Interstate Moving Checklist

Any company moving your household goods across a state line has to be registered with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and carry a USDOT number. Checking it is quick and rules out most of the ways an interstate move goes badly wrong.

• Look the company up in the FMCSA SAFER system at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov, where a licensed interstate mover is searchable by USDOT number, MC number, or company name. FMCSA runs protectyourmove.gov as the consumer-facing companion to it.
• Confirm the registration is active for household goods specifically, not just general freight. Those are different authorities.
• Read the complaint history while you are in there. Patterns matter more than any single bad review.
• A broker is not a mover. Brokers arrange the job and hand it to someone else, and they have to disclose that plus their own registration. Ask which one you are talking to and get the answer in writing.
• If a company cannot produce a USDOT number, stop there. An unregistered carrier is never the bargain it looks like.

The estimate type decides what you can be asked to pay on delivery day. Plenty of people learn the difference while a truck holding everything they own waits at the curb.

• A binding estimate locks the price for the services listed on it. Add items or services later and the mover can rewrite it, but it has to do that before loading.
• A non-binding estimate is a guess. Final charges are based on the actual weight of your shipment.
• Under 49 CFR Part 375, a mover cannot require more than 110 percent of a non-binding estimate at the time of delivery. Anything above that gets billed later, and you still get your things.
• Federal rules require a physical survey behind the estimate, in person or by video, unless you waive it in writing before loading or your home is more than 50 miles from the agent preparing it.
• Get three written estimates. A quote that lands far under the others is the one to ask hard questions about, not the one to book.

Every interstate mover has to offer two levels of liability. The one that applies if you say nothing is free, and it covers very little.

• Released Value Protection is free and caps the mover at 60 cents per pound per article. A 40-pound television that gets destroyed pays out $24.
• Full Value Protection makes the mover responsible for repair, replacement, or a cash settlement. It costs extra and you have to choose it.
• Articles worth more than $100 per pound count as extraordinary value. List them on the high-value inventory form before loading or the mover can cap what it owes on them.
• Check your homeowner or renter policy before buying anything. Some cover goods in transit and some explicitly do not.
• If something arrives broken, you have nine months from delivery to file a written claim. The mover has 30 days to acknowledge it and 120 days to pay, deny, or make an offer.

Federal law requires specific documents at specific points. Missing ones are a signal about how the rest of the job will go.

• With the written estimate: the DOT booklet "Ready to Move?" and "Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move", either as copies or as links to the FMCSA site.
• Before the bill of lading: a summary of the arbitration program and of how the company handles complaints.
• A written inventory prepared at loading, with existing damage noted. Both of you sign every page and you get a copy. Read the condition codes before you sign, because that form is what a damage claim is argued against later.
• The bill of lading itself, in your hands before or at the time of loading. It is the contract, and it has to name the pickup and delivery dates you agreed to.
• Never sign a blank or partly blank document, and never hand over a large cash deposit.

An out of state moving checklist does not end when the truck is unloaded. The state side starts the day you establish residency, and several clocks run at once.

• Driver's license transfer. Deadlines vary by state, and California gives you only 10 days. Check your destination DMV in the first week.
• Vehicle registration. Florida gives you only 10 days, and some states require an emissions or safety inspection first.
• Voter registration, which in many states is handled at the DMV in the same visit.
• Auto insurance, which has to match the new state minimums. Your premium will move whether you call or not.
• Part-year resident tax returns in both states for the year you moved, especially if you earned income on both sides of the line.
• School enrollment, medical and vet records, and professional license reciprocity, all of which have their own lead times.