How to Vet a Mover Before You Sign: A Checklist
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How to vet a mover before you sign
Work down the list before you pay a deposit or sign anything. Ticks are saved in this browser only.
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Look the company up
FMCSA offers the search for interstate moves. Searching takes a few minutes and costs nothing.
Source: FMCSA, Protect Your Move
A mismatch is a reason to stop and ask, not to assume.
FMCSA explains the difference on its Protect Your Move page. A broker arranges the move but may hand the job to another company.
Source: FMCSA, Protect Your Move
Get it in writing
The federal rules for interstate movers require a written estimate, signed by you and the mover, and say whether it is binding or non-binding. A price given only by phone is not an estimate.
For interstate moves the rules require a physical survey, on site or virtual, unless you waive it in writing.
FMCSA says movers must give both to customers before an interstate move.
Source: FMCSA, Protect Your Move
FMCSA's booklet explains the documents a mover asks you to sign.
Source: FMCSA, Protect Your Move
The rights booklet says not to sign blank documents. The only gaps allowed are details that cannot be known before loading, such as the actual weight on a non-binding move.
If something feels wrong
Source: FMCSA, Protect Your Move
Keep copies of every document and message in case you need to file.
Source: FMCSA, Protect Your Move
Sources (1)
- FMCSA, Protect Your Move fmcsa.dot.gov
In short: Look the company up in FMCSA's Registered Mover Database, get written estimates, ask for FMCSA's rights booklet and brochure, and read everything before you sign. If a company pushes you to commit on the spot, get another estimate.
This list is about the order of operations, not about any one company. It does not say which movers are good or bad, and no page on this site does. What it gives you is a short routine that works whichever company you are looking at, built on the free tools the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration publishes for people planning a move.
Why the order matters
Most of the damage in a bad move starts before the truck arrives: a deposit paid to a name that turns out not to match the company that shows up, a form signed with blanks in it, an estimate that existed only on the phone. Each step in the list closes one of those doors. The first section is the cheapest, because looking a company up takes a few minutes and commits you to nothing. The second section is the one people skip when they are in a hurry, and the third is there so that you already know what to do if something goes wrong.
The rules behind several lines are federal ones for interstate moves, set out in 49 CFR Part 375. They require a written estimate, a survey of your belongings (in person or by video) unless you waive it in writing, and no signing of blank documents. Part 375 does not reach a move between two addresses in the same state, so for a local move ask your state's consumer protection office about any rules there.
Worked example: two estimates side by side
Suppose you have asked two companies for written estimates on the same move. Put the documents next to each other and tick through the first section for each one. Is the name on the paper the name you searched? Did either company tell you whether it is the mover or a broker who will hand the job to someone else? If one company answered those questions plainly and the other changed the subject, you have learned something that no price comparison would have told you. Only then compare what the estimates say they include, line by line, and ask each company to explain any line you do not follow. Check, too, whether each estimate says it is binding or non-binding, because that decides what you can be asked to pay at delivery. The guide to binding and non-binding estimates explains the difference.
What the list leaves out
There are no prices on this page, on purpose. What a move costs depends on distance, the size of the household and the season, and a guessed range would be worse than none. This page is about whether to trust the company, not how much to pay it. For the questions to put to each company once it passes these checks, use the questions to ask movers checklist, and for a step-by-step lookup, see the guide to checking a USDOT number.
It also does not replace FMCSA's own booklet. The agency's Protect Your Move page links the rights booklet, the brochure movers must hand over before an interstate move, its red-flag list and the way to file a complaint. Read those yourself; this page points to them and does not restate them.
If it goes wrong anyway
FMCSA says it cannot resolve a claim against a moving company, but its page explains how to file a complaint if you believe you were the target of a scam. Keep copies of every estimate, contract, receipt and message from the first contact onward, because those papers are what any complaint will rest on. For a move inside one state, your state's consumer protection office is the place to ask where to report a problem.