The move itself
What happens if my dates do not line up?
The short answer
Storage in transit is the carrier holding your shipment between pickup and delivery, and it is common because closing and lease dates rarely line up. Beyond the fee, the cost is handling: the shipment is unloaded, stored and reloaded, which is more opportunities for damage than a direct move.
What to establish
- Whether the storage is the carrier's own facility or a third party's, and where it is.
- Whether your valuation coverage continues while it is in storage, and on what terms.
- How it is billed: by the day, the week or the month, and whether there is a minimum.
- How much notice is needed to schedule delivery out of storage.
- Whether you can access the shipment while it is stored. Usually you cannot, which matters if something you need is in it.
Pack a separate box of things you will need during the gap and keep it with you. The single most common storage complaint is that the thing someone urgently needed was in the warehouse.
The handling point matters
Every extra load and unload is another chance for damage, so if the gap is short, ask what a direct move with a later pickup would cost instead. Sometimes holding the shipment on the truck for a few days is both cheaper and safer, and it is not always offered unless asked for.
Also asked
Is self-storage cheaper?
Often, and it moves the work to you: you handle the loading and unloading at the storage end, twice. It also usually means your goods leave the carrier's liability, which changes who is responsible if something is damaged. Weigh both, not only the monthly rate.
General information about moving and about hiring, not advice about your move. Interstate household-goods moving within the United States is federally regulated; local, intrastate and Canadian moving is regulated by each state or province, and the rules differ. The authority for your move is the one to check.