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

Well, the difference is explainable. The expensive ones simply have real employees who are insured in Germany and pay taxes. The others have a sub-subcontractor who is registered somewhere in the EU and hires their people from somewhere. It's just like in construction. If you're unlucky, even the expensive company has a sub-sub, although performance-wise that doesn't have to be worse, you just could have had it cheaper. Neither one nor the other says anything about skills and especially motivation. That's how an open labor market works. You can see it as good or bad, but that's just the way it is.

I have now looked up the emails and the invoice again (see screenshot). I cut off the addresses and private details, but it was almost exactly 880 km (East Frisia > Southern Bavaria) and the move took place last November.

The initial offer was just over 2000 euros. Since we had more stuff than originally stated/thought (you always tend to underestimate it, it seems), they corrected the offer upwards to 2520 euros.

As mentioned, they came with 3 men and a 7.5-ton truck, which was just enough. We still had moving boxes; they brought blankets and protective foils. They were super fast and super nice. And there were no hidden additional costs.

I don’t know why it should cost you twice as much. I also can’t imagine that it’s much cheaper to rent a truck and drive it yourself.

Hey – I have to dig this up again: Do you still remember approximately how many cubic meters you declared?

After your tip, I used the same platform for comparisons. And we had the same problem – "apparently underestimated, need to correct upwards."
What puzzles me a bit is that I already entered over 60 m³ on the platform. And they sent me an offer for a single 7.5T, at which point I asked if they were sure that 60m³ would fit into a 7.5T when you read everywhere that a 7.5T has about 30 m³ of loading volume.
Then they said, "send us photos," and after seeing the photos, "oh that's more, it will be 1,500 euros more expensive."
I could understand that if we had not already declared 60m³ on the platform, which in my opinion is quite a lot and clearly CANNOT fit into a single 7.5T. Therefore, I find the statement "we need a second truck" a bit flimsy. You should have been able to see that from our data, even without photos. Then I asked on the phone how that came about, since the initial offer for 62m³ was given at 3.5k, and how many cubic meters they now estimated after the photos. The answer on the phone was lots of beating around the bush and "I have to ask my colleague, I’ll call you back," but I never got a call back.

Yes, that sounds more like the faction "We discuss during the move." Watch out. Some are also the kind of people who, if in doubt, unload everything at the highway rest stop.

Yes, that sounds more like the faction "We discuss during the move". Watch out. Some are also like that, that they unload everything at the highway service area if in doubt.

What surprises me is that they are rated exceptionally well, both on the platform and on Google. They have also been partnered there since 2015. I can't imagine that they pull something like that. o.O

The current fuel prices surely also drive the price up again, perhaps that is why the statement is rather vague or absent…

Hi, we are currently looking for a moving company. It’s not that easy. I asked a local one that friends of mine had used. They took a look and gave a fixed price offer. We have about 115 sqm and I think around 100 boxes. The move is 30 km and they want nearly 3000 including packing materials and furniture assembly and disassembly. To compare, I once inquired on a comparison platform and got offers for half the price. However, unseen, and one was interesting and now wanted photos. I’m curious. But I think I’ll take the one I asked first. Might be a bit more expensive but with them I got a good impression.