Long-Distance Moving near you

A legitimate interstate household goods mover cannot hide its registration, because federal rules make it advertise it. Every advertisement for interstate household goods services, including accessorial services, must carry the carrier's name or trade name as it appears on the document assigning it a USDOT number, or the name of the carrier under whose operating authority the advertised service will originate, plus the USDOT number itself, displayed only in the form U.S. DOT No. and the assigned number. A quote from a company that will not give you a name matching a registration is not a quote worth having.

Registration is not only a formality: it is tied to money the carrier must have on file. An interstate for-hire carrier of non-hazardous property in vehicles of 10,001 pounds or more must maintain public liability security of at least 750,000 dollars, and a household goods motor carrier must also file cargo security to compensate individual shippers, set at 5,000 dollars for loss or damage to household goods carried on any one motor vehicle and 10,000 dollars for losses or damages occurring at any one time and place. Those cargo figures are deliberately small; they are a floor for the regulator, not a measure of what your shipment is worth.

The federal booklet tells consumers where to look. It directs shippers to FMCSA's public licensing and insurance system at li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov, where a carrier can be searched by USDOT or MC number, and to protectyourmove.gov to establish whether the company you are dealing with is a household goods motor carrier or a household goods broker and whether it is registered with FMCSA. Do that lookup yourself before a deposit changes hands.

A household goods broker sells, offers, negotiates or arranges transportation by a motor carrier but does not move anything itself, and federal rules force it to say so. A broker must prominently display on its advertisements and internet home pages the physical locations where it does business, its USDOT registration number and MC license number, and its status as a household goods broker together with a statement that it will not transport an individual shipper's household goods but will arrange for transportation by an FMCSA-authorised household goods motor carrier whose charges will be determined by its published tariff.

Three further broker obligations are worth memorising. A broker may act only for a motor carrier that has a valid, active USDOT number and valid operating authority to transport household goods in interstate commerce. On request from any potential individual shipper who contacts it, a broker must provide a list of all the authorised household goods motor carriers it uses, with their USDOT registration numbers and MC license numbers, and a statement that it is not a motor carrier authorised by the federal government to transport the shipper's goods. And a broker must prominently disclose, on its website and in its agreements, its cancellation policy, its deposit policy and its policy for refunding deposited funds where the shipper cancels before the scheduled pickup.

A broker may provide an estimate only in narrow circumstances: it must be in writing, based on a physical survey conducted by the authorised motor carrier on whose behalf it is given, prepared under a signed written agreement with that carrier, and based on that carrier's published tariff. The written agreement must state that the broker's estimate will serve as the carrier's estimate for the purposes of part 375, including the requirement that the carrier relinquish possession on payment of no more than 110 percent of a non-binding estimate. That agreement is public information and the broker must produce it for review on reasonable request.

The estimate must rest on a physical survey of the goods, which since the rule was modernised may be conducted on-site or virtually, provided the mover can view the goods through live or pre-recorded video that lets it clearly identify what is to be transported. You may waive the survey, but only in writing, signed before the shipment is loaded, with the waiver retained as an addendum to the bill of lading. When the written estimate is provided, the mover must also give you the Ready to Move? brochure and the contents of appendix A, Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move, either as copies or as hyperlinks to the FMCSA pages, and must obtain a signed, dated receipt showing you received them.

The bill of lading is the contract, and the timing rules around it are the most under-used protection in the whole scheme. It must be provided to, signed and dated by the individual shipper at least three days before the shipment is scheduled to be loaded, and the mover must give you the opportunity to rescind it without any penalty for a three-day period after you sign. It must list seventeen specified items, including the legal or trade name of the mover as registered with FMCSA and its physical address, the USDOT numbers of any carriers known to be participating, the agreed pickup and delivery dates or periods, the forms of payment honoured at delivery, the maximum amount demandable at delivery on a collect-on-delivery shipment, and the valuation statement from the Surface Transportation Board's released rates order.

