My Illinois to Texas Move: What New Leaf Got Wrong
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Chicago, IL → Houston, TX
$4,484
One-bedroom apartment, 880 sq ft
$4,422
$62 under my original quote
1,100 mi
Long-distance, interstate
- I compared eight quotes before I hired New Leaf Moving Group for my Illinois to Texas move.
- My final bill actually came in $62 under my original quote, even after a mid-move volume increase, because New Leaf never showed up with the packing and unloading help I’d already paid for.
- I shared all of it, my quotes, my bills, and my ratings, as part of moveBuddha’s Better Moves Project.
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This account is based on a conversation with Tetiana, who moved from Chicago, Illinois, to Houston, Texas, in December 2022 using New Leaf Moving Group. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
My move from Illinois to Texas
My husband and I moved from Chicago, Illinois, to Houston, Texas, in December 2022. We’d had it with Chicago’s brutal winters, and we were ready for a change.
I spent three weeks getting quotes from companies on moveBuddha’s Best Moving Container and Best Interstate Mover lists before I hired Florida-based moving broker New Leaf Moving Group. To help other movers and take advantage of a $500 relocation stipend, I’m sharing what actually happened as part of moveBuddha’s Better Moves Project.
If you’re comparing movers right now, moveBuddha’s Moving Cost Calculator can show you real price ranges in a few minutes. I wish I’d leaned on it more before I signed anything.
My New Leaf Moving Group experience at a glance
Here’s how my move actually broke down once the truck showed up:
- Communication: New Leaf was prompt and professional early on, but that faded fast once my things were on the truck.
- Pricing accuracy and transparency: My final bill landed slightly under New Leaf’s quote, but that’s largely because my husband and I ended up packing everything ourselves. New Leaf also didn’t provide any help unloading at delivery.
- Professionalism: No moving labor showed up at delivery. That’s a huge miss for a move I paid full-service pricing for.
- Timeliness: My household goods arrived about a week later than New Leaf originally told me to expect.
- Loss and damage: A few fragile items didn’t survive the move, and one box never showed up at all.
- Would I use New Leaf Moving Group again? No. Neither the broker nor the carrier lived up to what they’d promised me.
under my original New Leaf quote
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Why I chose New Leaf Moving Group
I liked New Leaf’s reasonable quote and how attentive and professional my sales representative was on the phone. I had a few fragile items that needed special attention, and my husband and I didn’t have much room in our budget, so a broker with a competitive price and a dedicated point of contact felt like the right fit.
I was wary of brokers at first, but my sales representative was upfront that New Leaf is a broker, not an asset-based mover, and assured me he’d be my primary contact from start to finish. That made the decision feel less like a leap of faith, especially since I already knew that even traditional van lines use agents and subcontractors on most long-distance moves.
My move at a glance
Here’s the full breakdown of my move from Chicago, Illinois, to Houston, Texas:
| Move date | December 5, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Moved from | Chicago, Illinois |
| Moved to | Houston, Texas |
| Distance | About 1,100 miles |
| Move size | One-bedroom apartment, 880 square feet |
| Moving company | New Leaf Moving Group |
| Moving quote | $4,484 |
| Actual cost | $4,422 |
According to moveBuddha data, users who compare quotes with our Moving Cost Calculator save an average of 30% compared to booking the first quote they get. I compared eight quotes and still ran into surprise fees along the way, so it pays to shop around before you sign anything.
Quotes I compared
I did several Google searches, sent dozens of emails, and spent hours on the phone doing virtual surveys with sales representatives before I landed on New Leaf. Here’s every estimate I got:
| Company/service type | Equipment type/estimated weight | Cost estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Moving Place (freight trailer) | 6 feet of floor space on a moving trailer | $1,400 |
| 1-800-PACK-RAT (moving container) | Container size undisclosed | $2,698 |
| Guardian Van Lines (full-service) | About 4,000 pounds | $3,253 |
| Mayzlin Relocation (full-service) | About 4,000 pounds | $3,286 |
| American Van Lines (full-service) | 3,794 pounds | $3,893 |
| Safeway Moving (full-service) | About 4,000 pounds | $3,942 |
| New Leaf Moving Group (full-service) | 4,179 pounds (597 cubic feet) | $4,484 |
| Hollander Storage & Moving Co./United Van Lines (full-service) | 3,878 pounds | $6,084 |
Safeway Moving’s $3,942 quote included packing labor and materials, disassembly and reassembly of standard items like beds and tables, loading and unloading, one free month of storage, and basic released-value insurance of $0.60 per pound per item. Expedited delivery was available too, but it wasn’t an option for me because the cost was too high.
