Anyone can put a truck on a website. AFRA — the Australian Furniture Removers Association —
audits members every year on insurance, equipment, training and complaints handling.
Here is what that difference looks like on a Portsea job.
What you are comparing
Easy Peasy · AFRA member
Non-accredited operator
Transit protection on exposed carries
✓
Blankets, covers and wrap included as standard — necessary on Portsea's exposed frontages, not an upsell.
✗
Wrapping charged per item, or skipped entirely to keep the hourly headline rate low.
Written quote before you commit
✓
Truck, crew, hourly rate, call-out and any weekend surcharge in writing before you book. Billed by the minute after the two-hour minimum.
✗
Verbal estimate over the phone, then a "the job was bigger than expected" conversation at the end of the day.
Vehicles and equipment
✓
Owned, maintained fleet of 20+ trucks with blankets, trolleys, straps and port-a-robes on board as standard.
✗
Hire truck booked that morning, with equipment charged separately or simply not carried.
Who actually turns up
✓
Uniformed, screened, trained employees. The same crews week after week, not a different pair each job.
✗
Subcontracted or casual labour with no background screening and no accountability back to the company.
If something goes wrong
✓
A documented complaints process, externally audited every year as an AFRA member, with an escalation path that ends at a named manager.
✗
No formal process. Your options are a chargeback, a bad review, or small claims.
Cancellations and no-shows
✓
A depot, a dispatcher and a backup truck. If a vehicle breaks down we send another one.
✗
One truck and one driver. A breakdown or a double-booking means your move simply does not happen that day.
Pricing after the job
✓
The rate you were quoted, billed to the minute. No fuel levy, no stair levy, no "heavy item" surprise.
✗
Low headline rate, then call-out fees, travel time, fuel surcharges and equipment hire added at the end.