Removal companies are one of those services where the difference between a good one and a bad one only becomes obvious on moving day itself, by which point it's too late to change your mind. A few questions upfront save that risk.
Ask about insurance specifically
"We're insured" isn't really an answer. Ask what's covered, Goods in Transit insurance (your belongings while they're on the move) and Public Liability (damage to the property itself) are the two that matter, and ask what the policy limit is. A company that can answer this without hesitating has actually thought about it.
Check how the quote was built
A quote based on an actual survey, whether that's someone visiting in person or a video walkaround, is far more reliable than one based on a form with a bedroom count. The latter is fine as a rough guide, but it's the reason some people get a nasty surprise when the crew arrives and the job turns out bigger than the paperwork suggested.
Look for local reviews, not just a star rating
A 4.9 rating from 20 reviews in a city an hour away tells you less than a handful of reviews from people who live down the road. Local reviews, ideally ones that mention the actual village or town, are the closest thing to asking a neighbour who they used.
Red flags worth taking seriously
A few things worth being cautious about: a quote given with no survey and no questions about access or volume, a request for a large deposit paid in cash, no fixed business address, and reluctance to put insurance details in writing. None of these are automatically disqualifying on their own, but more than one together is worth pausing over.
Why local, family-run companies often do well on all of this
It's not a universal rule, but a company that lives and works in the area it serves has more riding on getting it right, reputation travels fast in a village the size of Windlesham. We've been doing this locally since 2014 for exactly that reason: the people who book us tend to be the same people who'll mention us to a neighbour six months later.