Who regulates interstate moving companies?

FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration)

The primary regulator for interstate movers is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, an agency housed within the U.S. Department of Transportation. The FMCSA issues the USDOT and MC numbers that identify legal carriers, sets baseline safety standards for vehicles and drivers, mandates written estimates and specific consumer disclosures, and carries out enforcement against both carriers and brokers that break federal rules. Without this oversight, there would be no unified federal framework for holding cross-country movers accountable.

Beyond the two registration numbers themselves, FMCSA also requires interstate household goods carriers to keep specific paperwork on file before they are legally allowed to operate. This includes a process agent designation, filed on Form BOC-3, which designates someone who can accept legal documents on the company's behalf in every state where it operates. Carriers must also submit proof of insurance or a surety bond that meets federal minimums, on top of completing their USDOT and MC registration. A carrier operating without all of this in place is not simply risking a fine for incomplete paperwork. It is operating entirely outside the legal framework that gives consumers any meaningful recourse if belongings are damaged, lost, or held hostage during a move.

U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)

The FMCSA operates within the DOT, and the term USDOT number refers specifically to registration in this system. For most practical purposes, FMCSA is the agency you will interact with directly for moving-specific issues, whether you are verifying a company's status, filing a safety complaint, or researching consumer protection resources. The DOT itself rarely handles individual mover inquiries directly.

The DOT oversees transportation broadly, and FMCSA is just one of several operating administrations under it. Others include the Federal Highway Administration, which manages road infrastructure and funding, and the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates air travel. Each administration handles a different mode of transportation. FMCSA specifically covers commercial trucking and bus safety, which is why household goods movers fall under its authority rather than a general DOT office that would lack the specialized expertise and enforcement tools for this industry.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

The Federal Trade Commission enforces general consumer protection law, which can apply to deceptive moving-company practices such as false advertising or unfair business practices, alongside FMCSA's industry-specific rules. These agencies' jurisdictions overlap rather than compete. The FTC might step in for broader fraud patterns while FMCSA handles safety violations and registration compliance, and both can be relevant to the same problematic company.

The FTC also maintains a public complaint database, and while it does not resolve individual disputes case by case, a pattern of complaints against the same company can factor into whether the agency opens a broader investigation or enforcement action. Filing a complaint even when you do not expect an individual resolution still adds to that record. It is one more input agencies use when deciding where to focus limited enforcement resources, and it helps build the documented history that can eventually trigger regulatory attention.

State-level regulation of interstate movers

States regulate intrastate movers directly, and requirements vary significantly by state. Some states also provide consumer-protection avenues, such as attorney general complaints, that remain relevant even for interstate movers operating within their borders. If your move is entirely within one state, check that state's specific transportation or consumer protection agency rather than relying on federal rules, which apply to interstate moves specifically. The federal framework does not govern a move that never crosses state lines.

State requirements for intrastate movers can include a separate operating license, minimum insurance levels, and sometimes rate filing requirements where movers must submit their pricing structures for approval. These are administered through a state department of transportation, a public utilities commission, or a similar agency depending on the state. None of that state-level licensing carries over automatically to interstate work. A company's interstate operations still fall under FMCSA regardless of what state authority it also holds, meaning a mover can be fully compliant for in-state work and still lack federal authorization for cross-border shipments.

The specific federal rules that regulate interstate movers

FMCSA's authority over interstate movers is not one single rule. It is a set of regulations, each covering a different piece of the process.

• Part 375 — Transportation of Household Goods in Interstate Commerce; the core consumer protection regulations for HHG carriers
• Part 371 — Rules governing brokers of property
• Part 370 — Principles and practices for investigating and resolving loss and damage claims, and processing salvage
• Part 387 — Minimum levels of financial responsibility (insurance) for motor carriers
• Part 372 — Exemptions, commercial zones, and terminal areas
• Part 379 — Record preservation requirements
• Part 375, Subpart G — requires carriers to give customers a copy of "Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move," a standardized consumer information booklet, before the move takes place

You'll never need to cite these by number during a normal move, but they explain why FMCSA can regulate everything from your written estimate to how a claim gets investigated to what insurance a carrier must carry. (Source: FMCSA)

Where states fit into enforcing federal moving regulations

Even though interstate moving regulation is federal, states aren't entirely out of the picture. Federal law specifically authorizes state authorities to enforce FMCSA's consumer protection provisions on behalf of individual shippers, and separately allows a state to bring a civil action on behalf of its residents — acting as parens patriae, on behalf of the public — to enforce those same household goods consumer protections. In practice, this means your state attorney general's office can sometimes take action against an interstate mover, even though the underlying rules are federal. (Source: FMCSA)

Complaints against interstate movers have been rising, driven by a small percentage of "rogue movers" among the more than 35 million Americans who move each year. FMCSA runs Operation Protect Your Move, a nationwide enforcement initiative that deploys investigators to pursue complaints about movers holding household goods hostage for additional payment. (Source: FMCSA)

That federal-state overlap also shows up procedurally. When a state attorney general does pursue a household goods case, the underlying legal violation is still usually rooted in the federal HHG regulations rather than a separate state-created standard, even though the state is the one bringing the action. It is a distinction that rarely matters to the person filing a complaint, but it explains why a state can act on what is, legally, a federal violation. The state is essentially enforcing federal rules on behalf of its residents using its own legal machinery.

What interstate moving regulation means in practice when you're booking a move

For most household movers, the practical takeaway is simple: check FMCSA registration before booking (see our USDOT/MC verification guide), and know that a genuine regulatory violation — not just a bad experience — belongs with the FMCSA specifically, while a deceptive-practices complaint can also go to the FTC or your state attorney general. You rarely need to know the fine details of which agency does what unless you're actually filing a complaint.

It is worth checking a carrier's or broker's registration status before you sign anything, not after a problem shows up. FMCSA's SAFER system shows whether a company's authority is active, revoked, or under an out-of-service order, along with its insurance status on file. A company that looks legitimate on its website can still turn up with lapsed authority or no active insurance in that system. That is exactly the kind of thing worth catching before a deposit changes hands, not after you have already committed and are trying to recover.

Frequently asked questions

Related resources

• All interstate regulations guides
• How to verify a USDOT/MC number
• Your rights under federal moving regulations