Moving Company Insurance

The sectional is wedged sideways in a hallway that looked wide enough on the walkthrough. The arm has caught the drywall, and the homeowner is still standing in the doorway holding a lamp. Out on the driveway, a moving pad slips and a dresser leg lands on hardwood your crew didn’t install. Before anyone finishes the room, someone has to figure out who pays for the wall, the dresser, and the mover on the stairs.

Moving company insurance is a package of policies, and each one answers a different part of that scene. General liability covers injuries and damage to property you don’t control, including the house you’re moving through. Cargo coverage, usually written as inland marine or motor truck cargo, covers the customer’s belongings once they’re on the truck. Commercial auto covers the truck. Workers compensation covers your crew. A homeowner policy or personal auto policy won’t respond to any of it.

If your work is a little different, these guides may fit better: junk removal insurance for hauling debris, towing company insurance for wreckers, and trucking insurance for freight that isn’t a household move (Henderson operators can start with trucking insurance in Henderson, Nevada). Delivery and van fleets belong with commercial fleet insurance and the fleet insurance page. Window installers should read window and door contractor insurance. And if your box truck is still on a personal policy, start with personal vs. commercial auto insurance.

The house you’re walking through

General liability is the policy property managers, building owners, and customers expect to see on a certificate. It responds to the drywall the sofa gouged, the banister that gives way under a heavy piece, the floor scarred on the way out, and the person standing in the doorway. It also applies when a ramp slips, a dolly rolls away on a driveway, or a liftgate comes down on someone who doesn’t work for you.

The catch is that standard general liability forms typically limit coverage for property in your care, custody, or control. The dresser on your dolly can fall into that gap, even though it feels like it obviously should be covered. The wall next to it is a separate question. Your license classification doesn’t decide what gets paid. The policy wording does.

The goods on the truck

Once a shipment is loaded, a claim is about the customer’s belongings, not the house and not the vehicle. Commercial property insurance is usually tied to a shop or a building. Inland marine, including the form movers know as motor truck cargo, is built for property that travels. Tell the underwriter what you haul, whether anything stays on the truck overnight, and where the truck is parked. A household move and a floor of office furniture are different risks, and the application should say which one you do.

California’s household-mover requirements make a useful point here: the cargo liability filed with the state can be common carrier liability or inland marine. Either way, it’s separate from general liability and separate from the truck’s auto policy.

Valuation: the mover’s liability for your customer’s goods

On an interstate move, federal household-goods rules require the mover to offer two levels of liability, which FMCSA calls valuation coverage: full value protection and released value.

Full value protection makes the mover responsible for the replacement value of anything lost or damaged in the shipment, and the customer pays more for it. If the customer doesn’t choose otherwise, the shipment moves at full value protection.

Released value costs the customer nothing extra, but the mover’s responsibility drops to 60 cents per pound per article. FMCSA’s own example is a 25-pound, 50-inch television, which would be worth $15 under that rule. The customer has to sign a specific statement on the bill of lading or contract to choose it. Movers can also limit their responsibility for items of extraordinary value, meaning more than $100 per pound, unless those items are listed on the shipping documents.

It helps to keep the terms straight. Valuation is the mover’s liability for the goods. It isn’t the mover’s general liability policy, and it isn’t a cargo policy the customer buys separately. FMCSA does say a mover may offer to sell or arrange separate liability insurance when a customer selects released value, but that is its own decision, apart from the valuation level. FMCSA also notes that states have their own rules for moves that stay inside the state, so don’t carry the 60-cent figure over to an intrastate job just because it’s familiar.

The truck

A box truck is a business vehicle, and personal auto is the wrong policy for it. Commercial auto is built for vehicles your company owns or leases. Ask about hired and non-owned auto if an estimator drives a personal car to look at a house, or if you rent a truck for a heavy week. The truck’s liability coverage won’t pay for the dresser or the drywall.

If you operate across state lines, FMCSA’s insurance filing chart (49 CFR 387.303) sets the minimums for a for-hire household-goods carrier running vehicles of 10,001 pounds GVWR or more: $750,000 in bodily injury and property damage liability, and $5,000 in cargo insurance. The filings for that category are BMC-91, BMC-91X, or BMC-82, plus BMC-34 or BMC-83. Those are the floors for getting authority, not a recommendation. A $5,000 cargo limit won’t come close to replacing a house full of furniture.

The crew

Moving injuries are specific: a piece shifts on a stair, a ramp walks out from under a dolly, someone’s back goes out between the truck and a second-floor landing. Workers compensation is the policy that responds when an employee is hurt on the job. California’s household-mover rules require a current workers compensation policy if you have any employees.

The rules for owners and for helpers you pay in other ways vary by state. A helper who rides with the truck most days is hard to defend as an independent contractor after a fall, and holding mover authority doesn’t mean you can assume an owner exemption.

