Hire a Moving Company in Cape Town

Hire a Moving Company in Cape Town

Elliott Mobility House Moving

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How to Hire a Moving Company in Cape Town without Getting Scammed

Few places in the world offer the entire package like Cape Town: ocean, forest, adventure, food, wine, wildlife, nightlife, and 10-months of fun in the sun. Stretching seductively along the coastline and under and around Table Mountain, Cape Town is the muse for countless award-winning travel photos. Topping the Globes Greatest Cities list by the Telegraph Travel Awards and named the Top City in Africa & the Middle East, as well as one of the Best Places to Visit by US News & World Report, Cape Town provides its residents with an array of safe suburbs with properties at realistic rentals and sales prices.

 

Cape Town Property Market Experiencing a Surge

Despite lockdown fuelling economic difficulties, South Africa is experiencing a property market correction, with prime forecasts growing by 5% from 2020 to 2021. We are no longer just in a buyer’s market, but sellers are flipping their homes at a rapid pace. Property prices are increasing, and interest rates are the lowest since the Great Depression. That means it is now more accessible for first-time buyers to enter the market, retirees to downscale, and families to upscale. However, it is not just homeowners fuelling the Cape Town property wheel.

The pandemic has thrown the global workforce into a spin, causing a massive ripple effect on the livelihoods of millions of South Africans. Besides the human impact, lockdown forced hundreds of businesses to shut their doors or downscale to smaller and cheaper premises, sending businesses running toward the suburbs. Whereas some took their brand online, others put in place remote working policies, reducing the need for city office rentals. That created a property surge, increasing the hiring of moving companies in Cape Town.

 

Capetonians Downscaling Workspaces and Upscaling Living Spaces

With social distancing, remote working and outsourcing the new normal, Cape Town residents are trading in their plush city office workspaces, skyscraper loft apartments and homes for spacious suburban properties that are both safe and spacious to set up an office. Downscaling workspaces and upscaling home spaces makes good common sense. However, that means hiring one of many moving companies in Cape Town to get your life investment from A to B. Sure. It sounds easy enough: Find a guy with a truck on Google ads and book a date, right? Wrong. Today, you cannot trust anyone, especially with such a significant investment.

Moving Scams to Avoid

We have all heard many horror stories about cash-strapped customers hiring movers off the classifieds. Desperate to save coins, they hire the first no-name moving company with two guys and a truck. The moving company requests a 50% deposit upfront, which they say is standard. On the big day, they arrive with two rough-looking blokes that do not look like they know how to make their bed, never mind pack a box. They load the valuables into a truck, drive off and never deliver.

Then there are also stories about businesses scammed into paying over 150K to move their office from Durbanville to the Atlantic Seaboard or Vredehoek to Hout Bay. Not only did the moving company overcharge rates and request a 50% deposit, but they held their furnishings at ransom for another 150K. Once the company paid, they still never got their furnishings. The crime rate is increasing throughout each province of our nation, and Cape Town’s property wheel is attracting a tsunami of criminals posing as moving companies.

 

Moving Costs Time—and Disruption Costs Money

Moving home or office is a full-on project that requires proper planning, coordination, and execution, and hiring professionals to take care of your move is the safest bet for a stress-free experience. Because moving costs time—and disruption, damage and theft cost money, it is essential to do your due diligence and get a transparent furniture removal quote that lays out every expense from labour to coordination to execution. You also want to hire a legitimate company with skilled professionals that use the right tools and equipment to do the job safely, quickly and efficiently. Here’s how to sift the elite from the scammers.

 

Do Not Let Websites and Reviews Fool You

The internet is alive with scammers, fabricating fake websites with fake reviews that mean nothing without contact numbers to back their services. Even if the company is legitimate, there is a trend to reveal only positive reviews, leaving out the negative. Remember that no company is perfect. Also, trustworthy movers will never hide their mistakes or experiences because professionals use criticism to perfect their services and their customers’ experiences. Further, ensure the website lists the company registration number and physical address. If you can’t find these details, walk away.

 

Get Three Transparent Quotes

Many factors play into the total cost of moving home or office locally in Cape Town, but foremost are distance and volume. Whereas long-distance moves base rates on location, local moving companies base their rates on weight, volume, valuables, vehicle rental, labour costs, and the hire of subcontractors. They also outsource engineers and IT to connect appliances, lighting, and computers and servers, assuring the workspace is 100% operational, minimising productivity loss. As a result, the cost of moving from suburb to suburb varies, so get at least three quotes as this can knock a significant percentage off your moving costs. Further, the quote must outline every step of the plan, and the pricing must be transparent. Read the small print and enquire about postponement and cancellation fees.

 

Certifications and Insurance are Deal Breakers

Would you let your nephew drive your BMW without a license, or would you hand over the keys to your office cleaner to drop off some hardware at your home? It sounds like a silly question, but that is what you’re doing when you entrust your life valuables to a bunch of strangers. Licensing and certifications are imperative, and any moving company that tells you to not bother with theft or breakage insurance should raise an eyebrow. Times are changing fast, and professional movers can never guarantee safety on the roads. That is why they insist on full-cover insurance. Likewise, ensure they are FIDI (Fédération Internationale des Déménageurs Internationaux) and FAIM certified, as these certifications guarantee you are entrusting your investment to a company that will treat your investment as their own.

We Move Hundreds of Businesses Locally, Nationally and Internationally

At Elliott, we are no strangers to the many nightmare stories of scammers. Moving home or office is nerve-racking, with many risks causing downtime and financial loss. You need a moving company that provides end-to-end services—from speciality packing, disassembly, and reassembly. Further, ensure cost transparency to know what you’re paying. At Elliott, we are leaders in local and international relocations, moving hundreds of families and businesses locally, nationally and internationally each month.

Packing to Installation: We Provide End-to-End Services

Providing a country-wide network with a high-security fleet of vans, we manage each move as a project rather than a job with our end-to-end services—from packing, loading, transporting, storing, and unloading to installation.  That allows us to deliver solutions and services that minimise disruption and downtime and save families and businesses money.

To get a FREE home or business furniture removal quote, chat with one of our project managers.

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NOTICE

Thank you for your interest in our removal services. Unfortunately, we no longer offer local/middle-distance removal services in Gauteng and Kwa-Zulu Natal. With recent changes to our business, our focus is now solely on long-distance and international removals, and as a result, we cannot provide you with a quote for your move. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. Please let us know if you have any further questions or require assistance.