Questions about DITY moves

kaynix21 · August 2011

I don't really know where to start, so any help, tips, advice is greatly appreciated.

H found a company online that gave us a pretty decent estimate to pick up our stuff and take it to VA for us so we can still take a road trip and stuff.

Their estimate is really low compared to others H has looked at, they estimating $995 while everyone else $2500 and above, I'm a bit shocked at the differences in these estimates.

So any help, advice, input would be greatly appreciated, thanks ladies!

Avion22 · August 2011

I don't know anyone who has done a DITY and hired their own company. I know a lot of people who have packed their stuff in PODS (or the like) and had it transported to their new location, or have rented a UHAUL truck or something.

My biggest concern about hiring a company would be their reliability. Moving companies are NOTORIOUS for providing an estimate, then taking your goods away, and then demanding more and more money before they will deliver your belongings. This practice is illegal, of course, but most of these are fly-by-night companies and they disappear before they can be found and prosecuted. Sometimes they disappear with peopple's stuff.

Even if the company your hire IS legitimate, I would be concerned about their ability to provide compensation for anything they lose or damage.

I know it's tempting to try and make a lot of money on a DITY move, but I would recommend that you actually do-it-yourself and maintain positive control of your belongings the entire time, or trust the moving companies contracted by the military. That way if anything goes wrong you have legal recourse.

NSL · August 2011

Avion22:
I don't know anyone who has done a DITY and hired their own company.   I know a lot of people who have packed their stuff in PODS (or the like) and had it transported to their new location, or have rented a UHAUL truck or something.

My biggest concern about hiring a company would be their reliability. Moving companies are NOTORIOUS for providing an estimate, then taking your goods away, and then demanding more and more money before they will deliver your belongings.   This practice is illegal, of course, but most of these are fly-by-night companies and they disappear before they can be found and prosecuted.   Sometimes they disappear with peopple's stuff.

Even if the company your hire IS legitimate, I would be concerned about their ability to provide compensation for anything they lose or damage.

I know it's tempting to try and make a lot of money on a DITY move, but I would recommend that you actually do-it-yourself and maintain positive control of your belongings the entire time, or trust the moving companies contracted by the military. That way if anything goes wrong you have legal recourse.

This times 100. If you want to do a road trip en route to your new duty station don't do a full DITY.

LemonLover33 · August 2011

We got DLA on our first move to our first duty station (this was almost exactly one year ago). And we made roughly 700 dollars on a partial DITY with two cars and traveling 4 fours. I enjoyed the partial DITY. It let us pack the super valuables and the stuff we needed until the movers brought us our homegoods. You could not pay me enough to do a full DITY.

Amaristella · August 2011

LemonLover33:
We got DLA on our first move to our first duty station (this was almost exactly one year ago). And we made roughly 700 dollars on a partial DITY with two cars and traveling 4 fours. I enjoyed the partial DITY. It let us pack the super valuables and the stuff we needed until the movers brought us our homegoods. You could not pay me enough to do a full DITY.

/Agree

Partial DITY's are the modus operandi here as well.

kaynix21 · August 2011

Killer Cupcake:
Contrary to popular belief, doing a DITY move actually does not make you a ton of money, if any at all.
After factoring in the cost of the uhaul, plus repairs and maintenance on the truck from the move here, we only made 200 dollars.
The money that you make comes from the dislocation allowance which you guys aren't eligible for on your first move to your first duty station.
If you want movers to move you, just have the military do it and don't do a full DITY. Do a partial.

I would love to have the military move our stuff....but H's OSO said that's not happening, so I don't have a choice. I don't see how you make money off of a DITY anyways and I don't want to DITY but that's what we're looking at.

So then my next question is what's the biggest difference between a full DITY and a partial DITY ?

MrsOjoButtons · August 2011

A full DITY = do everything yourself. Partial DITY = you only move PART of your stuff and the military hires a moving company to move the rest.

LemonLover33 · August 2011

Partial = you move as much or as little of your stuff as you want. It's not like you must move a percentage of it. We didn't move any furniture. We only packed some clothes, the dog, some pots and pans, open nonperishable food, our trashcan, family heirlooms, airbed, sheets, towels, and cleaning supplies. We forgot to pack our own pillows of all things.

