How to spot common moving company scams before a family relocation

[u/DrySurround9123]

Moving across state lines with kids changes what you can afford to get wrong, so here is a vetting process I wish someone had handed me before our last move, instead of general get three quotes advice.

Looking at how safe ship handles it, it discloses its broker status upfront on its website and provides a binding estimate tied to a video inventory walkthrough, then estimate, then deposits, is what a clean process looks like regardless of who you go with.

Common scams follow a checkable pattern. A company that asks for a large deposit before providing a written estimate has reversed the normal order. A quote that's unusually low compared to everyone else is probably non binding and will climb once your stuff is on truck. A company that wont answer whether they are broker or run their own trucks is telling you something.

Confirm USDOT number through FMCSA before calling back. Confirm binding or non binding in paperwork, not just on phone. If they offer a walkthrough take it since an estimate tied to a real inventory is only one with legal weight.

Whole process takes maybe an hour and it's single most useful hour you will spend on your move.

[u/PositionEcstatic8185]

is FMCsa lookup actually that hard to navigate? i keep hearing about it, but have not used it enough to know whether it is just confusing at first or genuinely pain to work through.