4.9 Stars on Trustpilot. 135 Federal Complaints. The Trustpilot Gap in Moving Fraud.

Trunk scraped Trustpilot profiles for 145 interstate moving companies and cross-referenced the ratings against federal complaint data from FMCSA's National Consumer Complaint Database. The results split the industry into two categories: companies whose Trustpilot ratings reflect reality, and companies whose ratings contradict it.

Value Added Moving has 135 NCCDB complaints. Its Trustpilot average across scraped reviews: 4.9 out of 5. A consumer checking Trustpilot before booking sees a near-perfect rating. A consumer checking FMCSA sees a company with one of the fastest-growing complaint trajectories in the database (3 complaints in 2023, 100 in 2026).

New Start Relocation (Eagle Moving Group) has 179 NCCDB complaints. Its Trustpilot average: 4.75. This is the same company that is the defendant in John Vetne's 14704 administrative complaint (Docket FMCSA-2026-0069) and never responded to FMCSA's letter.

America First Moving Services has 129 NCCDB complaints. Its Trustpilot average: 4.75.

Americas Moving and Storage has 95 NCCDB complaints. Trustpilot average: 4.56.

Goodview Moving and Storage has 90 NCCDB complaints. Trustpilot average: 4.56.

Cross Country Long Distance Movers has 78 NCCDB complaints. Trustpilot average: 4.63.

Every one of these companies has a Trustpilot rating that would make a consumer feel safe booking. Every one has a federal complaint record that should make them run.

Not every fraud company manipulates Trustpilot. Some either do not bother or have been caught.

Menards Moving and Storage: 290 NCCDB complaints. Trustpilot average: 1.0.

Howards Vanlines: 166 complaints. Trustpilot average: 1.0.

Coastal Moving Services: 229 complaints. Trustpilot average: 1.25.

Safeway Moving Systems: 111 complaints. Trustpilot average: 1.13.

International Van Lines: 96 complaints. Trustpilot average: 1.38.

Allied Van Lines: 89 complaints. Trustpilot average: 1.63.

For these companies, Trustpilot reflects the federal data. Consumers reading Trustpilot reviews for Menards or Howards would see the warnings. The problem is that these are the exception. Most high-complaint companies have Trustpilot ratings above 4.0.

When we compare Trustpilot against Google and BBB ratings for the same companies, the manipulation becomes clearer.

Coastal Moving Services: Google 4.3, BBB D rating, Trustpilot 1.25, NCCDB 229 complaints. Trustpilot is the most accurate. Google is the least.

Value Added Moving: Google 3.9, BBB B, Trustpilot 4.9, NCCDB 135 complaints. Trustpilot is the least accurate. BBB is closest to reality.

LoadRans: Google 4.4, Trustpilot 2.13, NCCDB 166 complaints. Trustpilot is more accurate than Google.

Colonial Van Lines: Google 3.9, BBB A+ (accredited), Trustpilot 4.06, NCCDB 121 complaints. All platforms overstate quality relative to the federal record.

The pattern: no single review platform is consistently accurate. Trustpilot is sometimes the best signal (Coastal, LoadRans, Menards) and sometimes the worst (Value Added, New Start). The only consistently reliable signal is the NCCDB complaint record, because it cannot be purchased, deleted, or manipulated by the company.

Trustpilot allows businesses to invite customers to leave reviews. This creates an asymmetry: a company can selectively invite satisfied customers while not inviting those who had problems. Unlike Google (where anyone can post) or NCCDB (where complaints are filed independently), Trustpilot's invitation system gives the company control over who reviews them.

The result: a company with 135 NCCDB complaints and a 4.9 Trustpilot is likely inviting every customer who had a smooth move while ignoring the ones whose belongings were held hostage. The 4.9 is not fabricated. It just excludes the worst experiences.

For companies with 1.0 Trustpilot ratings, the opposite has happened: consumers found the company on Trustpilot independently and posted without being invited. These organic reviews skew negative because people who were defrauded are more motivated to post than people who had a routine move.

Trustpilot's rating reflects who the company invites, not who the company serves.

The Trustpilot data reveals two distinct operational approaches among high-complaint movers.

Category 1: Active reputation management. These companies invest in Trustpilot ratings, Google reviews, and paid press releases. Value Added (4.9 Trustpilot, 135 complaints), New Start (4.75, 179 complaints), and America First (4.75, 129 complaints) all maintain high ratings across commercial platforms while accumulating federal complaints. They understand that consumers check reviews before booking, and they have systems to ensure those reviews are positive.

Category 2: No reputation management. Menards (1.0 Trustpilot, 290 complaints), Howards (1.0, 166 complaints), and Coastal (1.25, 229 complaints) do not appear to manage their Trustpilot profiles. Their complaints are high and their ratings are low. These companies rely on other acquisition channels: broker dispatch (Menards dispatches carriers), Google Ads (Coastal), or sheer volume.

Both categories defraud consumers. But Category 1 is harder for consumers to detect because the commercial review platforms show exactly what the company wants them to show.

We-Haul Moving Services LLC (DOT 3918815) is the clearest example of why no single platform tells the truth.

Google: 5.0 out of 5 with 68 reviews. A perfect rating. BBB: D+ rating. FMCSA NCCDB: 50 complaints.

This is also the carrier that Safe Ship sued in June 2026 (Case 502026CA007342XXXAMB) for posting negative reviews after being terminated. Safe Ship alleges We-Haul posed as prior customers and posted fraudulent reviews. Safe Ship seeks a permanent injunction against We-Haul posting any reviews.

A consumer checking only Google would see a perfect 5.0 and book confidently. A consumer checking only BBB would see D+ and look elsewhere. A consumer checking FMCSA would see 50 complaints and avoid. A consumer reading the Safe Ship lawsuit would learn this carrier was fighting back against its broker.

All four data points describe the same company. None tells the complete story. The 5.0 Google rating may be legitimate (We-Haul serves many customers well) or managed (selective review solicitation). The 50 NCCDB complaints may reflect We-Haul's own failures or the consequences of Safe Ship's pricing decisions that We-Haul had to execute. The lawsuit shows a carrier willing to speak publicly about a broker, which Safe Ship classified as 'tortious interference.'

We-Haul is not clearly a good company or a bad company. It is a company that looks different depending on which data source you check. That is the problem this article documents.

1. Never rely on a single platform. A 4.9 on Trustpilot means nothing if the company has 135 NCCDB complaints.

2. Check FMCSA complaint data first. Search your company on Trunk or at ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/hhg. NCCDB complaint counts cannot be manipulated.

3. On Trustpilot, sort by lowest rating and read the 1-star reviews. The 5-star reviews may be invited. The 1-star reviews are almost always organic.

4. Compare across platforms. If a company has 4.9 on Trustpilot but D on BBB and 135 NCCDB complaints, the Trustpilot rating is the outlier.

5. Check the review dates. A cluster of 5-star reviews posted within days of each other, especially with generic language, is a signal of managed reviews.