Which Moving Companies Actually Carry Full Insurance Coverage

Most consumers assume that hiring a licensed, FMCSA-registered mover means their belongings are insured. That assumption is wrong in roughly 60% of cases.

Trunk analyzed FMCSA MOTUS insurance filing data for 25,863 licensed moving companies across the United States. Of those, 15,656 (60%) have no active insurance filings on record. Zero. A consumer who hires one of these companies and suffers a loss has no verified insurance pool to draw from. Their only guaranteed protection is the federal released value standard: $0.60 per pound per item. A 25-pound flat-screen TV worth $800 pays out $15. A full 3-bedroom household worth $50,000 pays out at most $6,000.

The gap between what consumers expect and what the regulatory record shows is not a technicality. It is the operating reality of the moving industry.

FMCSA sets a minimum liability insurance threshold of $750,000 for interstate household goods carriers. That number sounds substantial. It is not designed to cover your move specifically. It is a floor for catastrophic events: a serious traffic accident, a warehouse fire, a mass loss event affecting multiple shipments at once.

The $750,000 minimum applies to bodily injury and property damage (BIPD) liability, not to cargo loss or damage. Cargo coverage is separate and is not required at a specific minimum level for household goods carriers. A carrier can meet FMCSA's BIPD threshold and still carry a cargo policy with a low limit, a high deductible, or exclusions that apply to the specific type of move you are doing.

For brokers, the requirement drops to a $75,000 surety bond. That bond does not cover your belongings during transit. It covers the broker's failure to perform its contractual obligation. If a broker takes your deposit and vanishes, you can file against the bond. If the broker dispatches a carrier that destroys your furniture, the bond is irrelevant. The carrier's cargo policy, if it exists, is what matters.

FMCSA does not require carriers to verify that their insurance is actually sufficient to cover the shipments they are moving. A carrier with a $100,000 cargo policy can legally transport a $200,000 shipment. The math does not close.

Of the 10,207 movers with active MOTUS filings, Trunk's analysis shows the following coverage distribution:

1,152 movers carry $1,000,000 or more in maximum coverage. These represent the top tier. National van lines, large regional carriers, and companies with significant commercial or military moving contracts typically fall here. Higher coverage reflects higher risk exposure, more assets to protect, and in some cases, contractual requirements from large clients.

The median coverage among insured movers is $750,000, exactly at the FMCSA minimum for carriers. This means half of all insured movers carry the legal floor and nothing more. They are compliant. They are not necessarily adequate for a large move.

414 movers carry less than $100,000 in documented coverage. These are the most concerning cases. A $100,000 cargo policy with a standard deductible may recover a small apartment move, but it will not come close to covering a 3-bedroom home full of appliances, electronics, furniture, and personal property. Consumers booking with these carriers are, in effect, largely self-insured whether they know it or not.

The 15,656 movers with no active filings represent the broadest risk category. Some of these companies carry insurance but have failed to file the required paperwork with FMCSA. Others have let filings lapse. And some are genuinely operating without coverage. Consumers have no way to distinguish which is which without requesting a certificate of insurance directly.

Coverage amount is not the same as coverage adequacy. The gap depends on the size of your shipment and the terms of the policy.

Consider two scenarios.

Scenario one: you hire a carrier with a $750,000 cargo policy for a 2-bedroom move valued at $30,000. If the carrier has a standard $5,000 deductible and your goods are damaged in transit, you may recover up to $25,000. That covers most of your loss. The policy is functionally adequate for this move.

Scenario two: you hire a carrier with a $100,000 cargo policy for a 4-bedroom move valued at $85,000. The carrier has a $10,000 deductible and a sublimit of $50,000 per occurrence. Your maximum theoretical recovery is $40,000 against an $85,000 loss. You absorb the rest.

Scenario three: your mover has no MOTUS filing. The carrier claims to carry insurance but cannot produce a current certificate of insurance at pickup. Your goods are damaged in transit. You file a claim. The carrier disputes liability. You are now dealing with a carrier whose coverage status is unverified, whose claims process is self-administered under federal law, and whose incentive is to minimize any payout. This is not a hypothetical. It describes a substantial portion of consumer moving fraud complaints.

The $750,000 figure that FMCSA treats as its baseline minimum was set decades ago. It has never been adjusted for inflation or for the rising value of consumer goods. A $750,000 policy in 2026 covers significantly less real-world value than it did when the standard was written.

Among the movers in Trunk's database with active insurance filings, the highest-coverage carriers are consistently large national operators, regional carriers with long track records, and companies that service commercial, military, or government accounts. These clients require higher coverage as a contract condition, which pulls the carrier's minimums up across all of their moves.

The lowest-coverage movers, those at or below $100,000, are overwhelmingly single-truck operators with minimal fleet and short operating histories. Some are legitimate small businesses that are adequately insured for the local, short-distance moves they primarily do. Others are operating at the edge of viability with insurance levels that do not match the scope of work they advertise.

Flagged movers (those in Trunk's database identified as companies consumers should avoid) appear across the coverage spectrum. High coverage alone does not indicate a trustworthy operator. A company can carry a $1,000,000 policy and still run a hostage-load scheme, deny claims systematically, or employ drivers with safety violations. Coverage is a floor, not a character reference.

Four steps you can take before signing a moving contract.

First, check FMCSA MOTUS. Go to li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov and enter the company's USDOT number. The MOTUS system shows active insurance filings including the insurer, policy number, coverage type, and effective date. If nothing appears, the company has no verified filing. Ask why before proceeding.

Second, request a certificate of insurance. Ask the company to provide a current COI from their insurer before pickup day. The certificate should name the insurance company, the policy number, and the coverage limits. If the company cannot or will not provide one, treat that as a serious warning sign.

Third, understand what you are signing. The moving contract includes a valuation option. Released value ($0.60 per pound) is the default and is essentially no protection. Full value protection requires the carrier to repair, replace, or compensate at current market value for damaged items. It costs more (typically 1 to 3% of declared shipment value) but it is the only option that functions like real insurance.

Fourth, consider a third-party moving insurance policy. Several insurers offer standalone moving insurance for $100 to $300 that covers your goods regardless of which carrier you use and does not depend on the carrier's claims process. For high-value moves, this is the most reliable path to actual protection.

Verifying insurance is a 10-minute task. The MOTUS database is publicly available and free to search. The information is there. Most consumers never look.