Before you decide to move your furniture over a long distance, read this. A guide to making sure you have all the boxes checked before the big move day.

What is a Long distance move?

What is considered a long distance move? Below are a few terms you might hear while hunting around for your ideal long distance Mover. Although termed differently from company to company, they all refer to the same service.

• Long Distance Moving
• Interprovincial Moving
• Intercity Moving
• Interstate Moving

Moving is anything that requires furniture to be collected and delivered more than 50KM’s outside of a main City or Town. A Long distance moving process is more complex than a local residential moving process, it would entail a larger truck, additional packaging services, different loading methods and more staff traveling with the truck.

See: Source a Move – Furniture Removals and Moving Company in Cape Town

Is long distance moving Safe?

The short answer is: Yes. Long Distance Moving is safe, provided you are utilizing a registered and qualified Moving company that will guide and advise you on the precautions needed to be taken to ensure a safe move.

What are the risks during a long distance move?

The first thing to remember is that your household furniture is not designed to be on a moving vehicle, this means that to ensure a risk free long distance move, safety measures need to be put in place. Below are some of the common problems that occur during a long distance furniture removal process.

1. Dents or damages
2. Lost or stolen goods
3. Truck collision or overturning
4. Late delivery

As you can see I have listed late delivery, this would be classified as a risk due to the potential expenses it could put on the customer having to pay for accommodation while waiting for their furniture to arrive.

How to reduce risk during a long distance move?

As the customer, there are six things to ensure when choosing to move your furniture over a long distance. By using these steps the risk of your goods being damaged in transit will be drastically reduced by at least 65% in comparison to customers who do not take the below precautions.

1. Utilize a reputable moving company
2. Request Comprehensive Insurance
3. Label your boxes and furniture yourself
4. have valuable items wrapped
5. Use heavy-duty boxes
6. Crate glass furniture

A good long distance moving company will recommend you to take these precautions, if they don’t, find another mover.

Moving insurance, Yes or No?

The answer is yes. Moving insurance is a must. There are two kinds of insurance that you will have options for, see below:

1.) G.I.T (Goods in Transit) cover

If you are using a professional and reputable moving company, G.I.T insurance should be supplied to you as a default insurance cover. Goods in Transit insurance cover will be limited and is not recommended to be the only insurance you opt for when moving your furniture over a long distance.

G.I.T insurance cover protects your furniture from causes such as water damages, overturning or collisions of the truck, thefts, and Hijackings. The total covered will be determined by the moving company you use, however, cover usually ranges between R100,000 to R150,000. (Important to note) With G.I.T cover you will not be able to claim for damaged and dents caused by the staff of the moving company.

2.) Comprehensive insurance cover

Comprehensive insurance cover is classified as an extra service and will cost the customer in addition to their removal cost. Comprehensive insurance cover is highly recommended and should be compulsory when choosing to move your furniture over a long distance. Comprehensive insurance cover does not come as a default cover and will need to be opted for when going through the booking process with your moving company.

Comprehensive insurance cover will cover you for more risks such as staff induced damages, where G.I.T cover will not. Each moving company has their own set of comprehensive cover options, which would allow the customer to opt for how much cover they would like. By taking out this kind of cover, you can have peace of mind that if damages of your furniture had to occur that you can claim back, which is a great way to have peace of mind while your goods are in transit. Please note, you will be charged an excess in the event of a claim, so when you select how much cover you would need, be sure to go a little higher with your cover amount.

How do long distance moving companies charge?

Prices will vary drastically from Moving company to Moving company, mainly due to each of them having its own internal pricing structure. There are several factors that affect the way a moving company charges, how large their trucks are, how much they pay their staff, the routes they will be traveling, the minimum profit needing to be made for them to cover these overheads, etc. Because of this, there is no sure way to calculate an average charge on how much your removal will cost. However, there are three main factors that you can look at if you would want to have some control of your overall move cost.

1. Volume (the amount of space your goods will take up on the truck)
2. Distance Travelled
3. Additional services required

For more information or to get a quote, visit:

What size trucks do long distance movers use?

A standard local Furniture Removal truck will average the length of 7.8M and the height of 4M, a Long Distance Furniture Removals truck will average the length of between 13.7M and 25.25M and a height of 4M.

Access issues / Truck restriction:

These are factors that will need to be considered at both your collection and delivery point if the truck will not fit through the main gates of your premises, as an industry standard this is considered an access issue. It will be important to notify your moving company of this before move day as it would require an additional service.

