Quote calculations
Quote Check, Compare Quotes and the storage calculator are calculators on values you type. They do not read invoices, look up market rates or decide whether a rule applies to a shipment. Each runs a calculation module with its own tests, and each page prints the formula beside the result. Module versions: quote 1.2, storage 1.1, corridor context 1.0.
The 110% delivery figure
Quote Check computes amount × 1.10 only when three things hold: the estimate is marked non-binding, an amount is entered, and the origin and destination states differ. The product is labeled as the amount generally collectible at delivery. Under 49 CFR 375.703, 110 percent of a non-binding estimate is the most a mover may demand at delivery, plus charges for services the shipper requests after the bill of lading is issued and, where the tariff defines them, impracticable operations, which are capped at delivery at 15 percent of the other charges then due. Under 49 CFR 375.407, once the shipper pays up to that amount the mover must hand over the shipment. The site never calls the product a cap on the final bill, because the regulation does not. Worked example: a $4,850 non-binding estimate between two states shows $5,335.
Why binding estimates are not multiplied
On a binding estimate the most that may be demanded at delivery is the estimate itself plus the same additions (49 CFR 375.703), so Quote Check shows no 110 percent figure for a binding or binding not-to-exceed estimate. A binding estimate must state on its face that it is binding and that the charges apply only to the services it lists (49 CFR 375.403); a non-binding estimate must state that it is not binding and that the shipper will not be required to pay more than 110 percent of it at delivery (49 CFR 375.405). When a visitor leaves the type as unknown, Quote Check runs no delivery arithmetic and turns the missing type into a question for the mover.
Moves inside one state
The delivery arithmetic is skipped when the origin and destination states are the same. Part 375 concerns interstate household-goods transportation, and a move that stays inside one state is governed mainly by that state’s rules, which the site does not apply. Every other output, the facts, the questions and the items to confirm, is still produced.
Deposits and comparisons
A stated deposit is subtracted from the estimate as plain arithmetic ($4,850 minus a $500 deposit gives $4,350); it is the difference between two numbers on the paper, not a prediction of what will be owed. Compare Quotes counts across the estimates a visitor enters: the lowest amount, how many are binding or binding not-to-exceed, and how many leave out a USDOT number or a delivery window. Columns with neither a mover name nor an amount are ignored, an amount that is not a number is skipped, and nothing is weighted or ranked.
Fuel-price changes and written estimates
EIA publishes weekly U.S. on-highway diesel prices with a release date. This is a market benchmark, not a carrier tariff or an automatic moving-price adjustment. Quote Check records whether fuel is included, separately listed, adjustable under a written clause, or unclear. Compare Quotes counts columns where fuel treatment is unclear. Neither tool adds a surcharge or changes the 110 percent calculation from a pump-price movement. Ask the mover for the current written total, the applicable tariff clause and any revised estimate before booking. FMCSA says the written estimate states the charges and describes when an estimate may be amended before loading.
Storage ranges
The storage calculator adds a home-type baseline to per-item adders and multiplies by a packing factor. The figures are YardPermit planning assumptions, not measured inventories or facility data, and they are published in full so a result can be recalculated by hand. Baselines: studio 350–550, 1 bedroom 550–900, 2 bedroom 900–1400, 3 bedroom 1400–2100, 4 bedroom 2100–3000, 5+ bedroom 3000–4200 cubic feet. Adders: extra room 120–220, large furniture piece 40–90, medium box 3–6, major appliance 30–70, garage 150–400, outdoor 80–250. Packing factors: tight 0.85–0.95, typical 1, loose 1.1–1.25. The unit scale is floor area times 5 feet of usable stacking height: 5×5 = 125, 5×10 = 250, 10×10 = 500, 10×15 = 750, 10×20 = 1,000, 10×25 = 1,250, 10×30 = 1,500 cubic feet.
What is deliberately absent
No market price, average cost, fuel surcharge, toll, insurance or scam probability is computed anywhere, because none of the site’s sources contains one. A schema for anonymized quote submissions is reserved in the code, but no dataset is collected or published, and no aggregate will ever appear without its sample size.
The tool pages explain each calculation for readers: Quote Check, Compare quotes and the storage size calculator.