Moving CompaniesHow to Choose One
Most advice on this subject is written by companies that want your booking. We are not one: we run no trucks, sell no leads and take no payment to rank anybody. What follows is how to check a carrier yourself, what each type should cost, and when to walk away.
Two minutes on the FMCSA register prevents most of what goes wrong in this industry. Start there, then come back for the price.
The six kinds of moving company
"Moving company" covers businesses that work in completely different ways and charge completely different amounts. Picking the wrong type costs more than picking the wrong brand within a type.
Full-service van lines
National brands and their local agents
- Best for:
- Long distance moves, valuable or awkward items, anyone who cannot do the lifting
- Watch for:
- You are often quoted by an agent but moved by a subcontractor. Ask who physically loads the truck and whose USDOT number is on the paperwork.
- Typical cost:
- $7,762 – $10,350 for a 3-bed at 1,500 miles
Independent local movers
Owner-operated crews working one metro area
- Best for:
- Local moves under about 100 miles, where hourly billing favours you
- Watch for:
- Quality varies enormously. Check the state licence as well as any USDOT number, and ask how long the crew has worked together.
- Typical cost:
- $40–$50 per mover per hour plus roughly $75 travel
Moving container companies
You load, they drive, they store if you need it
- Best for:
- Flexible timelines, staged moves, cutting cost without going full DIY
- Watch for:
- The quote usually covers one month of storage and one delivery. Extra months and redeliveries are where the price grows.
- Typical cost:
- $5,589 – $7,452 for the same move
Freight trailer services
You load a marked-off section of a shared trailer
- Best for:
- The cheapest way to move a whole household a long way
- Watch for:
- You do all the labour and you must load tightly, because the load is driven with other people's goods. Delivery windows are wide.
- Typical cost:
- $3,726 – $4,968 for the same move
Labour-only services
Crews who load and unload a truck or container you rent
- Best for:
- Pairing with a rental truck or a container to cut the heavy-lifting risk
- Watch for:
- They are not carriers, so your goods are not under a carrier's liability while in transit. Check what your own insurance covers.
- Typical cost:
- Usually billed hourly, similar to local mover rates
Broker-only operations
They sell the job on to a carrier and take a cut
- Best for:
- Occasionally useful for hard-to-serve routes
- Watch for:
- A broker must register as one and disclose it. If you cannot get a straight answer to “will your own employees move me?”, treat that as the answer.
- Typical cost:
- Adds a margin on top of the carrier's price
Cost figures come from our published model, priced on the same 3-bedroom, 1,500-mile move so the three service types are comparable. Your own route is priced by the calculator.
Six checks before you sign anything
In order. The first two cost nothing and rule out most bad outcomes.
Look up the USDOT number
Any company moving you across a state line must have one, and it must show active operating authority for household goods, plus current insurance. The FMCSA register is public and free. A company that will not give you its number has told you what you need to know.
Read the complaint history, not the reviews
Curated testimonials on a company's own site are marketing. The FMCSA publishes complaint counts against each USDOT number, broken out by category — estimate disputes, damage, delayed delivery. That record is far harder to manipulate than a review page.
Insist on a survey before any long distance quote
Long distance prices track weight. Nobody can estimate weight over the phone. A quote given without a video walkthrough or an in-home survey is a guess that gets revised upward when the truck is weighed, and the revision is binding on you, not on them.
Get a binding or not-to-exceed estimate in writing
A non-binding estimate is a number with no ceiling. Binding means the price is fixed for the inventory surveyed; not-to-exceed means it can fall but not rise. Both are better than a friendly verbal figure.
Check what the valuation actually pays
Basic released-value protection is included by law and pays 60 cents per pound — about $18 for a 30 lb television. Full-value protection costs extra and is usually worth it on a long haul. Confirm which one your estimate assumes.
Refuse a large cash deposit
Established carriers take little or nothing up front and bill on or after delivery. A demand for a large deposit, particularly by cash, wire or a payment app, is the single most reliable warning sign in this industry.
Red flags worth walking away from
Any one of these is reason enough to stop. Two together and you should assume the worst outcome is the likely one.
- No USDOT number, or one that does not match the name on the estimate
- A quote given over the phone with no survey, for a long distance move
- A large deposit demanded up front, especially by wire, cash or payment app
- A blank or partly blank bill of lading presented for your signature
- A generic “moving company” name with no physical address you can find
- The estimate rises sharply once the truck is loaded and your goods are aboard
- No written confirmation of the delivery date or window
- Pressure to sign today because the price “expires”
If your goods are already being held
A carrier holding a shipment hostage against a price rise is committing a federal violation, not driving a hard bargain. Complaints about interstate household goods movers go to the FMCSA, which regulates them and keeps the public complaint record. Do not pay a revised demand in cash before filing.
Licensed movers, state by state
Every carrier that moves household goods must be on the FMCSA register. We publish it for all 50 states and DC — ordered by fleet size, with USDOT and MC numbers, no paid placement.
Browse licensed movers by state The 100 largest interstate movers All licensed interstate movers A–ZMovers by city
Google Maps listings for 144 movers across 24 cities, ordered by review count on each city page. Ratings are Google's; nobody pays to appear; licensing is unverified \u2014 run the six checks above on any of them.
Know the number before you call anyone
The strongest position in any quote conversation is knowing roughly what the job is worth. We publish costs for 51 states and the routes between their major cities, all from one documented model.
Moving company questions
How do I check if a moving company is legitimate?
Ask for its USDOT number and look it up on the FMCSA register before you do anything else. You are checking three things: that the authority is active, that it covers household goods rather than freight only, and that insurance is current. The same record shows how many complaints have been filed against that number and what they were about. This takes about two minutes and rules out most of what goes wrong.
What are the best moving companies?
We do not publish a ranking, and we would be suspicious of most that we see. Nobody pays us for placement, which also means we have no basis for declaring a winner — the right company depends on your route, your date, your budget and what you are moving. What we can give you is the cost your move should come to and the checks that separate a real carrier from a bad one. Use both to judge the three quotes you get.
Are moving brokers bad?
Not automatically, but you should know when you are dealing with one. A broker sells your job to a carrier and takes a margin, which means the company that quoted you is not the company that shows up, and the quote was made by someone who will never see your belongings. Brokers must register as brokers and disclose it. Ask directly whether their own employees will perform the move.
How many moving quotes should I get?
Three, in writing, based on the same inventory and the same date. Fewer and you have nothing to compare; more and you are spending time for little gain. If one quote is far below the other two, that is not a bargain you found — it is usually an estimate that will be revised after loading.
How much do moving companies charge?
Local moves are billed by the hour: roughly $40 to $50 per mover per hour plus a travel fee of around $75. Long distance moves are billed on weight and distance — a three bedroom home moving 1,500 miles comes to around $7,762 to $10,350 full service, or roughly a third of that on a freight trailer you load yourself. Our calculator prices your own route.
Does My Fast Movers list or recommend specific moving companies?
We list, we do not recommend. City pages carry Google Maps listings for movers — 144 companies across 24 cities so far — ordered by review count, with Google's ratings shown as Google's. Nobody pays to appear, we do not re-rank them, we do not sell leads, and we have not verified their licensing. Treat the list as a starting point for your own USDOT checks, not as an endorsement.
When should I book a moving company?
Four to six weeks ahead for an ordinary move, eight to twelve if you are moving between May and September or at the start or end of a month. Booking early is also what gives you time to get three estimates rather than accepting the first number you are given.