The estimate call is the only real chance you get to evaluate a moving company before you are committed. Ten minutes of specific questions will tell you more than an hour of reading marketing copy, and the answers are easy to compare across companies because they are factual rather than promotional.
Here is the script we recommend, with what a good answer sounds like. Ask the same ten of every company you call and the right choice usually becomes obvious by the third call.
Ask them whether you are booking a rental turnover in Skokie or a full house move in Wilmette.
1. What are your ILCC and USDOT numbers?
A licensed Illinois mover answers this immediately and without irritation. Intrastate moves inside Illinois fall under the Illinois Commerce Commission; interstate moves require federal operating authority and a USDOT number. Both are publicly searchable.
If the answer is hesitant, redirected, or 'we're fully licensed, don't worry about it,' end the call. Ours are ILCC 230260 MC and USDOT 3638862.
2. Do you own your trucks and employ your crews?
This distinguishes a carrier from a broker. Brokers resell your job, so the crew that arrives may have never heard of the person who quoted you and has no stake in the relationship.
Follow-up worth asking: are your movers employees or day labor, and are they covered by workers' compensation? Injuries on staircases are the most common incident on a move, and you want that liability sitting with the company, not with your homeowner's policy.
3. How is my move priced, and what is the minimum?
Local Illinois moves are typically hourly with a minimum; interstate moves are weight and distance. You want the rate, the minimum hours, the crew size that rate assumes, and whether travel time between the warehouse and your address is billed.
Ask what happens if the job takes longer than estimated, and whether time is billed in fifteen-minute or full-hour increments after the minimum. That single detail can change a final invoice by a meaningful amount.
4. What is included, and what is extra?
Pads, shrink wrap, dollies, basic furniture disassembly and reassembly, and floor protection should be standard. Boxes, packing paper, mattress bags, TV cartons, wardrobe boxes, and crating are usually extra.
Get the materials list priced in writing. Materials are a small share of the bill but a common source of surprise, and a mover who itemizes them clearly is a mover who itemizes everything clearly.
5. What valuation coverage applies to my shipment?
Every licensed mover offers basic released-value protection, which is calculated by weight and is far less than replacement value. Full-value protection is an upgrade and is worth pricing if you own electronics, art, or antiques.
Ask how a claim is filed, what the deadline is, and who handles it. Ask this before you book, because after a damage event you are negotiating from a much worse position.
6. Have you moved in my building or my town before?
Chicagoland is a collection of very different logistics problems. A downtown high-rise means a reserved freight elevator, a certificate of insurance naming the building, and a dock time window. A Naperville subdivision means driveway staging and HOA quiet hours. An Evanston walk-up near Northwestern means a September rental-turnover crush and permit parking.
A mover who works your area weekly will describe those constraints before you raise them. That is the answer you are listening for. You can see the towns we cover most on our service areas page.
7. Who handles the certificate of insurance and elevator reservation?
Most buildings downtown, in Streeterville, the South Loop, and along the North Side lakefront require a COI naming the building and management company as additional insureds, usually several business days in advance. The mover issues it; the tenant usually has to request it.
Ask who does what, and get the building's requirements document to the mover as early as possible. A missing COI is the single most common reason a move is refused entry, and the crew still bills for the day.
8. What is your policy on delays and long jobs?
Ask what happens if the first job of the day runs long, how you will be notified, and whether you get a firm arrival time or a window. Ask what happens if a building's elevator goes down or a permit is not honored.
You are not looking for guarantees nobody can make. You are listening for whether the company has a process, or whether the answer is improvised on the spot.
9. What can't you move?
Every mover has an exclusion list: propane tanks, gasoline, paint, aerosols, ammunition, certain chemicals, and often plants and perishables on long hauls. Some items require special handling rather than exclusion — pianos, safes, slate pool tables, large aquariums, and marble tops.
Ask early so you can plan disposal or alternate transport. If you have a lot to get rid of, a junk removal appointment before packing is cheaper than moving things you intend to throw away.
10. How and when do I pay, and what do I sign?
Confirm accepted payment methods, whether a deposit is required, and when the balance is due. Reasonable: a modest card deposit to hold the date. Unreasonable: a large cash deposit up front.
Never sign a blank or partially completed document, including the inventory and the bill of lading. Read the arrival and completion times before signing off, and note any damage on the paperwork at delivery rather than calling about it later.
Bonus questions for specific situations
If you have a piano, safe, pool table, or large aquarium: who on your crew has moved one, and is it handled in-house or subcontracted to a specialist? These items have specific rigging requirements and the answer should be immediate.
If your dates might slip: what is the reschedule policy, how much notice do you need, and is the deposit transferable? Closings move, and a company with a clear policy is telling you they have handled it before.
If you need storage between addresses: do you offer it, is it your own facility, and how many times will my belongings be handled? Every extra handling event is an extra risk, so fewer is better.
If you are moving a business: can you work evenings or a weekend, and how do you label and stage so we can operate Monday morning? A mover who has done real office relocations answers with a process, not a promise.
What to do with the answers before you sign
Put the three finalists side by side on paper. Compare crew size against hourly rate rather than rate alone, because a larger crew at a higher rate frequently produces a lower total. Compare what is included: pads, wrap, disassembly, floor protection, and travel time should be spelled out, not assumed.
Check that both quotes assume the same job. If one company planned for three movers and the other for two, or one assumed you would be fully packed and the other included packing hours, the numbers are not comparable and the cheaper one is usually the one that will change.
Then read the contract before move day, not on the hood of a truck. Confirm the cancellation and reschedule terms, the payment method and timing, the valuation coverage selected, and the claim window. Ask for anything you were told verbally to be written into the document.
Finally, trust the pattern rather than any single answer. The company that asked the most specific questions, quoted the most specific number, and answered the phone on the second call is almost always the one that shows up on time.
Using the answers
Write the answers down as you go. By the third call you will notice that the differences cluster in two places: how specific the pricing is, and how much the company already knows about your building or town. Those two together predict move-day experience better than the headline rate does.
When you are ready to compare us against whoever else you are calling, request a quote and ask us all ten.