American Van LinesReviews of americanvanlines.com

We have moved many times and this move from LA to Nashville went sour because of management team. There were good parts of our experience, which makes what happened afterward even more disappointing. We paid approximately $12,215 to move across country. I had already packed and meticulously organized most of our home myself. The five-person LA team was incredible. Their focus was disassembling and wrapping furniture, and they had the entire house finished by around 1 PM starting at 7am. There was an unexpected additional charge because of where their truck could park in our LA neighborhood, something I felt could have been identified beforehand if the property and logistics team had been properly assessed as I requested. The move fell apart in the handling of our belongings across country and the manager of the subcontracted moving company in Nashville that American Van Lines hired. Everything I personally packed arrived safely. The significant damage was to furniture and other items handled/wrapped by the movers. Before the move, I specifically raised concerns about the steep driveway at our Nashville rental, which I had never seen in person, and asked that the local team assess it in person to determine the right truck and approach. That didn't happen. The truck(s) assigned couldn't access the house. Only two movers were initially assigned, and they had to manually carry our belongings up the hill and bring in additional help. The move-in lasted all day and into the night. I felt terrible for the guys and bought them a late lunch and kept snacks available because they worked incredibly hard. My issue isn't with those workers. My issue is with the planning that put both them and our belongings in that situation. Comparable and even larger trucks have since successfully driven up the same driveway, which we documented. American Van Lines did send a repair team, and some items were fixed. I personally repaired others rather than claiming everything that was damaged. For the remaining items, our documented losses totaled approximately $2,175. American Van Lines offered us $275. Consumer warning: understand exactly what valuation coverage you're signing. We didn't purchase the more expensive full-value protection, so their offer is based largely on item weight rather than actual replacement cost. One dining chair alone cost $299 to replace. I went above and beyond preparing the claim, researching purchase information, replacement costs and weights and providing photos. We weren't asking for an enormous payout. Our entire claim was less than 20% of what we paid for the move and didn't include items we repaired ourselves. What has ultimately made this an experience the worst is the lack of accountability afterward. Our claim was acknowledged in April and we were told it would be completed by June 8. It is now September. We've exchanged 20+ emails, made multiple phone calls, rejected the $275 offer in writing, been promised management follow-up that never happened, and most recently sent the entire history and documentation directly to an adjuster and manager. Still no response. Mistakes happen during moves. What defines a company is what happens after something goes wrong. We've been patient, reasonable and thorough, yet somehow we're still the ones doing all the work. My advice: read the valuation fine print, INSIST unusual access issues at BOTH properties are assessed before moving day, and document everything. At this point, I cannot recommend American Van Lines for a major interstate move. If they finally take ownership and resolve our claim fairly, I will gladly update this review. I hope they give me a reason to do so.

We hired American Van Lines on short notice after our POD plan fell through. They provided a fair initial quote of about $12,000 and assured us they could meet our timeline. We also paid an additional $2,000 for a guaranteed two-day pickup window instead of the standard three-day option. The pickup was handled by a subcontractor, City Movers. The crew arrived later in the morning and, despite the extensive pre-packing we had already completed, the process took much longer than expected. My wife and I ended up helping throughout the day, including making trips to the truck and assisting with logistics. Without our help, they likely would have been there well into the night (they left ~7pma). The crew itself seemed reasonably organized, but once they saw the amount of furniture in person, we were informed the shipment would cost roughly $7,000 more than originally quoted, bringing the total to just under $20,000. After pickup, our belongings were unloaded into a warehouse in Maryland, where they remained for a full week before beginning the cross-country journey. During this time, our primary point of contact changed multiple times, which created confusion. Our final coordinator was helpful when we could reach her, but communication was inconsistent and often required us to proactively seek updates. In several cases, we received more information from a supervisor than from our assigned coordinator. We often knew where our shipment was because of our AirTags, not because of updates from the moving company. Our belongings were picked up on July 13 and delivered on July 30. The delivery driver contacted us the day before and was easy to coordinate with. When I asked whether a moving crew would be assisting at delivery, I was told it would only be the driver and one additional person. Given the size of our shipment, this was concerning. They arrived around 2:30 PM, and once again, my wife and I spent the entire afternoon helping unload. The crew worked hard, but with only two movers, there simply wasn't enough manpower. They left around 7:30 PM, and without our assistance they would have had to return the following day. Furthermore, we opted out of having them unpack our boxes, which saved many hours. The biggest issue occurred during delivery. The inventory paperwork provided by City Movers was essentially unusable. While every item had a numbered tag, the inventory sheets did not contain matching number ranges or adequate references. Neither we nor the delivery team could reliably determine whether specific items had arrived. To make matters worse, some listed items, such as an air compressor, had been packed inside boxes, forcing us to open numerous boxes simply to verify the inventory. In the end, we still have no confidence that everything was delivered because there was no practical way to reconcile the shipment against the inventory. We experienced some minor damage, which we expected given that we've completed multiple military cross-country moves over the years. However, this was by far the most disorganized move we've experienced. While the pickup and delivery crews generally worked hard and were professional, poor communication, changing contacts, inadequate staffing, and a fundamentally flawed inventory process significantly detracted from the overall experience. Ultimately, the level of service we received was not commensurate with the amount we paid. And with how much we helped, we may as well could have just done everything ourselves.

