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MoverCompass

Working out who you are hiring

What should I ask a moving company before booking?

The short answer

Ask whether they are the carrier or a broker, what the estimate type is, what happens if the shipment weighs more than estimated, what valuation coverage applies by default, and how a claim is started. Those five answers, checked against the written contract, tell you more than the total does.

The questions

  1. Are you the carrier performing this move, or arranging it with another company?
  2. What is your USDOT and MC number, and what legal name is it registered under?
  3. Is this a binding estimate, a non-binding estimate, or binding not-to-exceed? What can change it?
  4. Will you do an in-home or live video survey, or is this priced from a phone description?
  5. What valuation coverage applies if I do nothing, and what does it actually pay per pound?
  6. Will my shipment be combined with others, and can it be transferred between trucks?
  7. What is the delivery window, and what happens if you miss it?
  8. Who is the contact during transit, and what is the number that is answered at the weekend?
  9. What payment methods do you accept, and what is required before delivery?
  10. How is a claim started, what is the deadline, and where is that written?
  11. Are your crews employees or day labour, and who supervises loading?
  12. What is your cancellation policy and deposit refund term?

Write the answers down and compare them to the paperwork. The gap between what a salesperson says and what the bill of lading says is where most moving disputes live, and it is visible before you pay anything.

Also asked

How many quotes should I get?

Three, from the same inventory and the same access details, is the usual advice and the useful part is the comparison rather than the count. A quote given from a vague phone description cannot be compared with one based on a survey, so make the inputs the same before comparing the outputs.

The long version

How to choose a moving company you can trust

Compare movers with a practical vetting process that covers registration, estimates, contracts, complaint patterns, and warning signs.

Read the guide →

General information about moving and about hiring, not advice about your move. Interstate household-goods moving within the United States is federally regulated; local, intrastate and Canadian moving is regulated by each state or province, and the rules differ. The authority for your move is the one to check.