YardPermit

DueRiva

Guides

11 short explainers, each written to make one of the tools usable: what a field on an FMCSA record means, what an estimate type obliges, what to check before the truck arrives. They exist to answer the question a tool raises, not to fill a blog.

How these guides are written

Every rule a guide states about interstate moving is taken from the regulation itself, 49 CFR Part 375 for movers and Part 371 for brokers, or from an FMCSA page, and each guide lists the sources it was checked against with the date. Guides describe what a rule says; they do not tell you whether it applies to your shipment, which depends on facts a page cannot see. Where a guide sends you to a tool, the tool shows its arithmetic. Corrections go through the contact page, and the About page says who publishes the site and how generative AI is used in drafting.

Who you are hiring

Identity first: the number on the estimate, what a federal record does and does not prove, and the difference between a company that carries goods and one that only arranges the move.

  1. How to hire and check a moving company

    How to hire a mover step by step: written estimates, the USDOT number and FMCSA authority, the warning signs the FTC lists, and where to report a problem.

  2. What a USDOT number is

    The identifier FMCSA assigns to a registered company: where it must appear, what it identifies, and what it does not prove about a mover.

  3. How federal registration works

    Understand how a USDOT number, operating authority, and safety rating differ in FMCSA records, and which official file to check for each.

  4. Mover versus broker

    Learn whether a company will carry your goods or arrange the move. Compare its USDOT record, operating authority, and written estimate before booking.

  5. What an FMCSA safety rating means

    What Satisfactory, Conditional, Unsatisfactory, and unrated mean in FMCSA records, and why a safety rating is not a review score.

What the estimate obliges

The paper decides what can be collected at delivery. These guides cover the estimate types, the federal rules behind them, what a complete estimate contains and how to compare two of them.

  1. Binding vs non-binding estimates

    What the regulation says each estimate type is, what each lets a mover demand at delivery, and where a binding not-to-exceed estimate fits.

  2. Moving company insurance vs valuation

    Learn how Full Value Protection, Released Value, and separate insurance differ for an interstate move before you sign the bill of lading.

  3. How interstate household-goods estimates work

    Federal rules for interstate moving estimates, loading paperwork, the 110% delivery cap, the invoice for what is left, and storage-in-transit notices.

  4. Moving Estimate Red Flags: What to Check

    The steps and documents the regulation attaches to a written estimate, the fields a usable estimate makes explicit, and what to do when one is missing.

  5. How to compare moving quotes

    Compare moving quotes for the same job and estimate type. Check what is included, what may be due at delivery, and which fields are missing.

On the day

What to match, sign and photograph at pickup and delivery.

  1. Moving-day checklist

    Use a moving-day checklist grounded in federal rules: bill of lading, inventory, crew identity, delivery charges, and damage notes.

Where the guides lead

Mover Check looks up the number the identity guides tell you to ask for. Quote Check does the arithmetic the estimate guides describe, and Compare quotes puts two to four estimates side by side. The methodology pages record how the site treats each source.