Most moving companies – A-1 Freeman Moving Group is certainly one of them – offer their customers a number of short-term and long-term storage options. The industry jargon for this is “vanline” storage. Its cost is dependent on the company and the options you choose, of course.
But a good many Houston residents want to find their own storage solutions, rather than those of their moving company. It’s a good idea to compare|contrast|juxtapose|correlate]59] what vanline storage enables with what self storage provides. The chart below should help you do that.
| VANLINE STORAGE |
| SELF STORAGE |
| · The van line takes full responsibility for your move from A to Z. · You have the convenience of one-stop shopping for every one|each and every one]65] of your moving and storage needs. · You deal with just a single point of contact. · You rest assured that everything is being overseen for you professionally by one company. |
| · The burden of finding a moving company, plus a separate mini-storage facility, plus a firm to move your belongings out of storage falls right in your lap and [[your lap alone|no one’s but yours|nobody else’s]81. · You must turn your belongings over to staffers from multiple companies – a new company with new people at each and every phase of the transit-storage-delivery out process. |
| · “Delivery out” is included in the moving company’s storage fee. |
| · You must get hold of a local mover to move your belongings out of mini storage or do it yourself. |
| · All your items – particularly your more cherished furniture pieces and equipment – remain pad-wrapped and safeguarded while they’re in vanline storage. |
| · Once a driver delivers your household goods to the discrete storage warehouse you’ve chosen, he has to remove all furniture pads because they’re his or his company’s; you can’t keep them. You’ll need to hunt up something else to place over your stuff if you want it properly covered in storage. |
| · Your belongings are kept safe, secure, and free of pests inside the vanline’s commercial warehouse. |
| · Even though they can be safe and secure, many mini-storage units are too easily hold sway}132] in these places. |
| · The valuation on your possessions remains in effect – because the van line can continue complete coverage on them during transit, storage, and final delivery out. |
| · If your items are hauled off to discrete mini storage, the van line has zero liability for their condition while stored or when they come out of storage. |
| · Vanline storage has one possible disadvantage: While your possessions are in storage, you have extremely limited access to them. They can be retrieved, but that requires vanline labor and will cost you extra. |
| · Mini storage, on the other hand, lets you have full control of your personal items and access to them at any time. |
| · All vanline warehouses are built for tractor-trailer units and can accommodate a moving van. |
| · Many a tractor-trailer. That means the driver must offload your possessions onto a smaller truck to get them into storage. The upshot? Your possessions have to be handled one more time than would otherwise be required – which raises the potential for damage and could raise your costs. |
Weighing the pros and cons of vanline storage versus self storage, one must surely give the advantage to vanline storage. Your specific state of affairs, however, may lead you to some other conclusion. But the choice is yours. And it’s well worth considering early on in your move planning. Need some guidance deciding? Look to us at A-1 Freeman Moving Group. We suspect you’ll love the storage choices we have for you.
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