How to Protect Your Move

Have you seen the commercials for ProtectYourMove.com lately? If you have, and you also happen to be planning a move, the ads likely have you worried about all that could go wrong with your move. What if your movers hold your things hostage? What if the estimate you got is completely different than the final bill? How can you truly protect your move?

The best answer: Hire good movers. A reliable, reputable moving company with the propers licenses and insurance is the single most effective thing you can do to protect your move, and everything (literally) that goes with it. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Protect Your Move website is designed to make it as easy as possible for you to conduct the appropriate research on any moving company you’re thinking about hiring. Here are a few resources you’ll find there:

Tips for spotting moving fraud

While 35 million Americans move each year, most don’t move on a regular basis, so there’s a good chance the moving experience is fairly new or unfamiliar to you. That’s why, even if a company seems professional on the surface, you should make sure to look into them thoroughly. A few immediate red flags: They don’t come to your house to see your belongings and provide an estimate, or discuss with your in-depth over the phone the contents of you home; their estimate is far lower than other companies you’ve contacted; and they don’t have a significant online presence with customer reviews.

How to Research a Moving Company

Protect Your Move also offers some helpful resources for looking into potential moving companies. Perhaps the most important: the FMCSA licensing database. In it, you can search any moving company by name or license number to make sure they are registered and up-to-date with their licenses. Here are a few ways to use the search tool, according to the FMCSA website:

About the Mover Registration Search

• Use this search tool to check whether an interstate mover is properly registered with the U.S Department of Transportation.
• A company with no safety rating should not be viewed as an unsafe operation based on this information alone.
• Available company data include the location of the company’s headquarters, contact information, registration status, type of authority (e.g. carrier, broker, freight forwarder, etc.), complaints and possibly a safety rating.
• All for-hire moving companies that operate in interstate commerce must be licensed and insured.
• In addition to the data provided by this search tool, you should always check whether an interstate moving company is licensed and maintains the required level of insurance .

Know Your Rights & Responsibilities

Finally, the Protect Your Move site offers a section on knowing your rights and responsibilities, both important parts of ensuring a successful and safe move. We suggest downloading the site’s Rights & Responsibilities handbook and thoroughly reading it before hiring a mover.

At American Movers, Inc., we pride ourselves on providing only the best customer service. We know moving is a stressful time in anyone’s life, and we make it our job to simplify the process in any way we can. Our business is licensed and registered with the FMCSA and the state of New Jersey, and our employees have years of experience. Get in touch with us today to get an accurate estimate for your local, long-distance, or commercial move here.