Have a Good MoveResearch

How HGM Researches Moving Companies

Have a Good Move researches moving companies to help consumers understand who they may be dealing with, how the company operates, what public records show, what reviewers report, and what to check before booking.

HGM does not rank or recommend movers, choose movers for consumers, or create an HGM star rating.

Our goal is to make moving-company information easier to understand and easier to verify.

At a glance

What HGM does: Connects the consumer-facing brand to the legal company, federal role, published terms, review evidence, and practical questions to ask.

What HGM does not do: Rank or recommend movers, average review-platform ratings, or treat federal registration as an endorsement.

Where the evidence comes from: Federal records, company-published materials, public review sources, complaint information where relevant, and other attributable public records.

Corrections: Use the “Request a correction” link on a mover profile if you believe a factual statement is wrong, outdated, or attached to the wrong company.

What we look at

Depending on the company, HGM may review:

Not every profile needs every category.

HGM focuses on information that can help a consumer make a better decision before signing or paying.

Matching the brand to the legal company

A moving brand name does not always identify the legal company performing or arranging the move.

A company may:

For that reason, HGM does not match companies by name alone.

Where possible, we compare:

If we can’t confidently match a source to the right company, we leave it out. Less information is better than information about the wrong mover.

Broker, carrier, van line or franchise: why the business model matters

Not every moving company works the same way, and the business model changes how a profile should be read.

Some companies hold more than one type of federal authority, such as both carrier and broker authority. HGM looks at the role that applies to the service being described rather than assuming one label explains every move.

Carriers

A motor carrier provides transportation under its own operating authority.

Agents, subcontractors, warehouses, or other providers may still perform parts of a move. HGM reviews the company’s published operating model and terms rather than assuming one company performs everything.

For a specific shipment, the estimate, Order for Service, Bill of Lading, carrier disclosures, and other move documents are important for identifying the company and role that apply.

Brokers

A broker arranges transportation but generally does not physically transport the household goods itself.

When reviewing a broker, HGM separates:

from:

That distinction matters when interpreting reviews.

Van lines and agent networks

Some national van lines operate through local agents.

The booking, origin, hauling, and destination roles may involve different companies.

HGM distinguishes the national van line from local agents when the evidence allows. A local agent’s performance should not automatically be treated as the experience of every customer in the network.

Consumers should identify the agent booking the move and research that company too.

Franchise and decentralized brands

Some national brands include separately operated local businesses.

In those cases, HGM may label the national page a Brand Guide rather than treat it as a profile of one nationwide mover.

HGM does not turn one location’s reviews into a national performance finding.

Consumers should research the specific location and legal company involved in their move.

Freight forwarders and self-move services

A household-goods freight forwarder arranges the move and uses a motor carrier for transportation. Unlike a broker, a freight forwarder may assume transportation responsibilities defined by its authority and contract.

With self-load and container services, the customer may pack and load while the company provides equipment and transportation.

That changes what each party is responsible for and how claims may work, so HGM explains these services on their own terms rather than comparing them directly with full-service movers.

What a USDOT number does — and does not — tell you

HGM uses FMCSA records to help identify:

A USDOT number helps identify a company. By itself, it does not mean the company is authorized to move household goods between states.

For an interstate household-goods move, the company needs the appropriate active household-goods authority for the role it is performing.

Profiles show authority status and the date HGM checked it. Authority can change, so consumers should verify current status directly with FMCSA before booking.

Active federal registration or authority is not an endorsement by HGM or the government and says nothing about service quality.

Federal household-goods authority applies to interstate activity. Moves entirely within one state may be governed primarily by state requirements, so a federal record may not answer every question about a local move.

When federal status is especially important

If a registration consumers are likely to rely on shows inactive, revoked, or pending household-goods authority, or an out-of-service status that materially affects the move, HGM surfaces that issue prominently rather than burying it in federal details.

The same rule applies to every company.

Profiles otherwise keep routine federal details secondary to the information most useful for a booking decision.

How HGM reads moving company reviews

Reviews are a core part of HGM mover profiles, but different platforms contain different datasets.

HGM does not:

Where we look and how themes are identified

HGM reviews third-party sources that can be matched to the correct company, location, or operating entity.

We look for repeated descriptions of the same type of experience rather than isolated allegations.

HGM calls something a recurring theme only when it appears in at least three independent consumer accounts within the relevant source set.

A smaller amount of evidence may still support narrower wording such as “some reviewers report,” but HGM does not present limited evidence as widespread, typical, or representative of every customer.

HGM does not require every company to have the same number of reviews or appear on the same platforms. Source quality, identity matching, recency, scope, and attribution matter more than raw volume.

Each platform’s rating and review count, when shown, remains separate and is dated. HGM does not combine them into a single score.

