Moving Trust & Safety Center

How to find and verify a moving company's USDOT number using FMCSA's free public records.

Understand who actually moves your stuff — and why that matters for price, liability, and complaints.

Red flags that show up before you sign — low-ball estimates, deposits, fake reviews, name changes.

What rogue movers do (hostage loads, surprise fees), how FMCSA tracks them, and how to avoid them.

The difference between binding, non-binding, and binding-not-to-exceed estimates — and which to ask for.

How moving fraud actually works, who investigates it, and how to get refunds or a seized shipment released.

Twelve warning signs that show up before move day — and a 7-step verification checklist to filter most of them out.

How to file a complaint with FMCSA, the FTC, your state AG, and the BBB, and which channel actually works.

The delivery cap on a non-binding estimate, the billing window, released-value liability, the written estimate, and your right to a re-weigh, each with its CFR section.

How to confirm you're hiring a carrier (the company that actually moves your stuff) instead of a broker reselling your job.

The federal identifier, who must hold one, what an active registration proves, and the larger list of things it does not prove.

The operating authority docket, how it differs from a USDOT number, which one a household-goods mover needs, and what a broker docket means.

Who must register, what the federal application asks for, and what happens between the number being issued and authority being granted.

Three confirmations settle it: registration active, authority covering household goods, and that authority current rather than lapsed.

Field by field: power units, drivers, cargo classes, operation classification, safety rating and out-of-service rates.

Released value against full value protection, the arithmetic on a real item, and the two documents a claim is measured against.

What a delivery spread on the paperwork means, what the delivery cap governs at delivery, and the 30-day billing window.

The agency and route recorded for each state, and a plain statement of absence where the record holds none.

The two pricing mechanisms: hours on a local move, weight and distance on an interstate one, and the federal right to a re-weigh.

A procedure for building your own figure before you call anyone: home size, distance, services, and how to test a quote against it.

The estimate, the order for service, the bill of lading and the inventory: what each does, and which one a claim is measured against.

Questions whose answers can be checked afterwards, in the federal record or on the paperwork, rather than judged by tone.

What a registered mover must have on file, what released value pays, and why insured and liable are two different words.