I Got Six Quotes for My Move from Wisconsin to Kansas ($8,425 – $23,300)
Slinger, WI → Wichita, KS
$8,425
Three-bedroom home, 13,000 pounds
$8,322
$103 under the estimate
760 mi
Long-distance, interstate
- I compared six quotes before I hired Mayflower for my Wisconsin to Kansas move.
- My final bill came in $103 under the estimate, which is exactly what I most wanted from a mover.
- 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 Steve M., who moved from Slinger, Wisconsin, to Wichita, Kansas, in July 2024 using Mayflower. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
My move from Wisconsin to Kansas
A new job meant a fresh start in a new state, and my problem was finding an affordable company to get a three-bedroom house from Slinger, Wisconsin, to a storage unit in Wichita, Kansas, while I sorted out permanent housing there.
I’ve been through several moves before, so I had a good general idea of what to expect, including that things often don’t go entirely smoothly. What made this one different was that everything was going into storage rather than a house. Aside from what might happen to my belongings while they sat in that unit, my biggest concern was cost, which naturally became the priority in my search.
I read articles on moveBuddha and worked through each company’s website to understand their pricing and services before I started asking for quotes. According to moveBuddha, users who compare movers this way save more than 30% versus taking the first quote they get.
My Mayflower experience at a glance
Here’s what stood out most about moving with Mayflower, good and bad.
- Communication: Mayflower was highly communicative right up to moving day, with consistent updates on what to expect and when the truck would arrive. After that it stopped. I got one delivery update the day before, and I never heard from them again once the move was done.
- Pricing accuracy and transparency: My final cost came in at $8,322 against an $8,425 quote, which was the single most important factor for me when I picked a company.
- Professionalism: The crew that loaded my things was courteous and professional. The delivery team ignored my instructions about what to keep out of the storage unit, which left me buying things I already owned because they were sealed in the back of the unit.
- Timeliness: The moving day crew arrived on schedule. The 10 days it took to get my belongings from Wisconsin to Kansas felt much longer than it should have for a trip under 800 miles.
- Loss and damage: My dining room table and shed were broken, and boxes marked fragile ended up at the bottom of stacks inside the unit.
- Would I use Mayflower again? Yes. I had real issues with the communication and the delivery crew, and I went in expecting some hiccups. The pricing accuracy is what would bring me back.
under my original Mayflower quote
Find out what a move from Wisconsin → Kansas actually costs before a mover tells you.
Why I chose Mayflower
Cost was my highest priority, so the lowest quote is what tipped the scales. It wasn’t a ballpark number over the phone, either. Mayflower sent a representative to my house for an in-person walkthrough and inventory assessment, which went a long way toward making the quote accurate. Even Mayflower’s price was much more than I expected going in, and they had the best number and made the process easy, so they became the obvious pick.
To hold costs down I did all the packing myself, though I did buy a TV box and insurance as part of the overall package. I also found out I’d be relocating only six weeks ahead of time, so I had two weeks to research and reach out before I needed to book.
My move at a glance
Here are the basics of my relocation, including what I was quoted and what I actually paid for my Wisconsin to Kansas move.
| Move date | July 29, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Moved from | Slinger, WI |
| Moved to | Wichita, KS |
| Distance | 760 miles |
| Move size | Three-bedroom home |
| Moving company | Mayflower |
| Moving quote | $8,425 |
| Actual cost | $8,322 |
We found that when you use moveBuddha’s moving cost calculator, you can save 30% on moving costs compared to customers who go with the first quote they receive.
