Your rights and responsibilities when you move.

The booklets your mover must give you

Before an interstate move, federal regulation (49 CFR Part 375) requires a carrier to provide you with two documents:

• Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move — the FMCSA consumer booklet.
• Ready to Move? — a shorter brochure on avoiding moving fraud.

A mover who does not give you these is not following the rules that govern their licence. That is a signal worth acting on.

You can read both directly at fmcsa.dot.gov/protect-your-move.

Your right to an accurate estimate

You are entitled to a written estimate, and you are entitled to know which of three kinds it is:

• Binding — a fixed price for the inventory and services listed.
• Binding not-to-exceed — the price can fall if the shipment weighs less than estimated, but cannot rise.
• Non-binding — an estimate only. The final charge is based on actual weight and services and may be higher.

On a non-binding estimate, a carrier may not require you to pay more than 110% of the estimated charges at delivery. The balance is billed afterwards, and you have at least 30 days to pay it. This is the “110% rule” and it exists precisely to stop a truck being held over a disputed figure.

Your right to be present at the weighing

On a weight-based interstate move, you may observe both weighings, and you may request a re-weigh before the shipment is unloaded. If the re-weigh comes in lower, charges are recalculated on the lower weight.

Valuation: what your goods are covered for

Two options apply by federal rule.

Released value protection is free and automatic if you choose nothing else. It covers 60 cents per pound, per article. A 40-pound television is covered for $24.

Full-value protection costs extra. The carrier must repair, replace, or pay the current market value of a lost or damaged item.

Neither is insurance. Items worth more than $100 per pound must be listed in writing on a high-value inventory before the move. We go through this in more detail in our guide to valuation.

The bill of lading

The bill of lading is the contract. The carrier must give you one, and you should read it before signing.

Never sign a blank or incomplete bill of lading. Whatever is written in afterwards becomes what you agreed to. Keep your copy until the move is complete and any claim is resolved.

Delivery and payment

The carrier must deliver within the agreed delivery window and must notify you of any delay. Payment is normally due at delivery, before unloading, by the methods disclosed in advance.

A carrier may not hold your goods hostage over charges beyond what the rules permit. If that happens, it is a violation, not a negotiation.

Filing a claim

You have nine months from delivery to file a written claim for loss or damage on an interstate move. The carrier must acknowledge it within 30 days and resolve or explain within 120 days.

Note damage on the delivery receipt before you sign it. A signed clean receipt makes a later claim considerably harder.

Your responsibilities

• Give an accurate inventory, including the garage, attic, and shed.
• Be available, or send someone authorised, at pickup and delivery.
• Read the paperwork before signing it.
• Declare high-value items in writing.
• Do not ship prohibited items — flammables, explosives, corrosives, perishables.
• Pay the agreed charges at delivery.

Where to complain

• Interstate moves: FMCSA National Consumer Complaint Database — nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov or 1-888-368-7238.
• Moves within Florida: Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services — fdacs.gov or 1-800-HELP-FLA.
• Check any mover’s licence: safer.fmcsa.dot.gov.

A note on why this page exists

Publishing this is mildly against our commercial interest — it tells you exactly how to hold a moving company to account, including us. We think a customer who knows the rules is a customer who has a better move, and the companies that would rather you did not read this are the ones the rules were written for.