Get two or three written, itemised quotes and normalise them across crew size, travel charging, insurance, deposit and cancellation terms before you sign anything. When totals land close together, pick the operator backed by verifiable goods-in-transit insurance and, ideally, AFRA accreditation over the cheapest headline rate.
- Get 2 to 3 written, itemised quotes
- Confirm an active Australian Business Number (ABN)
- Check for AFRA membership or equivalent accreditation
- Ask for proof of goods-in-transit and public liability insurance
- Compare totals, not just hourly rates
Key Takeaways
Choosing a removal company comes down to normalising written quotes into comparable totals and verifying insurance, ABN and accreditation before you sign.
| Point | Details |
|---|---|
| Normalise every quote | Convert crew size, hourly rate and travel fees into one estimated total before comparing. |
| Verify before you book | Check the ABN on the Australian Business Register and ask for a Certificate of Currency. |
| Know your disqualifiers | No written quote or cash-only deposit means you walk away immediately. |
| Document moving day | Photograph valuables, sign a handover note, and hold final payment until inventory checks out. |
| Onyx Removals aligns with these checks | Itemised quotes, insurance confirmation and packing or storage options are built into its booking process. |
Table of Contents
- Fast checklist: what to check on any quote or removal company
- How to compare quotes and understand pricing
- What questions should you ask before you book?
- Red flags and common moving scams
- What to do on moving day
- What if things go wrong with your move?
- When should you book, and what does a move actually cost?
- How trusted providers reduce your risk
- Sources
Fast checklist: what to check on any quote or removal company
Before you commit to anyone, run their quote and their website through this list. It takes ten minutes and it’s the single fastest way to separate a proper operator from someone with a van and a Facebook page.
- A written, itemised quote (not a verbal figure over the phone)
- Crew size and the estimated number of hours for your job
- The travel time or call-out billing rule, spelled out
- Confirmation of transit insurance, not just “we’re insured”
- Public liability cover for damage to your property or a neighbour’s
- Deposit amount and the exact cancellation window
- AFRA membership, or another checkable accreditation
- A verifiable ABN that matches the trading name
- Reviews that look consistent across Google, Facebook and Product Review, not just one glowing cluster
Pro Tip: Turn every quote into a single estimated total, not a rate you compare in isolation. Multiply the hourly rate by the crew size and expected hours, add the callout fee and any flagged extras, then line the three totals up side by side.
Photograph your higher-value items before moving day and check whether your home and contents insurer already covers goods in transit. Some policies do, which changes how much you need from the mover’s own cover.
How to compare quotes and understand pricing
A quote isn’t one number. It’s a bundle of terms, and the headline hourly rate can be misleading if you don’t unpack what sits behind it. Compare these six things on every quote you receive:
- Crew size (two movers versus three changes the job speed dramatically)
- The hourly rate itself
- Travel time and call-out billing rules
- Whether pricing is door-to-door or calculated from the depot
- Transit insurance cover versus a basic limited liability clause
- Deposit size and cancellation terms
Here’s where it gets counterintuitive: a company quoting $150 an hour with three movers can finish a three-bedroom house in four hours, landing at $600. A rival at $110 an hour with two movers might take seven hours on the same job, landing near $770. The lower rate loses on the total every time.
Watch for surcharges that should be itemised upfront rather than sprung on you afterwards: stairs, long carries from the truck to the door, restricted lift access, heavy or awkward items like pianos and safes, and fuel levies. A properly itemised quote lists these as line items, not vague footnotes. Our guide on how to compare moving quotes walks through normalising three quotes side by side if you want a worked example.
What questions should you ask before you book?
Call or email each shortlisted company with the same set of questions, so you’re comparing apples with apples.
- “How many movers and how many hours do you estimate for a job this size?”
- “How do you calculate travel time and is there a call-out fee?”
- “Can you send me a Certificate of Currency for your goods-in-transit and public liability insurance?”
- “What’s the deposit, and what happens if I need to cancel or reschedule?”
- “Do you offer packing services, and are they priced separately?”
- “Will my job be handled by your own crew or subcontracted out?”
Ask for written confirmation of every answer by email. A company happy to talk on the phone but slow to put it in writing is telling you something. For anything beyond a one-bedroom unit, push for a virtual or in-home estimate rather than a phone guess. A team that hasn’t seen your stairs, your parking situation or your three-seater couch can’t give you an accurate figure, and that gap is where surprise costs come from.
Red flags and common moving scams
A few warning signs should end the conversation immediately, no matter how good the price sounds.