Pickup day
My sales representative reached out on December 4 to tell me my truck and crew would arrive the next day between 10 a.m. and noon, and that my household goods would likely reach Houston on the 12th or 13th.
The driver texted me on December 5 to say he was on the way, and he and the crew arrived on schedule just before noon. I’d worried about elevator access since I’d reserved it for that morning, but it wasn’t an issue. The crew was careful and professional as they loaded.
Partway through loading, the driver told me the total volume of my shipment would be closer to 800 cubic feet than the 597 cubic feet New Leaf had estimated. At $4.25 per cubic foot, that would have added more than $800 to my bill. The movers also mentioned extra charges for the elevator and packing materials that weren’t in my original contract.
I’d taken the time to measure everything myself so my sales representative could put together an accurate inventory, so the size of the gap was frustrating. After a lengthy phone negotiation, New Leaf and I agreed to a more modest $100 increase instead.
Everything was loaded by about 3 p.m. That’s when I learned the carrier didn’t accept credit card payments, even though I’d been told they would. I paid the deposit portion by Zelle, and I was told the remainder due at delivery would have to be cash or a USPS money order. My husband and I didn’t have much cash on hand, so that last-minute change was a real inconvenience.
Delivery day
I started calling New Leaf regularly once it became clear my things wouldn’t arrive on the 12th or 13th as expected. The representatives were responsive, but all they could offer were vague assurances that they were doing everything they could. My household goods ended up arriving in Houston about a week later than expected.
The driver who showed up wasn’t an ABN Moving employee. He was an independent trucker who’d borrowed a friend’s rig to make extra money for the holidays, and he didn’t bring helpers or tools. My husband, our son, and I ended up doing nearly all of the heavy lifting and had to reassemble our own furniture, even though that labor was supposed to be included in New Leaf’s quote.
The driver also tried to charge extra for the distance between the elevator and our apartment. He backed off once I reminded him that my family was doing most of the physical work ourselves.
Unloading itself didn’t take long. When we started unpacking, though, we found that several decorative pieces and a pressure cooker had been damaged beyond repair.
I called both New Leaf and ABN Moving to ask how to file a damage claim, and I wasn’t confident my claim was a priority for either company.
Final thoughts
My move was far from perfect. My things arrived later than expected, and despite paying for a full-service move, my family did nearly all of the unloading and furniture reassembly ourselves because the delivery driver didn’t bring tools or helpers. My final bill actually came in under New Leaf’s quote, mostly because my husband and I handled our own packing.
A 14-day delivery window on a small long-distance move like mine is pretty standard, but I’d been led to believe my things would “probably” arrive a week earlier, on the 12th or 13th. I’ve since learned that a mover’s verbal delivery estimate isn’t a guarantee, and getting the actual window in writing on the contract would have saved me a lot of frustration.
I’m still not sure why there was confusion over which payment methods were acceptable. That’s exactly why I’d tell anyone to read through their moving documents closely before signing, since a written contract can catch mismatches like that before they become a problem.
Looking back, the thing I found most unnerving was that New Leaf, the broker, and ABN Moving, the carrier, just couldn’t communicate effectively with each other. That miscommunication made my move far more tedious than it needed to be.
If I had to do it all over again, I’d only move the things that are near and dear to me. I’d sell, donate, or discard the rest and just replace it once I got to my new place. I also wish I’d hired a traditional mover instead of a broker, and that I’d done more research into New Leaf and ABN Moving’s standing with the U.S. Department of Transportation before signing anything.
Before you sign with a broker, check what a full-service move should actually cost with moveBuddha’s Moving Cost Calculator. It only takes a few minutes and gives you real numbers to compare against any quote you’re handed.
My ratings
Here’s how I’d score my experience with New Leaf Moving Group on a scale of one to five:
- Communication: I gave this a 3. Things started strong but fell apart once my shipment was on the road.
- Timeliness: I gave this a 2 because my delivery arrived about a week later than New Leaf led me to expect.
- Quote accuracy: I gave this a 3. My final number came in under quote, but only because of changes I made myself, not anything New Leaf did.
- Overall experience: I gave this a 2. Between the missed delivery labor and the damaged items, this move fell short of what I paid for.
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Tips for future movers
These are the practical steps we recommend based on Tetiana’s experience:
- Trust your instincts: Take everything a sales representative tells you with a grain of salt, especially verbal promises about delivery dates and included services.
- Get everything in writing: A written contract is the only thing that protects you if a broker’s promise and a carrier’s terms don’t match.
- Get your delivery window in writing: A 14-day delivery window is standard for a small long-distance move, so ask for the specific range in your contract instead of relying on a verbal “probably.”
- Review your moving documents before you sign: Check your moving documents closely, including accepted payment methods, before the day of your move.
- Know your rights: Review Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move before you book.
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