Sibil · August 2011

Our last 3 moves have had large bodies of water between, and so will the next one, so I haven't moved anything but my airline luggage allowance. No way in hell would I want to deal with it all by myself after letting someone else do it for so long. If, in the future, a partial DITY were an option, I think the most I'd do is fully pack the car with clothes, some valuables (but not much since they're probably safer in the mover's control than my car) a few basics for cooking, and bins of books, just bc they're heavy yet easy to pack

britney5603 · August 2011

i know one person ever who did a full dity and made money, the moved across town to on base.. they said they made tons of money im not sure how believeable it is cause they said it was more the 4,000

we did a patial. moved all my husbands "valuables" with was the tv and other electronics ahah.... and some heavy things... we moved from nc to co... But we just packed up our car... layed down the back seats and filled it up.. we made less than 1,000 which was better than nothing dont get me wrong, But unless you can gaurantee your going to make something i dont think its worth it to move yourself

kyrgyzstan · August 2011

I can't imagine they'd do a full move for you guys for TBS anyway. It's only 6 months, and then they'd have to move you again. Yes, you can go, but spouses don't have to go. It's like moving for MOS school. If you want to go, then go, but of course you're not paid for.

Honestly? I wouldn't move. He's got a reserve commission, right? Or am I thinking of someone else? I'd stay put if he is, because won't he just end up back there again? I know you graduated recently, and I'd do whatever I could do put down job roots where I was rather than move for six months to Q and then again for whatever MOS school he'll be in, and then back to where I originally was.

pennymonsterrr · August 2011

H and I did a DITY from AZ to TN. It was hard work and the time it took to actually get paid back was a long hard battle, almost 7 months. We made out but shelled out at least 2K.

kaynix21 · August 2011

WishIcouldbeinthe'stan:
I can't imagine they'd do a full move for you guys for TBS anyway. It's only 6 months, and then they'd have to move you again. Yes, you can go, but spouses don't have to go. It's like moving for MOS school. If you want to go, then go, but of course you're not paid for.
Honestly? I wouldn't move. He's got a reserve commission, right? Or am I thinking of someone else? I'd stay put if he is, because won't he just end up back there again? I know you graduated recently, and I'd do whatever I could do put down job roots where I was rather than move for six months to Q and then again for whatever MOS school he'll be in, and then back to where I originally was.

We've thought about that, but bottom line is we don't want to be apart that long. I know he'll be gone quite a bit during TBS but we decided we don't really care. And no, he won't come back here. He's suppose to have an active duty contract. He was only reserves to finish school but he's suppose to be active duty. And his goal is to be an infantry officer, so if that happens he'll be in Q for a year and then PCS. But we will not end up back where we are currently living.

We were told he would get a home of record move since we knew they probably wouldn't move us for training. The OSO said they'll do a home of record out of VA for him when he gets his duty station but they won't move us now, which is fine...we just don't know where to start for a DITY and we've never moved this far before (our last move was 200 miles).

justaname · August 2011

We still have yet to get a dime for our DITY move that was June 2010. In fact they are apparently taking out $200/paycheck to pay back some debt that we cant figure out. Still working on it but H doesnt really work with the Navy, they kind of contract him out so he has to make an extra trip to base from his place of work (opposite direction from our house) to do any fighting. If you can get the military to move your stuff just do that. Actually getting reimbursed is a nightmare.

Avion22 · August 2011

If there is no chance of getting the military to pay, then my suggestion would be either:

A) Rent a U-Haul, pack everything yourselves, then drive the U-Haul across the country. You won't be able to do a road-trip as easily. You MIGHT be able to bribe a family member to do it for you if you trust them, they REALLY love you, and you pay all of their expenses (plane tickets, gas for the U-Haul, etc). Loading and unloading on either end could suck, but you can always bribe people with beer and pizza.

Pack your stuff into PODS and have them shipped to your destination. I have no idea how much this costs, but it's likely to be less than hiring a full moving company. Definitely look into their ammount of liability and how much they will reimburse (if anything) if your stuff is damaged/broken. Might not be much if you pack everything yourself -- unless the POD itself is physically damaged or goes missing.

hindsight's_a_biotch · August 2011

Uhm, correct me if I'm wrong but if they aren't willing to move you and won't reimburse you, it's not a DITY move.

kacasey276 · August 2011

We did a DITY move from NC to California.. We made about 4000 bucks.. It was crappy to move our stuff, but weve moved so many times and have always done it ourselves so it just made sense. I have never moved where the military moves us, so I dont have personal experience with that. However, with that being said- all of our friends who've had the military move them, have had their stuff broken or missing ( not everything of course but some things). I think moving in general just sucks

So either way is going to have their own perks and downfalls.

kaynix21 · August 2011

Thanks for the info.

I think we decided today we're renting a truck and driving out their ourselves and either towing his car and I'll drive my car and we'll caravan....or we'll sell his car, haul mine and drive together. His isn't worth crap so we're not sure we want it to make the move.

We priced out trucks between U-Haul, Budget and I'm calling Enterprise tomorrow. Is there another big moving truck company I haven't thought of?

Questions about DITY moves

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