Moved from NY to Florida. This was a horrible and stressful experience from the day they picked up our things. It took 21 days for our things to be delivered, even though when we signed with them we were assured that it would be much less time. During all that time, there was no communication from them unless we tried to call them (not easy to get someone). They never gave a good reason for the delay either, except to blame it on subcontractors they use. We had to stay in hotels for two weeks. And towards the end they even tried to shift some blame on us! Very unprofessional all around, including add on charges which seemed excessive. Only reason I did not give one star is because we FINALLY did get our stuff. Recent Update: the company has offered to compensate us for the service issues we experienced.

horrible experience paid 10000.00 for the most unprofessional move ever they hired third party not good broke things, delays no blankets for packing just tossed things in u haul boxes and used a uhaul truck when i was quoted for semi i have use professional services 5 times and they by far where the worst

I contracted with American Van Lines to move my belongings from Durham NC to Ocala FL in August 2025. I will admit that I did not read the contract closely. I did require storage for a week which was very expensive. Communication was not their strong point once they had your belongings and first payment. When belongings were delivered, several of the items that were taken apart were not put back together. Customer service pointed out that per the contract this was not required. I found shelving unit parts strewn around my new house/garage with the boxes. I will either have to pay someone to put them together or figure it out myself. I am not sure if I have everything. When they were taken apart I was told that they would put them back together. I also was missing at least one box and likely two as I unpacked. I did not find things that I know I packed, not expensive items but kitchen items that I used for baking and cooking. A few things were broken, nothing major but annoying. They were one of the better offers but customer service was lacking. The date of delivery I was given a time range to expect the movers. They were over 3 hours late and I received no calls regarding this. I was told that the driver would call with an update and time of delivery. Never happened. I did call customer service and they called the driver for an update. Then they wanted the final payment. They said the driver was in front of our house and they would not deliver until they received payment. I looked out the window and there was no one in front of my house. Not the most honest people. Turns out they were at a gas station nearby. I tried to keep track of the boxes while being unloaded but there were 5 of them and they were not keeping track of what was delivered. The manifest I was given when loading at first home was illegible, not sure how they knew what was picked up. They were in a hurry because they had a long drive back and they were late arriving. They were not familiar with putting some things together so my husband had to assist. My husband had to take the two beds apart because he found extra screws that they did not attach to the beds. They took videos when dismantling some of the things. Obviously they did not have the videos. They did offer me money but I had to sign a document that I would not speak of the issues upon receipt of the money. I am not selling my freedom of speech.

The crew that actually did our move was incredible. If I could hire them independently, outside of American Van Lines, I would. The administrative aspect of the move was a nightmare. They didn’t dispatch the correct size truck so 10% of our belongings were left behind. When I tried to seek resolution with AVL to help pickup what was left the wanted to charge full rates for an “overflow” move. Ended up having to hire a different company because AVL refused to acknowledge or take responsibility for their error. Will never use them again.

First off, I want to say that the movers themselves were excellent—professional and efficient at both pickup and delivery. Unfortunately, my experience with American Van Lines’ customer service was another story. Emails and voicemails went unanswered, and phone calls were hit-or-miss. Finding someone who genuinely cared about helping was difficult, and at one point, an agent accidentally left me off hold so I could hear her chatting about personal matters with a coworker. My move was from Seattle to Georgia. Pickup did not happen on the scheduled date. For delivery, I had requested one month of storage with a delivery date of July 28, 2025. That day came and went with no call from the company. On July 29, I had to contact multiple agents before learning—only then—that I needed to fill out a form to release my items from storage. No one had explained this beforehand. My belongings didn’t arrive until August 8—nine days late. In the meantime, I also received a bill of lading with an incorrect balance, which took several more calls to correct. In the end, I was billed properly, but the process was unnecessarily frustrating. While the movers were great, American Van Lines’ customer service made this experience far more stressful than it needed to be.

My driver & his team were phenomenal and deserving of 5 stars. AVL's Customer Service and scheduling team is the only reason they received 2 stars. Awful communication and willingness to support. Bait & switches littered throughout the process. Once you sign the paperwork that sales representative is gone and you move to a poorly managed customer service representative and that sales rep no longer cares about your move. The actual moving experience from the field employees was spectacular. Sad that what should be the strongest arm of an organization was their weakest - Customer Service.