The inventory is the other document that decides claims. The mover must prepare a written, itemised inventory identifying every carton and every uncartoned item, put a matching identification number on each article, and prepare it before or at the time of loading in a way that lets you observe and verify its accuracy. At delivery it must give you the opportunity to check that the same articles are being delivered and in what condition, to note missing articles and damage in writing, and to receive a copy of those notations. A delivery receipt must not contain language purporting to release or discharge the mover or its agents from liability.

A binding estimate is an agreement made in advance that guarantees the total cost of the move for the quantities and services shown, and the mover may charge a fee for preparing one. A non-binding estimate is the mover's view of what the move will cost, must be furnished without charge, and must state on its face that it is not binding and that you will not be required to pay more than 110 percent of it at the time of delivery. Final charges on a non-binding estimate are based on the actual weight of the shipment and the tariff in effect, so the estimate is a ceiling on what is collectable at the door, not a ceiling on what is owed.

The mechanics at delivery are precise. On a binding estimate the maximum collectable is the exact estimate plus charges for additional services you requested after the bill of lading was issued, plus charges for impracticable operations that must not exceed 15 percent of all other charges due at delivery. On a non-binding estimate the maximum is 110 percent of the estimate plus the same two categories. Anything else is billed after 30 days from delivery. If only part of the shipment is delivered, the mover may demand only a prorated percentage based on the weight delivered: deliver 2,500 pounds of a 5,000 pound shipment and only half is collectable.

Weight is therefore worth watching. On a non-binding estimate the mover must weigh the shipment on a certified scale before assessing charges, using either an origin weigh or a back weigh, with the driver and other persons off the vehicle and all equipment aboard. Shipments of 3,000 pounds or less may be weighed on a certified platform or warehouse scale. You have the right to observe every weighing and must be told where and when each will happen, and after being informed of the billing weight and total charges, and before unloading begins on a shipment weighed at origin, you may demand a reweigh, on which the freight bill must then be based.

Every interstate mover must offer two liability levels, and the estimate must tell you so. Under full value protection, if an article is lost, destroyed or damaged in the mover's custody, the mover will at its option repair it to the condition in which it was received, pay the cost of those repairs, replace it with an article of like kind and quality, or pay the cost of replacement, subject to the exceptions in its tariff and to any deductible. Under the waiver, known as released value, the mover assumes liability of no more than 60 cents per pound per article. The booklet's own worked example is blunt: a ten-pound stereo component worth 1,000 dollars, lost, yields 6 dollars.

The numbers behind full value protection come from the Surface Transportation Board, which oversees household goods movers' tariffs and valuation. Its released rates decision sets the charge basis where a customer elects full value protection but does not write in a declared value: the value of the goods is deemed to be the higher of 6.00 dollars per pound multiplied by the shipment weight or a minimum shipment valuation of 6,000 dollars, and the per-pound figure may be indexed annually but indexing is not mandatory. Your mover may use a higher minimum, and you may declare a higher value at additional cost. Full value protection is the default: your shipment moves at that level unless you waive it in writing.

Two limits catch people out. Movers may limit liability for articles of extraordinary value, meaning any item worth more than 100 dollars per pound, unless you specifically list those articles on the shipping documents; if you do notify the mover in writing, you are entitled to full recovery up to the declared value of those articles, not exceeding the declared value of the entire shipment. And separate third-party cargo liability insurance, which a mover may but need not sell, is a different animal: if it is sold to you the mover must issue the policy or other written evidence at the time of purchase, and disputes with third-party insurance companies are not subject to FMCSA regulations or to the mover's arbitration program.

The rule is stated plainly in the federal booklet. Your mover must give you possession of your shipment if you pay 110 percent of a non-binding estimate or 100 percent of a binding estimate, plus 15 percent of the impracticable operations charges if applicable; if the mover does not relinquish possession, the mover is holding your shipment hostage in violation of federal law. The regulations reinforce it from the other direction: failure to relinquish possession after that tender constitutes a failure to transport with reasonable dispatch and exposes the mover to cargo delay claims.

