How to Check a Mover's Complaint History Before You Hire

Every licensed interstate mover in the United States has a federal complaint record. FMCSA collects complaints through its National Consumer Complaint Database (NCCDB), but the data is scattered across multiple tools and not always easy to interpret. This guide walks you through the exact steps to check a mover's complaint history before you sign anything.

Go to ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/hhg/ and search by company name or USDOT number. This is FMCSA's official consumer-facing tool for checking household goods movers.

What to look for:

- Fleet size: How many trucks (power units) does the company operate? A company with zero trucks is a broker, not a carrier. It will not be performing your move. - Safety rating: Most household goods movers have no safety rating at all, which is itself a problem. If a company has a 'Conditional' or 'Unsatisfactory' rating, that is a serious red flag. - Complaint history: Protect Your Move shows the number and type of NCCDB complaints filed against the company. Look at the total count, the trend over time, and the categories. - Operating authority: Is the company's authority 'Active'? If it shows 'Revoked' or 'Not Authorized,' stop immediately.

FMCSA's Protect Your Move shows individual company records, but it does not aggregate data or calculate comparative metrics. Trunk's NCCDB Complaint Intelligence dashboard at trunk.lorea.ai/dashboard/nccdb fills that gap.

The dashboard lets you:

- See complaint counts by year, so you can spot acceleration (a company going from 10 complaints to 50 to 150 is a different risk than one with a steady 5 per year) - View per-truck complaint rates, which normalize for fleet size. A 200-truck carrier with 20 complaints is very different from a 1-truck carrier with 20 complaints. - Break down complaints by category (hostage loads, damage, estimate disputes, delivery delays, and more) - Compare companies side by side

The per-truck rate is especially important. A company with a rate above 10 complaints per truck is almost certainly operating outside normal parameters.

Federal complaint data captures only a fraction of consumer experiences. Most people who have a bad move never file an FMCSA complaint. Check multiple platforms:

- BBB (bbb.org): Look for the complaint narrative text, not just the letter grade. A company can have an A+ rating and dozens of unresolved complaints. - Google Reviews: Sort by lowest rating. Look for patterns: hostage loads, price increases on moving day, missing items, aggressive behavior. - Yelp: Especially useful for local movers. Again, read the 1-star reviews for recurring themes.

The key is pattern recognition across platforms. One bad review on Google could be a disgruntled customer. The same story appearing on Google, Yelp, BBB, and FMCSA is a pattern.

Facebook groups like 'Moving Fraud Awareness' and 'Blacklist Movers / Moving Companies' have become informal consumer protection databases. Search the company name in these groups.

Consumers post detailed accounts with photos, text messages, contracts, and video. These posts often contain information that never makes it into a formal complaint: the names of individual employees, the tactics used on moving day, connections between companies.

If you find multiple posts about the same company describing the same tactics, that is actionable intelligence.

FMCSA categorizes complaints into 14 types. Here is what each one means:

1. Hostage: The mover is holding your belongings and demanding more money before delivery. This is the most serious complaint type. 2. Estimate: The final price was significantly higher than the estimate provided. 3. Pickup: Problems on loading day, including late arrival, no-show, or unprofessional conduct. 4. Delivery: Late delivery, partial delivery, or failure to deliver at all. 5. Damage/Loss: Items were damaged or went missing during the move. 6. Overcharge: The mover charged more than the legally binding estimate without justification. 7. Deceptive Business Practices: Misrepresentation of services, false advertising, or bait-and-switch tactics. 8. Complaint Handling: The company failed to respond to or resolve consumer complaints. 9. Customer Service: General service quality issues. 10. Weight/Charges Dispute: Disagreement over the weight of the shipment, which determines the price for weight-based estimates. 11. Property Damage: Damage to the origin or destination property (walls, floors, door frames) during the move. 12. Storage: Problems related to storage services, including unauthorized storage, storage fees, or damage while in storage. 13. Billing/Collection: Disputes over invoicing, unauthorized charges, or collection agency harassment. 14. Other: Complaints that do not fit neatly into the above categories.

Pay special attention to hostage complaints. A company with even one hostage complaint is holding someone's belongings for ransom. Multiple hostage complaints indicate a business model built on extortion.

When reviewing a mover's complaint data, watch for these patterns:

High per-truck complaint rate: The average legitimate carrier has 1 to 3 complaints per truck over its operating history. A rate above 10 per truck suggests the company is using rental trucks, cycling through vehicles, or operating a scam that generates complaints far faster than a normal business.

Accelerating complaints: A company whose complaint count is growing year over year is getting worse, not better. Menards Moving went from 44 complaints in 2024 to 90 in 2025 to 156 in the first half of 2026 alone. That trajectory is not a company having a bad year. It is a company scaling its fraud.

Recently registered: A company that received its USDOT number within the past 12 months and already has complaints deserves extra scrutiny. Legitimate new movers take time to build volume. A brand-new company with 20 complaints in its first four months is not a startup finding its footing.

Zero fleet size: A company reporting zero trucks, zero tractors, and zero trailers to FMCSA is a broker. It will not be performing your move. It will hire a carrier you may never have heard of.

If your research turns up a significant complaint history, you have several options:

- Choose a different mover. This is the simplest and most effective step. There are thousands of legitimate movers operating with clean records. - If you have already booked, ask the company directly about the complaints. A legitimate company will address them. A company that deflects, minimizes, or threatens legal action over the question is confirming the pattern. - If you are mid-move and experiencing a hostage situation (the mover is demanding more money before delivering your belongings), file a complaint immediately at ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/hhg/. Also contact your state attorney general and local law enforcement. Holding goods hostage for payment above a binding estimate is a federal violation. - Document everything: texts, emails, contracts, photos of damage, recordings of phone calls (check your state's recording consent laws first).

The complaint data exists. The tools to access it are publicly available. The 15 minutes it takes to check a mover's history before you hire is the single most effective step you can take to protect your move.