National move - long distance - how to find a moving company?

Maybe they were simply extremely underutilized at that time, so they urgently wanted to submit the cheapest offer, since running unprofitably might still be better than having no money in the cash register at all. (?)

Since this is obviously an order from an auction platform (?), I suspect this or a similar reason (building a customer base, reviews ...). That is exactly the big possible advantage of such platforms, where large savings potential arises from the availability of such providers. The cheap ones are not always bad. For example, if someone is fighting to survive because there isn’t much in the order pool regionally, they are willing to take on "higher expenses" in order to at least bring a few euros into the cash register, instead of twiddling their thumbs and declaring insolvency. It’s just one example, but an experienced scenario.

Yes, I mean on plusminusnull you might even be able to manage such a trip. Then at least you have taken care of your permanent staff and don’t have to lay anyone off.

Holy moly, that's a lot of stuff. You really have to consider selling all our IKEA furniture on eBay Classifieds / having it cleared out, then driving to IKEA locally, and transporting the rest down with 1-2 trips in a Sprinter. Because we don't currently have incredibly high-quality furniture here. It's mostly IKEA. And for 10k €, I can basically furnish myself anew appropriately. o_O

I don't know how much and what you can do yourselves, but is there really no one at all in your entire circle of friends-family-acquaintances who is allowed to drive a somewhat larger car? Or do you know someone who works in the furniture industry, hardware store, at a university, or similar and is allowed to privately rent a truck for a weekend? Or is self-employed as a craftsman. (That was possible for us, which is why I'm asking.)

I don’t know how much and what you all can do yourselves, but is there really no one in your entire circle of friends, relatives, and acquaintances who is allowed to drive a somewhat larger car? Or do you know someone who works in the furniture industry, at a hardware store, at a university or similar, and is allowed to privately rent a truck for a weekend? Or is self-employed as a craftsman. (It was possible for us, that’s why I’m asking.)

Unfortunately, really not. The only people I know who have anything to do with trucks are the neighbors with the radio. :D I don’t know anyone well enough to ask them to help with the move. Friends and relatives all work in completely different professions. My best friend says she would trust herself to drive one of our cars down, but not a Sprinter. I have to admit that I myself wouldn’t trust driving a Sprinter over the distance either—I have never driven anything like that. And these rental panel vans are right at the top of the accident statistics. Besides that, I think we would really need a proper truck. The moving company we used when we moved here had a bigger truck (but I don’t remember how big) and a smaller one.

From 30 onwards and with real jobs, one should no longer involve friends and acquaintances.

But these worries are driving me crazy. I'm about to get into a 3.5-ton truck and drive to you, then I'll go back and forth three times and that will be that. However, my wife will kill me then...