The penalties behind that sentence are severe and not widely known. Whoever is found holding a household goods shipment hostage is liable to the United States for a civil penalty of not less than 10,000 dollars for each violation, each day of failure to give up possession may constitute a separate violation, and the United States may assign all or part of the penalty to an aggrieved shipper. The Secretary of Transportation may order the goods returned, and may suspend the registration of a carrier or broker found holding a shipment hostage for not less than 12 and not more than 36 months, with the suspension extending to any carrier or broker under the same ownership or operational control. A conviction for failing to give up possession carries a fine under title 18 or imprisonment of up to two years, or both.

The booklet gives one instruction for the moment it happens: if your mover refuses to deliver your shipment unless you pay an amount the mover is not entitled to charge, contact FMCSA immediately at (888) 368-7238. Do that the same day, keep the estimate, the bill of lading and proof of what you tendered, and do not agree to a new price in exchange for your furniture before you have made the call.

Interstate delivery is normally sold as a spread rather than a date, and the booklet is direct about what that means: your shipment could arrive any time during the spread, and the mover must give you 24 hours' advance notice of when it plans to arrive. If you are not available to accept delivery then, the shipment can go into storage at your expense. The advice that follows is equally direct: do not agree to have your shipment picked up or delivered as soon as possible, because the dates or periods should be definite and must be entered on the bill of lading.

When the mover cannot meet those dates, it owes you notice. As soon as the delay becomes apparent it must notify you at its own expense by telephone, in person, fax, email, overnight courier or certified mail, advise you of the dates or periods it now expects to pick up or deliver while considering your needs, make a written record of the date, time and manner of the notification and of the amended dates, keep that record for a year, and furnish you a copy on request. If it can deliver more than 24 hours early and you do not agree to take it, it may place the shipment in storage near the destination at its own account and expense, and must immediately tell you the name and address of the warehouse.

Delay claims are a separate remedy from damage claims, and they depend on what you agreed. Where you contracted for guaranteed pickup and delivery service, the bill of lading must set out the penalty or per diem entitlements due when a date is missed. Outside a guaranteed service, if the mover fails to pick up or deliver on the agreed date or during the spread and you incur expenses you would not otherwise have had, you may be able to recover them through a delay of shipment claim. The mover is excused only by force majeure, an unforeseen change of circumstances beyond its control.

You have nine months from the date of delivery, or from the date the shipment should have been delivered where the whole shipment is lost, to file a claim in writing with the mover or its third-party insurer. Those minimums are statutory: a carrier may not provide, by rule, contract or otherwise, a period of less than nine months for filing a claim or less than two years for bringing a civil action, with the two years running from the date the carrier gives written notice that it has disallowed part of the claim. The mover then has 30 days to acknowledge receipt, and 120 days to pay, decline or make a firm written settlement offer, after which it must update you in writing at the end of each succeeding 60-day period while the claim remains pending.

If you cannot settle, every interstate mover must maintain a neutral arbitration program and must give you a summary of it, with any applicable costs and a disclosure of the legal effects of electing arbitration, before the bill of lading is executed. Arbitration is binding for claims of 10,000 dollars or less if you request it; above that figure it is binding only if the mover also agrees. The mover may not require you to agree to arbitration before a dispute arises, may not charge you more than half the cost of instituting the proceeding, and the arbitrator must render a decision within 60 days of written notification of the dispute, extendable only if a party is slow to provide information.

You can go to court instead. Legal action may be started by filing in your state and serving the mover's process agent there, in state court or, where the claim exceeds 10,000 dollars, in federal court. The booklet explains how to identify that process agent: telephone FMCSA at (800) 832-5660, or look the carrier up by USDOT or MC number in the public licensing and insurance system and follow the blanket company link to the list of process agents by state. FMCSA cannot settle your claim for you, and says so.