Quotes I compared
I looked at both interstate moving companies and moving containers before settling on a full-service mover, and I ended up with six quotes. Every company estimated the same 13,000 pounds, and the spread between the cheapest and the most expensive was nearly $15,000.
| Company | Estimated weight | Estimated cost |
|---|---|---|
| Mayflower | 13,000 pounds | $8,425 |
| United Van Lines | 13,000 pounds | $9,177 |
| Allied Van Lines | 13,000 pounds | $9,273 |
| North American Van Lines | 13,000 pounds | $9,340 |
| Safeway Moving | 13,000 pounds | $11,400 |
| Two Men And A Truck | 13,000 pounds | $23,300 |
Get quotes from at least three companies. Six is more work than most people want to do, and with identical weight estimates across the board, the only thing separating a $8,425 move from a $23,300 one was who I asked.
rating
4.23 / 5
- Specialty packing services
- White-glove reputation
- 80+ years' experience
Pickup day
Mayflower’s team was highly communicative in the run-up, including giving me instructions on wrapping specialty items like a table saw and other shop machinery. I paid a deposit to hold the move and the remainder of the quote two weeks before the date.
They did a great job keeping me updated so I knew exactly when the truck was coming, and the movers stuck to it, arriving right at 8:30 a.m. as planned. The crew briefed me on the loading process and got to work.
While they hauled everything out, I set up on my computer in the kitchen so I was out of the way but available for questions. From there I could see they were being very careful with my things. For this half of the move, Mayflower delivered exactly the experience I was hoping for.
Delivery day
After moving day, things went downhill. Mayflower gave me no updates on my shipment until the day before delivery, which made me feel forgotten as a customer. I was also surprised it took 10 days. That was well inside the deadline Mayflower set, and it still seemed lengthy for a move under 800 miles.
Most of my things looked fine, and my dining room table and shed were broken in transit. More troubling, several boxes marked fragile were sitting at the bottom of stacks inside the storage unit, which is the kind of thing that produces damage I won’t discover until I move into permanent housing and unpack.
The biggest problem was that the crew ignored my instructions about what to keep out of storage. I had marked the items I wanted set aside and explained it to them, and they put everything in the unit anyway. So I bought replacements for things I already owned while I was in temporary housing.
Final thoughts
Mayflower’s customer service was stellar right up until they drove off with a loaded truck, and it waned noticeably after that. The silence before delivery day and a crew that didn’t follow instructions both affected how this went.
I was still satisfied overall, mainly because the quote was spot on and I got the best deal I could find. I’d recommend Mayflower to other movers, with the advice to expect something to go wrong and to deliberately get in the way so you can spot it. Looking back, I should have been more involved while the crew was working at both ends. It shouldn’t be the customer’s job to supervise, and keeping an eye on things would have prevented both the set-aside mistake and the fragile boxes ending up on the bottom of the pile.
Comparing full-service movers for your own long-distance move? Use moveBuddha’s moving cost calculator to gather real quotes from vetted companies before you book.
My ratings
Here’s how I scored Mayflower on a scale of 1 to 5 based on my end-to-end experience.
- Communication: 3 out of 5. Excellent before the move, then nothing until the day before delivery, and nothing at all afterward.
- Timeliness: 2 out of 5. The crew arrived on schedule at pickup, and 10 days in transit felt long for 760 miles.
- Quote accuracy: 5 out of 5. I paid $8,322 against an $8,425 estimate, helped by an in-person walkthrough rather than a phone guess.
- Overall experience: 4 out of 5. The price was right and the loading crew was excellent, which outweighed the delivery problems for me.
Tips for future movers
These are the practical steps we recommend based on Steve M.’s experience:
- Insist on an in-person or video walkthrough: Mayflower sent a rep to Steve M.’s house to build the inventory, and his final bill came in $103 under the quote. An estimate built from a phone call is a guess.
- Get in the way on delivery day, not just pickup: Steve M. stayed out of the crew’s way at both ends. The set-aside items went into storage anyway and fragile boxes ended up on the bottom of stacks, both of which someone watching would have caught.
- Physically separate anything that shouldn’t be loaded: Marking boxes and explaining it to the crew wasn’t enough. Put those items in a different room, in your car, or somewhere the movers cannot reach them.
- Expect a long transit window even on a short move: Movers typically allow up to 30 days for delivery, and distance doesn’t determine the timeline. Availability, demand, and other shipments on the route all affect when your things show up.
- Get more than three quotes when cost is the priority: Steve M. got six on identical 13,000-pound estimates, and they ranged from $8,425 to $23,300. The spread on the same shipment is far wider than most people expect.
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