Why is one moving quote so much cheaper than the others?

Usually because it was produced before anyone measured the shipment, and is free to grow once your belongings are on the truck. Federal rules require a written estimate to be reasonably accurate, and a deliberately low one actually limits what the mover may collect — which is why the low figure is so often given verbally instead.

What is the 110 percent rule?

It caps what a mover can require of you at delivery, not when you pay. The balance is due before the crew unloads, as it is with every mover — but on a written non-binding estimate the most that can be required at that moment is 110 percent of the estimated charges, and the shipment has to be handed over once that is paid. Anything claimed above the cap is invoiced afterwards. The protection only attaches to a written document, not to a figure said on a phone call.

Can a moving company keep my furniture until I pay more?

Not beyond what your paperwork and the rules allow. Paying the agreed balance before the crew unloads is normal and lawful. Refusing to unload until you pay more than a binding estimate, or more than 110 percent of a non-binding one, is what regulators call a hostage load — the pattern behind the largest federal enforcement actions against movers. Complaints go to the FMCSA National Consumer Complaint Database.

How do I check a moving company myself?

Every interstate mover has a USDOT number, and the federal register shows whether it is registered for household goods, whether it operates as a carrier or a broker, how many trucks and drivers it has, and its complaint and safety record. It takes about two minutes and no company can edit what it says.

Before you pay a deposit

The lowest quote is the one that grows

A figure given on the phone, before anyone has seen a single room, is not an estimate. It is an opening bid — and the industry’s most expensive bills start with the smallest ones.

This page explains the sequence, what the federal rules actually give you, and the four questions worth asking any interstate mover. Including us.

How a small number becomes a large bill

A number arrives before anyone has looked

Someone quotes you over the phone in four minutes. Nobody has seen your garage, your books or the sofa that will not go down the stairs. The figure is not built on what you own, because nothing about what you own has been measured yet.

The deposit locks you in, not them

A deposit is taken to hold the date. What it buys is a number that is still free to move, because the document behind it was never a written estimate built after a survey.

Everything is re-measured on loading day

The crew arrives and the shipment is suddenly larger than the figure allowed for — more cubic feet, more packing materials, stairs, a long carry, a shuttle. Each item is real and each one is billable. The total has doubled and your furniture is on a truck.

A much larger balance is demanded before the tailgate opens

Every mover collects the agreed balance on delivery, before the crew unloads — that part is normal, lawful and how this trade has always worked. What happens here is different: the sum demanded is far above what the paperwork allowed for, and the shipment does not move until it appears. Federal regulators have a name for that, a hostage shipment. It is illegal, and it is the single most common serious complaint in the industry.

Nothing in that sequence requires a criminal. It works because every charge added on loading day is a genuine service, and because the first number was never a document.

What the rules actually give you

Most people meet these rules for the first time in an argument on their own driveway. They are worth reading ten minutes earlier than that.

An estimate is a document, not a conversation: Under 49 CFR 375 an interstate mover has to put its estimate in writing, describe the shipment and the services, and make it reasonably accurate. A number said out loud carries none of that weight — which is exactly why so many of them are said out loud.
110 percent is a ceiling, not a delay: The balance is payable on delivery, before the crew unloads — that is how every mover works, ours included. What the rules cap is how much can be required at that moment: on a written non-binding estimate, no more than 110 percent of the estimated charges, and the shipment has to be handed over once that is paid. On a binding estimate the written figure is the figure. Anything a mover claims beyond the cap is invoiced afterwards and cannot be demanded on your lawn to get your furniture off the truck.
Adding items has a procedure: If the shipment grows, the mover must act before loading: reaffirm the estimate, issue a new signed one, or agree in writing to treat it as non-binding. Loading first and repricing afterwards is not one of the options.
Holding a shipment for ransom is a federal matter: Regulators call it a hostage load. It is the core of the enforcement campaign the FMCSA runs against rogue movers, and it is reported through the National Consumer Complaint Database. Complaints about estimates and final charges, and about shipments held, sit at the top of that database every year.

None of this is our interpretation. Read 49 CFR 375, or the FMCSA’s own consumer material, and hold every mover you speak to — this one included — against it.

Four questions, asked before the deposit

Ask all four of whoever you are speaking to. What matters is not the answer you hoped for — it is whether the answer is specific.

Are you the carrier, or a broker?

What a real answer sounds like

A carrier owns trucks and gives you its own USDOT number without hesitating. A broker arranges your move and sells it on — which is legal and disclosed, but it means the company you are speaking to is not the company that will arrive. Ask, then check the number yourself.

Is the written document binding, non-binding, or not-to-exceed?

What a real answer sounds like

These are three different contracts and the difference is money. Binding: the written figure is what you pay on delivery. Non-binding: the balance is still due before unloading, but a mover may require no more than 110 percent of the estimate at that moment, and must release the shipment once that is paid. Not-to-exceed: a ceiling you cannot go above but can come under. A company that will not tell you which one you are signing has answered the question.

What happens if there is more than we thought?

What a real answer sounds like

The honest answer is a procedure, not a reassurance. Before loading, the mover has to reaffirm the original figure, issue a new signed one, or agree in writing to treat it as non-binding. Start loading with none of those and the original stands.

How is the deposit taken, and what is it for?

What a real answer sounds like

A deposit should appear on the paperwork before you pay it, and go on a card, which you can dispute. Cash, a wire transfer, a payment app or cryptocurrency are the ways money moves when nobody intends it to be recoverable.

Now use them on us

We are the carrier. USDOT 3795167, MC-1363846, household goods. Our own trucks and crews. Open our federal record — we cannot edit a word of it.
The number on this site is a range, and it says so. It is built from what you told us about your home, which is a poor guide to what is actually in it, so the band is wide on purpose. It narrows after a short video walk-through of your rooms, and what binds anybody is the written document that follows.
You see it without paying or talking to anyone. No deposit, no phone number required to reach the figure, and the breakdown of what makes it up is on the same screen.
We are not the cheapest number you will see, and that is deliberate. We quote what the work actually costs at the upper edge of what the market publishes, because a figure low enough to win the comparison is a figure that has to grow later.

And check any mover, not only this one: the federal register takes a USDOT number and about two minutes.

See a range for your move

Questions people ask

Why is one moving quote so much cheaper than the others?: Usually because it was produced before anyone measured the shipment, and is free to grow once your belongings are on the truck. Federal rules require a written estimate to be reasonably accurate, and a deliberately low one actually limits what the mover may collect — which is why the low figure is so often given verbally instead.
What is the 110 percent rule?: It caps what a mover can require of you at delivery, not when you pay. The balance is due before the crew unloads, as it is with every mover — but on a written non-binding estimate the most that can be required at that moment is 110 percent of the estimated charges, and the shipment has to be handed over once that is paid. Anything claimed above the cap is invoiced afterwards. The protection only attaches to a written document, not to a figure said on a phone call.
Can a moving company keep my furniture until I pay more?: Not beyond what your paperwork and the rules allow. Paying the agreed balance before the crew unloads is normal and lawful. Refusing to unload until you pay more than a binding estimate, or more than 110 percent of a non-binding one, is what regulators call a hostage load — the pattern behind the largest federal enforcement actions against movers. Complaints go to the FMCSA National Consumer Complaint Database.
How do I check a moving company myself?: Every interstate mover has a USDOT number, and the federal register shows whether it is registered for household goods, whether it operates as a carrier or a broker, how many trucks and drivers it has, and its complaint and safety record. It takes about two minutes and no company can edit what it says.