The most common warning signs are an estimate given without seeing your belongings, a demand for cash or a large deposit, a request to sign blank paperwork and a mover with no registration for an interstate job. FMCSA and the Federal Trade Commission both publish lists.
Before you hire
- The mover or broker gives a price by phone or online without inspecting your belongings (FMCSA). The FTC says a company should look at your home in person or ask you to describe everything fully before it sends an estimate (FTC).
- There is no written estimate, or the company says it will set the price after loading (FMCSA).
- The company demands cash or a large deposit before the move (FMCSA; FTC).
- The company's website has no local address and no information about its registration or insurance (FMCSA).
- The phone is answered "Movers" or "Moving Company" instead of with the company's name (FMCSA).
- The mover claims its insurance covers all your goods (FMCSA).
- The offices and warehouse are in poor condition or do not exist (FMCSA).
- On an interstate move, the company is not registered with the U.S. Department of Transportation (FTC). How to check.
When you sign
- The mover asks you to sign blank documents, or paperwork with blank spaces where prices, dates or signatures belong (FMCSA; FTC).
- You do not receive the federal booklet Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move and the Ready to Move? brochure. Interstate movers must provide both, or a link to them, with the written estimate (49 CFR 375.213).
On moving day and at delivery
- A rental truck arrives instead of a company-owned or marked truck (FMCSA).
- The mover says you have more belongings than the estimate counted (FMCSA).
- The mover refuses to unload unless you pay well above the quoted price. FMCSA lists this, along with lowball estimates and false weights, as a kind of moving fraud (FMCSA). What a mover may demand at delivery.
What to do
- Look the company up before you pay anything: FMCSA's mover search for an interstate move, or your state page for an in-state move.
- Get written estimates from more than one mover and check that each lists all your belongings (FTC).
- Ask each mover what it charges to protect your goods and what it pays if things are damaged (FTC). The liability guide explains the federal options.
- If something goes wrong, report it. Where to file.
Sources
- Spot the Red Flags , Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
- Avoid scams when you hire a moving company , Federal Trade Commission
- File a Moving Fraud Complaint , Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
- 49 CFR 375.213, information for prospective shippers , Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
- Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move (booklet, PDF) , Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
- Ready to Move? (brochure, PDF) , Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
- Mover search tool (search by company) , Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
- ReportFraud.ftc.gov , Federal Trade Commission