Questions to Ask a Moving Company: Licensing, Insurance, Reviews, and Fit

Pass the legal gate before comparing prices

An attractive quote is not evidence that a company may legally transport household goods interstate. FMCSA distinguishes between a company that is merely registered and a carrier that is authorized for interstate household-goods transportation. Its registration-versus-authorization guidance tells consumers to verify registration, insurance, household-goods authority, and complaint information.

Treat those items as pass-or-fail requirements. Google reviews, a polished website, trade membership, or a Better Business Bureau rating cannot cure inactive authority, missing insurance filings, or a contract issued by the wrong legal entity.

1. What are your legal name, DBA, USDOT number, and MC number?

Ask for the exact legal name and any “doing business as” name before discussing the estimate. Record the U.S. Department of Transportation number and, where applicable, the MC docket number. The name and numbers should match the estimate, contract, payment recipient, advertising, and federal records.

Do not accept a verbal explanation for a mismatch. Ask for the relationship in writing. A brand may use an affiliated carrier or broker, but you need to know which legal entity is taking your money, which entity is entering the contract, and which entity will possess the shipment.

2. Are you the carrier, a broker, or an agent—and who will take possession?

A carrier transports the shipment. A broker arranges transportation and is not authorized to move the goods itself. An agent may act for a carrier under a written relationship. Ask each company to identify its role and name every company expected to handle pickup, line-haul transportation, storage, or delivery.

FMCSA’s mover-versus-broker guidance explains that both interstate movers and brokers must be registered. Brokers must use registered interstate movers, provide a list of movers they use, and disclose in advertising that they arrange rather than perform transportation.

If the company cannot name the transporting carrier before booking, ask when and how that identity will be provided, whether you may reject the assignment, and what happens to the deposit if the assigned carrier fails your verification.

3. Is your interstate household-goods authority active today?

Use the free FMCSA Search Movers tool rather than relying on a screenshot supplied by the salesperson. Search the exact legal or DBA name and confirm that the USDOT number matches. For the company that will physically transport the shipment, verify that it is authorized for household goods and is not shown as out of service.

Review the complaint history in the same federal search. A complaint is not automatically proof of wrongdoing, but recurring categories—estimate disputes, hostage loads, loss or damage, deceptive practices, or delivery problems—belong in the hiring decision. Compare complaint patterns with the company’s size and with what recent customers describe elsewhere.

4. Which insurance filings are current for the company handling the shipment?

Ask the carrier for current evidence of public-liability and cargo insurance, then verify the federal filing under the same legal name and USDOT or docket number. The FMCSA Licensing & Insurance search provides real-time licensing and insurance information for authorized for-hire carriers and brokers. The SAFER Company Snapshot provides operating-status, identification, size, inspection, crash, and safety-rating information.

A certificate emailed by a salesperson may be useful, but it should not replace the official lookup. Confirm that the insured legal entity is the company performing the move, the identifying numbers match, and the filing remains active near pickup. If a broker is involved, verify the broker and the assigned carrier separately.

Business insurance is also different from the protection offered for loss or damage to your household goods. Ask about both; do not let the word “insured” answer two separate questions.

5. Which valuation option protects my shipment, and what will it actually pay?

For interstate moves, FMCSA says carriers must offer two liability options called valuation coverage: Full Value Protection and Released Value. Its liability and protection guide explains that Released Value provides only 60 cents per pound per article, while Full Value Protection is based on replacement value subject to the mover’s written terms.

Ask for the charge, deductible choices, exclusions, treatment of owner-packed boxes, rules for articles of extraordinary value, repair-or-replacement process, claim deadline, and arbitration program. Identify jewelry, art, antiques, electronics, collections, and other high-value items in writing before pickup.

Valuation is not the same as third-party moving insurance. If the offered protection does not match the household’s risk, ask an insurance professional whether a homeowner, renter, umbrella, or separate transit policy applies. Keep the answer and policy terms with the moving contract.