- Cash-only deposits. Legitimate operators take card or bank transfer and give a receipt.
- No written quote. If they won’t put it on paper, walk away. That’s the simplest disqualifier there is.
- ABN mismatch or missing ABN. Check the ABN against the Australian Business Register yourself. A cancelled or mismatched ABN means stop the booking.
- Reluctance to produce a Certificate of Currency for insurance. A real insurer-backed operator can email this in minutes.
- A sudden cluster of five-star reviews posted within days of each other, often with generic wording.
- Pressure to pay upfront or halfway through the job. Consumer protection bodies specifically warn against full upfront payment.
Any one of these on its own is worth a second look. Two or more together, and it’s time to call the next name on your list.
What to do on moving day
Have this ready before the truck arrives, and you’ll avoid most of the disputes that crop up after a move.
- Signed quote or contract, printed or on your phone
- Proof of insurance, ideally the Certificate of Currency
- Crew ID or a company shirt/vehicle matching the booking
- A quick photographic inventory of anything high-value or fragile, taken that morning
- A written agreement on expected finish time and payment method
- Confirmation of parking, lift access or stair arrangements at both ends
- An essentials box and your valuables kept with you, not on the truck
Pro Tip: Do a five-minute walk-through with the crew leader before they start and again once everything’s off the truck, and jot down any pre-existing damage on a handover note both of you sign. It takes two minutes and removes almost all ambiguity later.
Hold final payment until the job is complete and you’ve checked the inventory against what left your old address. Reputable companies expect this and won’t push back on it.
What if things go wrong with your move?
Damage happens even with good operators. What separates a resolved claim from a drawn-out argument is how fast and how thoroughly you document it.
- Photograph the damage immediately, before anything is moved or cleaned up.
- Contact the mover in writing, quoting your job or quote number, within 24 to 48 hours.
- Ask for the insurer’s Certificate of Currency and their formal claims process if you haven’t already got it on file.
- Lodge the claim directly with the insurer and keep every email, text and photo in one folder.
A legitimate quote should show the policy name, the insurer’s contact details and a certificate number you can verify independently, not just a line saying “fully insured.”
If the company stalls or refuses to engage, state consumer protection agencies accept complaints against removalists and can point you to further action. Keep your signed quote and all correspondence. It’s the evidence that turns a dispute into a resolved claim.
When should you book, and what does a move actually cost?
Book earlier than you think. Local moves need 4 to 6 weeks’ notice, interstate moves 6 to 12 weeks, and anything scheduled on a weekend, a public holiday or during the December to February peak commands a premium and fills fast. Lock your date with a deposit as soon as you’ve settled on a company.
Total cost is driven by distance, crew size, how hard your property is to access, whether you’re paying for packing, any storage needed and specialty items like pianos or pool tables. Peak-day bookings sit above off-peak rates.
The cheapest number on a flyer rarely survives contact with the actual job. Normalise every quote into an estimated total, the way covered earlier, before you decide anything.
How trusted providers reduce your risk
A provider that hands you a proper itemised quote, a Certificate of Currency, verifiable AFRA membership and a documented claims process has already done the vetting work for you. That’s the entire point of these checks: they shift risk off your shoulders and onto a company that’s contractually and financially accountable for it.
Take a straightforward example: a family gets an itemised quote that lists transit insurance explicitly, with the insurer named and a certificate number attached. When a lamp is cracked in transit, the claim is resolved within days because the paperwork was already sitting in their inbox. Compare that to a verbal quote with “yeah, we’re covered” and no names attached. That’s the difference an itemised quote makes.
Onyx Removals structures its quotes, packing services and storage options around exactly these signals, alongside customer reviews you can check independently.
A mover’s note on the one mistake everyone makes
The biggest mistake I see is comparing hourly rates instead of estimated totals. Fix that one habit and you’ll avoid most of the price shocks people complain about after a move.
How we can help you book with confidence
Onyx Removals gives you what this whole checklist is built around: an itemised quote you can actually compare, transit insurance confirmed in writing, and packing or storage add ons priced separately rather than buried in a vague total. That’s the practical difference between guessing at a total and knowing one.
If you’re ready to see how your job stacks up, get a detailed moving quote for your Melbourne move and consider adding a trusted move-in/move-out cleaning service to prepare your property and ensure a fresh start. You’ll know within minutes whether the numbers actually add up.
Sources
- How to Choose a Removalist 2026: Compare Quotes
- Choose your removalist wisely as rogue operators attract complaints – Consumer Protection – LGIRS
- Moving Do’s and Don’ts
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