How to Check If a Moving Company Is Licensed

"Licensed and insured" is the most common phrase on a moving company's website and one of the least verified. It's also ambiguous, because which licence a mover needs depends entirely on whether your belongings cross a state line. Get that question right first and the rest of the check takes about five minutes.

First, work out which kind of move you're making

• Interstate: your goods cross a state line, even by a mile. This is federally regulated, and the mover needs an active USDOT number with household-goods authority.
• Intrastate: your move starts and ends inside one state. This is regulated by that state, and the licence has a different name in each one.

The distinction catches people out constantly in border metros. A fifteen-minute drive from Kansas City, Missouri into Kansas is an interstate move. So is Washington, D.C. to Arlington, Memphis to Southaven, Portland to Vancouver, and St. Louis across the river into Illinois. Short does not mean local. USDOT and MC numbers explained covers what the federal credentials actually mean.

Checking an interstate mover

1. Get the USDOT number from the written estimate, the website, or the side of the truck.
2. Search it on FMCSA SAFER at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov and pull the Company Snapshot.
3. Confirm operating status is active, and that the authority covers household goods, not just general property.
4. Check the insurance section for required coverage on file, and the registration date for real tenure.
5. Search the same company in the FMCSA National Consumer Complaint Database at nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov.

Checking an in-state mover

There is no single national register for intrastate movers, because each state does it differently, and a handful barely regulate it at all. Below is the regulator language for the states we currently cover. If your state isn't listed, the general position still holds: an intrastate move is regulated at the state level where the state requires operating authority, any move crossing a state line needs federal USDOT household-goods authority, and either credential is publicly verifiable before you sign.

• Arizona: Arizona intrastate movers operate under state motor-carrier authority; interstate movers need a federal USDOT number with household-goods authority.
• Florida: Florida registers intrastate household-goods movers by the state (a registration number is required); interstate movers need federal USDOT authority.
• Texas: Texas intrastate movers register as household-goods motor carriers with the Texas DMV; a move out of state needs federal USDOT authority.
• North Carolina: North Carolina regulates intrastate household-goods movers through the NC Utilities Commission (a state certificate is required); interstate movers need federal USDOT authority.
• Tennessee: Tennessee registers intrastate household-goods movers with the state; interstate movers need federal USDOT authority.
• Georgia: Georgia registers intrastate household-goods movers with the state; interstate movers need federal USDOT authority.
• Nevada: Nevada regulates intrastate household-goods movers through the Nevada Transportation Authority (a state certificate is required); interstate movers need federal USDOT authority.
• Colorado: Colorado regulates intrastate household-goods movers through the Colorado PUC (a state permit is required); interstate movers need federal USDOT authority.
• California: California licenses intrastate household-goods movers through the state Bureau of Household Goods and Services, which issues a Cal-T permit number; a move that leaves California needs federal USDOT household-goods authority.
• New York: Intrastate household-goods carriers in New York are licensed by the New York State Department of Transportation; a move across a state line needs federal USDOT household-goods authority.
• Illinois: Illinois licenses intrastate household-goods movers through the Illinois Commerce Commission; a move across a state line, including a short one into Indiana or Wisconsin, needs federal USDOT household-goods authority.
• Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania regulates intrastate household-goods movers through the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, which issues a state certificate; interstate moves need federal USDOT household-goods authority.
• Massachusetts: Massachusetts licenses intrastate household-goods movers through the Department of Public Utilities; a move out of state needs federal USDOT household-goods authority.
• Washington: Washington regulates intrastate household-goods movers through the Utilities and Transportation Commission, which issues a state household-goods permit; interstate moves need federal USDOT household-goods authority.
• Oregon: Oregon regulates intrastate household-goods movers through the Department of Transportation's Motor Carrier Transportation Division; a move across the Columbia into Washington, or any other state line, needs federal USDOT household-goods authority.
• Minnesota: Minnesota registers intrastate household-goods movers through the Department of Transportation; a move out of Minnesota, including across the river into Wisconsin, needs federal USDOT household-goods authority.
• Ohio: Ohio registers intrastate household-goods carriers through the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio; a move out of state needs federal USDOT household-goods authority.
• Missouri: Missouri intrastate household-goods moves run under Department of Transportation motor-carrier authority; a move across a state line, which in Kansas City and St. Louis can be a fifteen-minute drive, needs federal USDOT household-goods authority.
• Utah: Utah requires intrastate household-goods carriers to hold state motor-carrier authority through the Utah Department of Transportation; a move out of Utah needs federal USDOT household-goods authority.
• Maryland: A move that stays inside Maryland is an intrastate move under Maryland's state motor-carrier requirements; because so many Maryland moves cross into Washington, D.C. or Virginia, check whether yours is actually interstate, which requires federal USDOT household-goods authority. Either way the authority is public on FMCSA SAFER.
• District of Columbia: The District is compact enough that a large share of local-feeling moves cross into Maryland or Virginia, which makes them interstate moves requiring federal USDOT household-goods authority and the federal valuation options. A move that stays entirely within the District runs under D.C.'s own requirements.
• Indiana: A local move that stays inside Indiana is an intrastate move regulated at the state level, where Indiana requires operating authority; a move across a state line needs a federal USDOT number with household-goods authority, which you can verify yourself on FMCSA SAFER.
• Michigan: A move that stays inside Michigan is an intrastate move regulated at the state level, where Michigan requires operating authority; a move across a state line needs a federal USDOT number with household-goods authority, verifiable on FMCSA SAFER.

What an unlicensed operator looks like

A licence is a floor, not a recommendation

It's worth being clear about what verification does and doesn't tell you. A current licence means the company is permitted to do the work. It says nothing about whether crews are careful, whether the estimate will hold, or how claims get handled. That's why licensing is only the first of the five points we check, alongside insurance, complaint history, review quality, and years in business, see the full standard. Conversely, no amount of good reviews substitutes for the licence: an unlicensed mover has no regulator to answer to when something goes wrong.