6–12. Make the estimate and execution plan testable

6. What inventory and survey support the estimate? Confirm every room, carton allowance, bulky item, specialty item, and packing responsibility. Ask whether the estimate is binding or non-binding and what can change it.
7. Which services and charges are included or excluded? Address packing materials, stairs, elevators, long carries, shuttle service, parking, tolls, storage, waiting time, appliance work, and redelivery.
8. What pickup and delivery commitments will appear in writing? Separate a preferred date from a guaranteed service and understand any delivery spread, delay process, and reimbursement term.
9. How are changes authorized? Require a written change process that identifies the new fact, price, decision-maker, and approval before additional work continues.
10. How are loss, damage, delay, and disputes handled? Ask for the claim procedure, filing address, deadlines, evidence requirements, escalation contact, and arbitration summary.
11. What are the deposit, cancellation, rescheduling, and payment terms? Confirm the payee, payment methods, refund triggers, charge timing, and amount due before unloading.
12. Who owns communication from booking through delivery? Record the coordinator, dispatch contact, driver or crew contact when assigned, after-hours number, and management escalation path.

Give every candidate the same inventory, addresses, access details, dates, packing plan, and protection request. A comparison is useful only when every company is pricing the same move.

Use real review sources as a reputation triangle

No review platform is complete. Build a reputation picture from three different types of evidence: official complaints, public customer reviews, and documented company responses. Search the same legal name, DBA, address, phone number, and USDOT number across sources so you do not accidentally evaluate a similarly named company or a different branch.

Google Business Profile and Google Maps

Read the company’s Google reviews, but move beyond the average rating. Look for recent reviews describing a comparable route, home size, access condition, or service. Give more weight to accounts that name what happened at estimate, pickup, delivery, or claim time. Read critical reviews and the company’s replies for recurring facts such as price changes, unidentified subcontractors, missed windows, damaged goods, or unresolved claims.

Google’s review-content policy prohibits reviews that are not based on genuine experiences, incentivized reviews, and coordinated rating manipulation. That policy is useful, but it does not make every visible review authentic. Treat sudden review bursts, repeated wording, reviews unrelated to moving, or a profile whose address and name do not match federal records as reasons to investigate further.

FMCSA complaint history and state consumer authorities

The FMCSA mover record is the strongest public source for interstate regulatory identity and complaint categories. For an in-state move, check the state’s licensing or enforcement agency. The USAGov state consumer-protection directory identifies the appropriate office for business complaints, scams, and state-specific help.

Better Business Bureau and broader web searches

Use the BBB directory to examine complaint subjects, business responses, resolution patterns, time in the file, and alternate names. Accreditation or a letter grade is one signal, not a substitute for reading the complaint record.

The FTC recommends searching the company name with words such as “complaint” or “scam,” reading reviews, comparing written estimates, and refusing an interstate mover that is not registered with DOT. Its moving-scam guidance is a useful final cross-check.

Know what each source can—and cannot—prove

Stop the process when identity or paperwork breaks

• The company refuses to provide its legal name, USDOT number, or assigned carrier.
• The name receiving payment does not match the estimate or verified business relationship.
• The carrier is registered but not authorized for interstate household-goods transportation.
• Insurance information is missing, inactive, or attached to a different entity.
• The company will not provide the required rights booklet, brochure, valuation terms, or written estimate.
• The estimate contains blank spaces, omits inventory, or depends on verbal promises.
• A large deposit, cash-only demand, or unusual payment recipient appears before clear documentation.
• Review profiles show identity mismatches, implausible bursts, repeated wording, or unresolved patterns that the salesperson will not address.

Use hard gates first, then score service fit

Disqualify a candidate that fails identity, role, authority, insurance, or required-document checks. Do not average a legal failure into a high review score. For every company that passes, score estimate completeness, access experience, schedule clarity, protection terms, communication, claims process, comparable reviews, and complete cost.

Write a short decision memo naming why the selected company won and which assumptions remain open. Save the federal records, estimate, inventory, valuation selection, contract, payment receipt, review notes, and contact list together. That file becomes the household’s evidence if the scope changes or a dispute arises.

Continue with Moveline’s guides to choosing a trustworthy moving company, comparing DIY and professional moving, and building a complete moving checklist.