How review attribution works on profiles

A review associated with a national brand may actually involve:

HGM applies different attribution rules based on the operating model.

Brokers

Themes are separated between the broker’s part of the transaction — such as sales, estimates, deposits, communication, and carrier assignment — and physical moving services performed by the assigned carrier.

Van lines

HGM distinguishes what the van line appears to handle from what local agents or other participants handle when the source allows that distinction.

Franchise brands

HGM does not summarize one location’s review themes as national performance findings. A Brand Guide instead explains how to research the location being considered.

Other providers

If we cannot confidently tie a review to the correct company or role, we leave it out.

Reviewer reports are not HGM findings

Consumer reviews and complaints describe individual experiences.

HGM summarizes what reviewers report; it does not turn those reports into findings.

When a review describes something HGM can verify in another source — for example, a cancellation term in the company’s published contract — the profile states the documented term and cites the company or official source rather than treating the review as proof.

You may see wording such as:

That wording is intentional.

HGM uses words such as “most,” “often,” or similar frequency language only when the underlying evidence has actually been counted and the basis is shown.

How HGM handles limited evidence

Not every company has a large or clean review sample.

A profile might say:

“Some reviewers mention responsive communication.”

It will not turn that into:

“Customers consistently praise communication.”

unless the evidence actually supports a quantified statement and the profile shows the basis for it.

If there is not enough reliable information to identify recurring themes, HGM may say:

Not enough public review data to identify recurring themes.

It is better to show less information than to imply certainty the evidence does not support.

Complaints

Complaint sources are handled like reviews: they describe reported experiences and are not automatically treated as established facts.

HGM identifies the source and scope when complaint information is used.

Raw complaint totals should not be treated as a failure rate or direct comparison of service quality, particularly when companies differ greatly in size and number of moves.

How review themes become practical questions

A profile should do more than repeat complaints or praise.

Where useful, HGM connects:

theme → operating model or company term → question to ask

For example, if reviews mention another company appearing during a move and the mover’s terms allow subcontractors, the useful question becomes:

Who will perform each part of my move, and what role will any other company have?

This is one of the main ways HGM turns review research into something a consumer can use before booking.

“Who’s who on your move”

For companies with multiple possible participants, HGM may include a simple role map showing who may be involved, such as:

The exact roles depend on the company and the consumer’s own move documents.

Why HGM dates its research

Moving-company information changes.

Federal authority can change. Company policies can change. Review counts and ratings can change. Websites and legal entities can change.

For that reason, HGM dates important research where practical.

A profile may include separate dates for:

The Last reviewed date changes only when HGM has substantively re-checked the profile’s facts, not for cosmetic wording or design changes.

Sections checked on different dates may show their own dates.

HGM gives particular attention to authority-status changes because they can directly affect whether a company is authorized for the role shown to the consumer.

A profile may also be re-reviewed when:

Company terms and your own paperwork

HGM may summarize published company terms, but the documents governing a specific move matter more than general marketing pages.

Depending on the move, those documents may include an estimate, Order for Service, Bill of Lading, tariff, valuation election, payment terms, cancellation terms, storage agreement, and carrier or broker disclosures.

If your paperwork names a different company than the profile you are reading, that is the company you should verify.

HGM’s Free Check can help you research the company shown on your paperwork.

Company-specific checks

Each profile includes checks specific to that company, such as:

Steps that apply to every interstate move are covered in HGM’s Moving Checklist instead of being repeated on every profile.

Government and regulatory actions

HGM includes government or regulatory actions only when the action can be confidently matched to the profiled company and described using an authoritative source.

HGM does not publish unexplained case numbers or turn a search that found nothing into a statement that no enforcement or legal history exists.

Absence from a search result is not proof that nothing exists.

Corrections

Corrections Policy

HGM aims to keep company information accurate and fairly attributed.

Use the Request a correction link on the mover profile if you believe a factual statement is:

A correction request should identify:

HGM applies the same correction standard whether the request comes from a mover, consumer, or anyone else.

If a factual statement is wrong or attached to the wrong company, HGM corrects it and updates the relevant research date.

HGM corrects facts and attribution. It does not remove accurately summarized reviewer reports simply because a company disagrees with the underlying reviews. Disputes about an individual review should generally be addressed with the platform where the review was posted.

Submitting a correction request does not guarantee a particular wording change.

Independence

HGM does not rank or recommend movers.

A business relationship does not change the factual or editorial standards applied to a mover profile. The same identity, evidence, attribution, and correction rules apply to every company.

A company cannot buy favorable profile treatment or change the evidence standard applied to its page.

Review research does not determine whether a company appears in HGM’s federal-record search or how neutral federal search results are presented.

We don’t choose your mover. We give you better information to choose yours.

Related HGM resources: