Verify any interstate mover.

• Out of service. Don't hire a carrier under an OOS order — federal regulators have shut them down for safety reasons.
• No "Authorized for Hire" classification. Required for any commercial moving job. Without it they can't legally charge you.
• "Household Goods" not in Cargo Carried. They might be licensed for general freight but not residential moves — different rules apply.
• Insurance NOT on file. If BIPD or cargo insurance shows "Required: Yes / On File: No," they're operating illegally.
• USDOT number doesn't match the company name. Possible identity fraud — scammers reuse legitimate USDOTs to look credible.
• Recently registered USDOT but claims "20 years experience." Common shell-company signal.
• MCS-150 filing overdue by 6+ months. Operators must file every 24 months; missing this means they may be dormant.

Carriers own the trucks, employ the drivers, and physically move your stuff. The truck pulling up to your house is theirs.

Brokers arrange the move but don't own trucks. They sell your job to a carrier (often one you've never heard of). The truck that arrives may be a different company entirely.

Both are legitimate, but the experience differs. With a broker you have less control over which crew shows up. With a carrier you know who's handling your goods — which is why most consumer-protection guides recommend hiring a carrier directly when possible.

Some companies are both a carrier and broker — they handle your move with their own crew when they can, and broker it out when they're booked.

HHG stands for "Household Goods" — the FMCSA classification for residential moving (your furniture, appliances, personal belongings). It's a separate license from general freight.

A trucking company can be perfectly legitimate for hauling industrial equipment but not authorized to move your home. The FMCSA holds HHG carriers to stricter consumer-protection rules: they must give you written estimates, follow weight-tracking procedures, file specific insurance, and submit to a different complaint process.

If you see "Household Goods" in their Cargo Carried list, they're authorized. If you don't, they shouldn't be moving you between states.

Records come straight from FMCSA SAFER (the federal Safety and Fitness Electronic Records system). When you look up a carrier here, we pull their snapshot live — what you see is what FMCSA published most recently.

FMCSA itself updates the data nightly from carrier filings, state inspections, and DOT audits. So a carrier that went out-of-service today usually shows OOS within 24 hours.

Our cached lookups refresh every 24 hours. The "Last refreshed" timestamp at the bottom of each carrier's page shows exactly when we pulled their data.

If the company isn't in FMCSA's database at all, that's a serious red flag — every legitimate interstate mover is required to register with USDOT. No record means either:

• They're operating illegally (interstate moves without authority is a federal violation)
• They only do intrastate moves (within one state) — those are regulated by state DOT, not federal
• You're searching the wrong name (try DBA, parent company, or USDOT number if you have it)

For intrastate moves, check your state's DOT or PUC (Public Utilities Commission) website.

USDOT Number: a 6-7 digit ID assigned to every commercial carrier registered with the federal government. Required for interstate operation.

MC Number (also called "MC-MX-FF Number"): a separate registration for carriers and brokers operating "for hire" — i.e., charging you money. Most legitimate movers have both.

Both numbers are required by FMCSA to be displayed on the side of every truck (49 CFR § 390.21) and on every estimate, contract, and invoice. If a mover refuses to give you these numbers, walk away.

You can also ask the mover for them directly — they're public information. A legitimate operator won't hesitate.

An Out of Service (OOS) order is a federal shutdown — the carrier or specific drivers/vehicles cannot operate until they fix whatever caused the order. Common triggers:

• Failed safety audit (vehicle maintenance, hours-of-service violations, unsafe driving record)
• Insurance lapse (BIPD or cargo coverage cancelled or expired)
• Failure to respond to FMCSA inquiries
• Pattern of consumer complaints (especially relevant for HHG carriers)

OOS is supposed to be temporary — the carrier corrects the issue and can be reinstated. But hiring an OOS mover means they're literally not allowed to do your move. Whatever they tell you about "just got reinstated" — verify here first.