Movers near you

FMCSA's guidance is direct: interstate moving companies and brokers must be registered with the federal government and have a USDOT number, and you can verify whether a mover is registered, insured, authorized to transport household goods, or has received complaints through the agency's database at protectyourmove.gov. The same records are reachable through the SAFER Company Snapshot, which returns a company's identification, size, operating status and safety record from a USDOT number, an MC number or a company name.

Do the lookup yourself rather than accepting a number on a website. Confirm that the legal name and address on the snapshot match the company you have been talking to, that the operating status is active, and that the company is authorized for household goods rather than general freight. A number that belongs to a different company, or an inactive record, is the single most useful warning you will get.

Brokers are a separate category worth understanding. A broker arranges your move but does not carry it out, and must also be registered. If you are dealing with a broker, ask which carrier will actually load your belongings, and look that carrier up too, because the crew at your door is the company whose record matters on moving day.

If your belongings cross a state line, the move is interstate and FMCSA's household goods rules apply: registration, the required consumer booklet, the estimate rules, the bill of lading and the liability options described below. If the move begins and ends in the same state, it is intrastate, and FMCSA's own guidance tells consumers to check with their state, county or local consumer affairs agency, their state attorney general or their state moving association, because each state sets its own rules for moving household goods within the state.

The gap between those two regimes is wide. Texas requires movers operating within the state to be licensed by the TxDMV with an active certificate, requires a licensed mover to give the customer a proposal or estimate and a moving services contract before loading begins, and publishes a lookup so a customer can confirm the certificate is active. It also runs a mediation process for household goods disputes. Other states have nothing comparable.

One practical consequence: a company can be perfectly legitimate for interstate work and still be outside its lane on a local move, or the reverse. Ask which category your move falls into, then check the register that governs that category.

A binding estimate is a written agreement made in advance that guarantees the total cost of the move based on the quantities and services shown on the estimate. A non-binding estimate is the mover's best judgment of what the move will cost and is not binding on the mover: final charges are based on the actual weight of the shipment, the services provided and the tariff in effect. Both are legitimate; what matters is knowing which one you signed.

For non-binding estimates there is a specific federal protection often called the 110 percent rule. A mover may not collect more than 110 percent of a non-binding estimate at destination for the services and quantities shown on that estimate. If the final bill comes to more than that, the mover must release your shipment on payment of 110 percent of the estimated amount and defer billing the remainder for at least thirty days. Services you requested after the contract was signed, and which were not on the estimate, can be charged at delivery separately.

The bill of lading is the contract, not a receipt, and it must carry the names, telephone numbers, addresses and USDOT numbers of every motor carrier that will participate in transporting your shipment. Read it before you sign it, and never sign a document with blank spaces. The inventory is the evidence: go through it as items are loaded, and note existing damage then rather than arguing about it at the other end.

Movers offer two levels of liability, and they are not insurance. Under full value protection, the mover is liable for the replacement value of lost or damaged items in the shipment. Under released value protection, the mover's liability is limited to sixty cents per pound per article, no matter what the article was worth: a ten-pound electronic component would be covered for six dollars' worth of weight-based liability, not its replacement value. Released value is offered at no additional charge, which is exactly why people end up with it by accident.

FMCSA's rule about the default is worth memorizing. If you do not select released value protection, the shipment is automatically transported under full value protection. That means released value is something you actively choose, usually by signing a specific statement, so read what you are initialling.

Every mover is required to participate in an arbitration program and to give you a summary of that program before you sign the bill of lading. If a loss or damage claim cannot be settled with the company, you have the right to request arbitration. Report damage promptly and in writing; failing to report loss and damage promptly is one of the things that can limit a mover's liability.

Most moves go smoothly, but the failure mode in this industry is severe: a shipment loaded, then held while the price climbs. FMCSA and the FTC describe the same warning signs, and they show up before loading day rather than on it.

Summer and the end of the month are when American moving demand concentrates, driven by school calendars and lease start dates. Booking early is less about the rate than about getting a reputable carrier at all on a crowded weekend, and about giving yourself time to run the USDOT lookup and read the paperwork before you commit.

On moving day, keep the documents you signed, the inventory and a phone number for a person at the company, not just a dispatch line. Photograph valuable items before they are wrapped. Keep essential documents, medication, keys and anything irreplaceable with you rather than on the truck, because it is the one category that no liability option makes whole.