Long carry:

If the truck cannot enter your premises or reach within 40M of your front door, this is considered a long carry, long carries would mean that the moving companies staff will have to carry your furniture over a longer distance, increasing risk as well as increasing labour costs.

Shuttle Service:

A shuttle is a smaller vehicle that the moving company will supply to use as a method of transporting your goods between the entrance of your home and the truck, if the carry distance is too long. This service will incur added costs. An easy way to avoid this additional cost is to ask somebody that owns a bakkie to aid you, they would not need to do anything other than drive the vehicle, the moving company will do the rest free of charge, as long as the vehicle and driver are supplied by you.

How long does it take long distance moving trucks to delivery my furniture?

Provided you are using a long distance moving company that works on structured collection and delivery routes, you will be able to have an accurate and predictable date for delivery without any problems. The average long distance moving company would rotate between provinces on a weekly basis, with an average turnaround time of 3-5 days for delivery from the day of collection. In South Africa, scheduled route moving companies are not as common, so when selecting a mover, it will be important you ask them to be transparent with their route structures. A little moving tip: if your moving company does not work on structured routes, be sure that you are flexible with your move date, predictions of delivery could and usually does change as your move progresses, which could lead to a very uncomfortable situation for you as the customer if they exceed the initial promised delivery date.

Most affordable times of the month to move?

The most affordable time of the month to book a removal is between the 5^th and 25^th of each Month. The reason for this is that most leases begin on the last or first day of a new month, also known as peak time. Due to the large demand for removals on these two days, moving companies are usually fully booked and are unable to assist even weeks before month end. It will be important to be proactive and pre book your move at least 2 weeks in advance, the further in advance you book the better your chances of securing your move date and also gives you the opportunity to choose a time slot, the take away here is: it’s multi beneficial to pre book your move.

How soon should you book in advance to secure your move date?

Now, this is an important bit of information. On average, a customer would need to move at the last day or first day of a month, because of this availability is limited, and moving companies are usually fully booked. It would be suggested to book at least a month before your move date to secure a slot for your long distance move.

Can I trust the moving company I’m using?

Without destroying the idea of a pleasant moving experience, it’s important customers stay vigilant. When doing a business transaction between yourself and another business, there is a general rule of thumb, always look after your interests first and foremost, no matter how friendly or honest the person representing the company you are transacting with may be. After all, it is just business so keep it that way. The same principle should be applied when choosing a moving company to move your furniture.

There are countless clauses that could hurt you inside of a Moving company’s terms and conditions, read them carefully. This cannot be stressed enough. Below are a few things you can do to make extra sure that everything you are promised is everything you are getting come your big move day.

1. Ask all the right questions
2. Read their terms and conditions
3. Have everything in writing

Why do quotes vary so much in price from company to company?

Just like any industry, each moving company has their own internal pricing structure as to how much they charge for fuel, how much they pay their staff, how much they charge per cubic meter of space, and so on. Second to that, there are a few factors that customers don’t know about that cause this drastic variation in pricing.

1. Whether they travel a main route or not
2. The size of their truck
3. The size of their fleet
4. How many staff are on the truck

The infamous hidden charges:

So you’ve managed to get a good price on your move, and despite it being quite pricey, you’ve managed to pay it in full. there isn’t a more satisfying feeling than having paid for your move in full. Knowing that from here on out everything regarding your move will be taken care of, and the money you’ve managed to keep aside can now be spent on setting up your new home.

It’s delivery day, the truck arrives, and you get a call from your moving company, they tell you that additional charges have been incurred and your goods can not be offloaded until the additional charges have been paid up in full. Charges that you knew nothing about and were not on your initial invoice. You contest them and refuse to pay for something you weren’t initially made aware of, but get redirected to their terms and conditions instead.

If you do not pay this outstanding amount they will drive off with your furniture and drop it off at their nearest personal storage facility, the worst part is, their storage facility is in another province, and if you don’t pay for the additional charges they will hold your goods until you can cover the cost, insisting that they will be billing you additionally for each day that your goods are in storage. Sound familiar?

It’s important to know that some moving companies do this and some don’t. However, It’s a horrifying experience, and it’s better to be prepared to avoid ending up in the same situation. This is a common situation and is happening daily to many unfortunate customers who are not receiving the proper guidance while dealing with the wrong moving company.

Fortunately, there are ways to negate this from happening and this is how:

1. Check their terms and conditions
2. Ask the right questions
3. Get them to put everything in writing

Looking for a top furniture removal company in Cape Town to assist with long distance moving? Visit the Source a Move website for professional services today. Visit: