2020 Mayflower Moving Review

What we like

Mayflower offers many of the services standard for large moving companies, but a few standout features set it apart.

Mayflower’s standout features

1. It offers customizable moving packages.
2. It has comprehensive protection plans.
3. It has a large network of agents.

Services Mayflower offers

• Local, long-distance, and international moves
• Packing and unpacking
• Safe storage options
• Transportation for cars and boats
• Multiple coverage options
• Packing supplies provided
• Furniture assembly and disassembly
• Multimedia assembly and disassembly
• Military moves
• Transportation for pianos and other specialty items
• Cleaning services
• Moves for corporate and medical facilities

Mayflower moving prices

A lot of factors go into the price of a large move. Mayflower’s prices are determined by the total weight of your shipment, the price of gas, and the distance between your current home and your destination. Since these factors can be completely different from one move to the next, prices may vary.

That means Mayflower doesn’t offer specific pricing information online or over the phone, which can make your planning process a little more difficult early on. Quotes are only available after an in-home evaluation of your household goods. This policy ensures you get an accurate estimate, but it’s not ideal if you’re shopping around and want a quick answer.

Getting an in-home estimate

If you request a quote on the Mayflower website, you’ll have to provide your email, your phone number, and some basic information about your move.

Soon after you submit your request, a customer service representative will call you to set up a time for an evaluator to do a walk-through of your home. After the walk-through, the evaluator will give you your estimate. For convenience, you can also do the walk-through over a video call with the evaluator instead of coordinating a time they can come to your home.

Once you get your Mayflower estimate, you can head over to our moving costs article to see how your estimate compares to the national average.

Full-service package pricing

While Mayflower won’t give you an estimate online, the website does outline costs for the various moving packages you can choose from. Your move’s total price will equal the package base price plus your specific mileage/weight cost.

All Mayflower packages include the following services:

• A personal move coordinator
• Full-value protection
• Truck loading and unloading
• Flagship Protection
• Claim assistance
• Identity theft protection

Mayflower offers customizable moving packages

To make your move as stress-free as possible, Mayflower gives you the option to add their “convenience services” to your moving package. By bundling these services into your package, you can save money and make sure your move meets your unique needs.

Convenience services

• Debris pickup
• PC and network setup/disassembly
• Home theater stand mount setup/disassembly
• Home theater wall mount disassembly
• Move-out cleaning services (Plus 2 package only)

If you’re willing to pay extra, you can add any of Mayflower’s other services to your move as well.

Mayflower has comprehensive protection plans

For any large move, insurance is an absolute must. Even the most careful and competent moving company can accidentally lose boxes or damage a customer’s property from time to time. Luckily, Mayflower allows you to build your protection plan around your needs and your budget.

If you want to learn more about protection plans, check out our article on moving insurance.

Full-value coverage

Warning: there’s a little bit of math ahead.

Mayflower’s full-value coverage insures your shipment for $6 per pound. The cost of full-value coverage varies from shipment to shipment, but Mayflower’s base rate is $150 per load plus $0.55 per $100 of valuation cost.¹

For example, if your shipment weighs 6,000 pounds and you declare its total value to be $40,000, your coverage rate would be calculated like this:

$40,000 / 100 = $400
$400 x $0.55 = $220
$150 + $220 = $370

So, for $370 of up-front cost, your shipment would be covered for up to $36,000 of loss and damage. It’s important to note that the full-value coverage only protects your $40,000 shipment for $36,000. This is because the shipment weighs 6,000 pounds and the coverage protects your shipment for $6 per pound. It’s calculated like this:

6,000 lbs. x $6 = $36,000

While this difference might seem like a problem, you may not actually need to worry about it. The supplemental coverage included in the various moving packages should make up that difference for most shipments.

All Mayflower packages also come with a feature called “Flagship Protection.” This protection extends your full-value coverage to include damaged or missing pieces of sets (such as chairs in dining sets), mechanical/electronic malfunctions, and natural disasters.

Full-value coverage rarely covers anything that costs more than $100 per pound. For antiques, collectibles, and other belongings that would cost more than $100 per pound to repair or replace, you’ll want to get some additional coverage.

Additional coverage

While full-value protection is a great way to insure department store furniture and everyday household goods, some shipments require additional protection. If your load includes especially valuable property, such as a one-of-a-kind painting or an antique instrument, you can fill out a high value inventory form and pay to give it additional coverage.

The rate for this additional coverage is $5.50 for every $1,000 of coverage you want to add. For example, if you have an antique vase that you want to insure for $6,000, you can do that by paying an extra $33 up front.

Basic liability coverage

If you’re moving on a very tight budget, you can waive Mayflower’s full-value protection and go with the basic liability coverage that all moving companies offer for free.

This liability coverage only provides $0.60 of coverage per pound of your shipment. If your shipment only includes inexpensive and replaceable belongings, then basic liability coverage isn’t a terrible option—as long as you’re willing to accept the possibility of some loss.

But what if you were using the liability coverage and you shipped that $6,000 vase we talked about earlier? If the vase got lost or damaged in transit, you would only get reimbursed $0.60 for each pound it weighed. Even if the vase was particularly large and weighed nine pounds, you would get just $5.40, a tiny fraction of the vase’s worth!

Mayflower has a large network of agents

With a nationwide fleet, Mayflower is designed to help people with local and long-distance moves alike. Every agent in the network is directly employed by Mayflower, so you can expect any agent who handles your move to provide everything Mayflower offers.

This quality sets Mayflower apart from lots of other interstate movers. Many of these companies are actually brokerages, meaning they outsource labor and moving services to third-party companies. The downside of working with a brokerage is that you can get sub-par service.

Unlike a brokerage, Mayflower’s network ensures that only Mayflower movers will handle and store your belongings from pickup to delivery.

If you want to read customer reviews for your local Mayflower agents, you can check out the full list of agents in every city and state in the US.

International moves

Mayflower also has transportation resources in more than 150 countries. As with interstate and local moves, Mayflower handles shipping and storage for international moves internally, so you don’t have to worry about coordinating with another company in the country you’re moving to. Additionally, all of Mayflower’s moving packages can be used for international moves.

Our opinion

If you’ve got a big move in your future, you can spare yourself a lot of hassle and wasted time by going with Mayflower. While getting a quote isn’t as convenient as it might be with other companies, Mayflower’s long list of benefits makes it a great option to consider.

If you’d like to learn about other long-distance moving options, check out our list of the best interstate moving companies.

Sources

1. Mayflower, “Nationwide Interstate Relocation Tariff”