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Consumer Report: Trans-Atlantic Van Lines, USDOT #1433262

FINDING A MOVER
-> Company public recordsFeb 04, 09:51
Question by tabdale (Tina Abdale)

What do you know about Trans-Atlantic Vanlines? Are they reputable? They seem reasonable at $2142.00 to move a 3-4 bedroom house of 3000 pounds from Kenmore, NY to Eugene, OR.

Feb 04, 15:06
Answer by alexzehn (Alex Z.)


Trans-Atlantic Van Lines, USDOT #1433262

Safety Of Use Rating: F
 (0.00%, STAY AWAY - see how we calculate SOUR)




From their website www.transatlanticvanlines.com:
  • This company is not an agent for any major van lines, and claims to actually have agents of its own in all 50 states.
  • Licensing information: USDOT #1433262, ICC #541548, MC #541551.
  • Services offered: domestic and international service, they claim to offer services using local agents - smells like brokers.
  • Contact Information: address: 4731 W. Atlantic Ave Ste B-4, Delray Beach, FL 33445, phone: (877) 794-6683
  • No membership mentioned.
Now some explanations of the findings on their website: the company mentions 3 licenses: USDOT (allowing it to run interstate operations), and two other licenses: ICC and MC. This is deceptive - since there are no separate licenses with those names, it should be "ICC MC license". The reason they list those two licenses separately is because the first (541548) actually belongs to Trans-Atlantic and is associated with its USDOT license, however the records of FMCSA show that this license does not allow the company to hire "agents", or simply put, to broker out the jobs it books to other companies, since there is no bond insurance on file. The second license on the other hand belongs to a company named UNITED WORLD VAN LINES BROKERAGE INC, and this company is clearly a moving broker. Apparently, those two companies are closely related to each other, probably the same owner or one is a DBA of another.

From Safersys.org:
  • Licensing info: USDOT #1433262, MC #541548
  • 6 trucks
  • Address: 4731 W. Atlantic Ave, Delray Beach, FL 33445
  • Phone: (877) 794-6683
  • The information in the Safersys.org report indicates no problems with their license and insurance.
  • Inspections section shows alarming statistics: both vehicle and driver out-of-service rating are higher then the national average.
From Better Business Bureau:
  • Not members of the BBB
  • Original Business Start Date: not specified
  • BBB report indicates that this company's BBB file was opened in January of 2006, meaning that for the purpose of our research we will use a one-year statistics instead of 3 as we usually do.
  • Phone - same as in Safersys.org
  • Address - not specified
  • Additional name and address the company is operating under - United World Van Lines, 14401 South Military Trai Suite D, B205, Delray Beach, FL 33484
  • Number of complaints processed in the last 12 month: 43
From other sources:
  • Florida Movers & Warehouseman's Association: not listed as a member.
  • MovingScam.com: they list this company on their black list. As expected, there are over half dozen of poor service and scam stories associated with Trans-Atlantic and United World van lines that I managed to find on MovingScam message board.
  • RipoffReport.com: didn't find any article about this company.
  • Other sources: I found this website: www.myloadsboard.com, apparently it belongs to Trans-Atlantic, since their phone is listed there. Basically, its a board where they list all the jobs they booked for everyone to grab. I also noticed that the prices mentioned there are ridiculously low, so it only means that this mover-broker charges a fat deposit that they keep to themselves. Bottom line - when you book with them your moving job is very likely to be listed on that board waiting for some unidentified mover to pick it up.

Summary:
Simply put - STAY AWAY from this company. Although they pretend to be a nationwide van lines, in reality they are simply a small to medium size moving company in Florida that also operates as a moving broker. They have extremely bad BBB report and plenty of bad reviews on MovingScam.com. Since most of their jobs are brokered out its hard to estimate how well they operate as movers, but I believe that very few (if any) of their customers are actually happy with the outcome of their move.

Now regarding your particular case:
  • If you book with this company, it is practically guaranteed that your move will end up listed on their board, and you will face a completely different moving company on the day of your move.


  • It is bizarre that your estimate for 3-4 bedroom house came out to be 3,000 lbs. That weight is more appropriate for 1 small bedroom apartment, unless you have a spartan lifestyle, or if you plan to leave most of your furniture behind. Typical 3-4 bedroom house is around 8,000-10,000 lbs. I am convinced they never offered you a visual estimate.


  • They offered you $0.71 per-lb for a move from Buffalo, NY to Eugene, OR. From my experience, a move from NYC to L.A. would usually be in the range of $0.75-$0.95 per lb, depending on a company you pick. That route is very popular, and therefore you can find relatively cheaper price. On the other hand, your route is very unpopular due to both the origin and especially the destination. Therefore the price range should be somewhere between $0.90-$1.15 per lbs. They offered you a ridiculously low price.
I would recommend you to do some more shopping arround to see what other companies have to offer. You can get few quotes from several long distance movers right here. In any case, never book with a company that did not perform a visual estimate in your house and did not give you a flat price for your move. Also, check this thread to learn How to find a good moving company.


Good luck with your move,

Alex Z. @ MovingAnswers.org

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