordable a full-service move can be. Since BIMS is a moving brokerage company, it negotiates with its network of moving companies to get you the best price based on your various moving needs—saving you from the headache of doing the research yourself.

Not only does BIMS find you the best price among its own network of movers, it’ll also match the price of any other four- or five-star full-service mover if you find a lower price somewhere else.

Price is only part of the equation though. We also enjoyed the convenience of the over-the-phone moving estimate, the pricing transparency of our quote, and the range of moving supplies available through the BIMS website.

In the end, your overall moving experience will depend on the mover Best Interstate Moving and Storage chooses for you. Be sure to ask which company will be completing your move during your estimate so you can look at its customer reviews online.

Have you scheduled a move with Best Interstate Moving and Storage? Leave a review and let us know about your experience in the comments below!

Sources

1. Best Interstate Moving and Storage, “Home Services”
2. Best Interstate Moving and Storage, “Best Interstate Moving Benefits”