uShip Review

You can stop stressing about moving your car now

Have you ever needed to move one specific, awkward-to-transport thing, like a car, washing machine, or horse? It’s not like your horse can ride shotgun while you two road trip in your Volvo.

That’s where uShip comes in. uShip is a moving broker, so it hooks you up with movers in your area that can get your item to its destination for the best price. Even if you need to make a full-service move, uShip can give you options there too.

In other words, uShip won’t do the moving for you directly, but they’ll find someone who will. So if you’re looking for a service that will help you ship that one thing you don’t know what to do with, uShip is your best option.

What is uShip?

The main thing to know is that uShip is a broker, and it doesn’t actually move your stuff on its own. But it’ll put you in touch with moving options that can, say, come pick up your grand piano and take it to your new home in Lansing, Michigan. You’ll see pricing for different movers, and you pick your favorite one.

We’re hard-pressed to think of something uShip doesn’t ship. Actually, it’s not that hard . . . illicit drugs. You can’t ship illicit drugs with uShip. But you can ship your tractor, your dog, or your antique armoire. You can even plan an entire full-service move with uShip.

What you get with uShip

The main thing you get with uShip is options. Because uShip chiefly acts as a broker, your experience may vary from service to service. Whatever you choose, uShip guarantees “great rates for all-risk, full-value cargo insurance¹.” In other words, uShip will compensate you (up to $500) if your stuff gets damaged or lost. It’s cool that you get that guarantee simply by virtue of using uShip, but of course, $500 doesn’t really help if your antique grand piano got smashed.

No matter which moving company actually ends up moving your stuff, here are the things you can expect:

1. You can get immediate quote estimates from several different carriers.
2. You can ship essentially anything you want (including your car).
3. You can track your shipments and get status updates.

uShip moving experience

Everything starts online with your uShip estimate. Other moving companies don’t offer this flexibility, but with uShip, you start off by selecting what particular item you want to ship and end with companies bidding on your offer. We’ll show you how it works.

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So you start off by selecting the item from a list on the website. For the sake of example, let’s say we’re moving our sailboat. Yes, that’s right, I’m a rich guy who owns a sailboat (not really). Click the “vehicles and boats” button, and you’ll be greeted with even more options.

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Click the item you want, and next, you’ll provide details on quantity, makes and models, measurements, delivery dates, and other details. You’ll need to provide some details about yourself like your name, email address, and phone number, and finally, you’ll get some answers.

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You’ll get a bell curve graph that shows what other folks have paid for a similar move. From this point, you have two options:

1. “Get Quotes Now!”

You can request quotes, and within a few hours, you’ll get all your options and the price for each.

2. “Set Your Own Price!”

Here you can set the price you’d like to pay, and then it’s in the hands of the movers to take up your bid. If you’ve got a specific number in mind, this gives you a way to stick to your budget. Let the graph be your guide.

uShip pricing

What you pay with uShip depends on lots of different factors. Here is everything that’s baked into your moving quote:

• Size and value of the object
• Difficulty of moving
• Distance of the move

When you have all that information figured out, you can either browse company estimates, or you can name your price and hope a mover picks up your bid. You should have a good idea of what your uShip quote will be after you fill out all the details.

Now let’s talk about shipping a car. We looked at a uShip car quote for a 2014 Honda CR-V from Chicago to Dallas. Here are the quotes we got for our uShip car shipment:

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You’ll see the quoted price and the name of the moving company, as well as reviews for each company. Make sure to check out those reviews before making a decision lest you get a mover with a history of destroying furniture.

Alternatively, you can say what you want to pay for the service, and a mover can pick up your bid. There are no guarantees your proposed bid will be picked up, but hey, it’s worth a try.

uShip fees

Like eBay, Airbnb, or SeatGeek, you’re going to pay a fee for using a service to broker a transaction. We tested a bunch of different scenarios, and in every case, the fee was a flat 15 percent for every uShip bid. So just add another 15 percent on top of whatever bid you accept, and you’ll get closer to what you’ll actually pay in the end.

What’s moving day like?

It should be very painless. Of course, that will largely depend on which mover you go with. It should be as simple as the mover showing up at the designated time, you point out the object that needs moving, and they take care of the rest.

uShip customer service

Your experience will depend on the mover, but uShip acts as a strong advocate for you. If you look at the uShip reviews,² you’ll notice that uShip customer service responds to pretty much every negative review. That sort of response is always good to see—and rarer than you might think.

If you ever have an awful experience, make sure to complain, and uShip should provide support. (Frankly, in the whole history of the universe, there’s never been a better time to complain.)

Recap — Is uShip a good option?

If you just need to move a particular item, uShip is the best single-item-shipping company we’ve come across. With the bidding system, you can rest assured that you’re getting the best possible deal. You’ll have lots of offers to choose from, and it’s incredibly convenient to get all of that in the same place.

Just remember that if you need to ship more than a single thing, it might be worth it to browse other options too.

• Services: uShip acts as a broker hooking you up with movers that will haul your item wherever it needs to go.
• Quotes: It’s pretty simple to get a uShip quote online. Just enter some details about what you want to be shipped, and the bids will start rolling in.
• Moving: You’ll set up a moving day with the mover of your choosing. They’ll pick up the item and off it’ll go into the sunset.

Sources

1. uShip, “uShip Guarantee”
2. Trustpilot, “uShip”