19th March 2024
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How to Save Money on Moving Trucks

 

Perhaps when you left home for your first one-bedroom apartment you brought most of your possession with you in the back of your car. Maybe your next moving vehicle, to a three-bedroom house, was a small self-move trailer. Then came a large truck, and the trunks and backseats of several friends to cart off the stuff that wouldn’t fit in the truck.

It’s not just you. We all tend to increase the amount of goods we possess to accommodate the space we have to fill. That’s why there’s self-storage.

The benefits of self-storage

Your family’s list of personal possessions includes such must-haves as the furniture, tools, equipment, clothing, utensils and small and large appliances you use every day.

It also includes the stuff that you know you can do without. These articles tend to wind up in yard sales or donation centers before the move.

But there’s a third category — the items you wouldn’t dream of parting with, but don’t have a place for in the new place. Maybe this includes your grandmother’s credenza or photo albums and mementos from your childhood.

That’s where self-storage comes in.

A self-storage facility can make your new home less cluttered. Give you a fresh start.  There’s another advantage: some self-storage facilities offer trucks at no additional charge. You might use such a vehicle not only to move your possessions to the storage facility, but to take everything else to your new home.

Know the fine print

While the truck itself might be free, there could be associated costs. For instance, you’ll probably be expected to return the vehicle with as much gas in the tank as it had when it left the premises. That’s fair.

Other deals, while technically free, might include a per-mile charge. And you’ll probably have a time limit, with perhaps an additional charge tacked on if you exceed it.

First ask the right questions and read the fine print before signing anything. As long as you know exactly what you’re doing, the inclusion of a free moving truck with a self-storage contract could be a deal you wouldn’t ever want to pass up.