Certificates and higher limits

Apartment managers, office landlords, and HOAs often attach insurance requirements to a job. Additional insured status and a waiver of subrogation come up a lot. An umbrella policy is the usual way to raise limits above your primary policies, and every building sets its own number.

A certificate only reports what your policies already say. If an endorsement isn’t on the policy, the certificate can’t create it. Send the building’s insurance requirements to your agent before you price the move, not after.

Authority in Nevada, Arizona, California, and Utah

Each state describes this work in its own terms. Operating without the right authority is a licensing problem, but it doesn’t by itself void your coverage. Match your credentials to the moves you actually sell, then describe that work to the underwriter in plain language. Note that the household-goods definitions below concern goods used in a dwelling or for personal, family, or household purposes. None of them automatically covers office furniture.

• Nevada: The Nevada Transportation Authority regulates household-goods movers. NRS 706.085 defines household goods as personal effects and property used or to be used in a dwelling, plus similar property the Authority defines by regulation. Goods moving from a factory or store are excluded unless the householder bought them for use in the dwelling and paid the carrier. NRS 706.137 treats the packing, loading, and unloading that goes with the move as part of transporting household goods within the state, and NRS 706.072 puts household-goods carriers in the fully regulated category, which requires a certificate of public convenience and necessity or a contract carrier’s permit. Under NRS 706.386, a fully regulated common motor carrier generally can’t operate in intrastate commerce without that certificate. The Authority’s checklist for passengers or household goods (dated July 12, 2019) says you need a certificate or an exemption under NRS 706 to move household goods within Nevada, and it lists household goods mover as an application type. Customers also have protections: NRS 706.442 requires a written binding estimate on request and bars charges above it unless the customer asks for extra services and agrees to pay. If goods are reported lost or damaged, the mover has to try to resolve the dispute, identify its insurance carrier, and explain how to file a claim. Liability insurance requirements for these carriers fall under NRS 706.291, which leaves the amounts to the Authority and the Department, so confirm the current minimum with the Authority.
• Arizona: A.R.S. 44-1611 defines a household goods mover as someone who, for a fee, loads, packs, moves, transports, stores in transit, delivers, or unloads household goods on an intrastate move. Moving goods for disposal or destruction is excluded, as are goods from a factory or store unless the consumer bought them for personal, family, or household use. Section 44-1612 lists the contract terms a mover must include to qualify for the exemption in section 44-1614, including a statement of whether the mover will reimburse the consumer for loss or damage and how. Section 44-1614 covers delivery: a mover that complied with 44-1612 and has reached the destination may require the estimated price before unloading, must safeguard goods it refuses to unload, and can have a peace officer take custody of the goods if it unlawfully fails to deliver. The Arizona Department of Public Safety household-goods page tells consumers to check an interstate mover with FMCSA and an in-state mover with the Arizona Corporation Commission, and sends complaints and hostage-load questions to DPS. One thing to avoid mixing up: the Registrar of Contractors classifications page lists R-22, House Moving, but that is a structure-moving license, not household-goods mover authority.
• California: The California Public Utilities Commission transferred household-goods carrier authority to the Department of Consumer Affairs’ Bureau of Household Goods and Services, effective July 1, 2018. The Bureau’s household mover applicant page says anyone paid to move household goods entirely within California needs a household mover license, and anyone paid to move household goods only into or out of California needs an interstate mover license. A company doing both submits a general household mover application. The same page requires public liability and property damage coverage on the vehicles, $20,000 in cargo liability for loss and damage to household goods (common carrier liability or inland marine both qualify), and workers compensation if you have one or more employees. That $20,000 is the Bureau’s requirement, not the replacement value of a shipment.
• Utah: The Utah Department of Transportation motor carrier operating authority page defines interstate commerce broadly: travel between a place in Utah and a place outside it, between two Utah points through another state or a place outside the U.S., or between two Utah points as part of a trip that starts or ends outside the state. Interstate carriers register with FMCSA, and UDOT requires a BOC-3 and proof of liability and/or cargo insurance before operating authority is granted. Anything that isn’t interstate is intrastate, and those operations must follow the applicable federal safety regulations plus state and local requirements. UDOT’s intrastate registration page cites Utah Code 41-1a-201 and says the power unit is registered for the combined loaded weight of the truck or tractor and its trailers. That registration is not a household-goods mover permit, and we haven’t found a separate Utah one.

We also have city pages for this trade: Henderson, Phoenix, San Diego, and Lehi.

What to have ready for a quote

Gather your annual revenue, the split between home moves and office moves, how often a shipment crosses a state line, your trucks and where they’re parked, your payroll, and any insurance requirements a property manager or building has already sent you. Western Pacific Insurance is based in Henderson, Nevada, and places coverage for moving companies in Nevada, Arizona, California, and Utah. Call 702-932-3105 or request a quote online.