Moving companies need a lot of insurance coverage. It protects not only your property and your employees, but also your clients’ property while in transit. Specifically, you’ll need:
- Commercial auto insurance. You’re probably legally required to have this. It covers your trucks.
- Workers’ comp. If an employee gets hurt on the job, this pays for their medical care and lost wages. State law usually requires this too.
- General liability insurance. This protects your business against common legal claims, like injuring someone or damaging their property. But it excludes customer property that’s in your possession.
- Cargo insurance. This covers the stuff you transport for clients. This specialized type of insurance can be hard to find, so you may have to shop around.
In general, moving company insurance is complex enough that we recommend working with an insurance agent. Look for someone who sells insurance from the following companies.
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Best insurance companies for moving businesses
NerdWallet’s editorial team chooses the best business insurance based on many factors. For moving companies, we focused on insurers that:
- Receive relatively few general liability complaints and commercial property complaints to state insurance regulators based on their size.
- Are financially strong according to credit rating agencies, meaning they have the ability to pay claims.
- Offer commercial auto insurance to trucks and fleets.
- Sell cargo insurance and other specialized types of property insurance.
Here are our picks for the best insurers for movers. We always recommend getting multiple quotes to find the best coverage at the best price.
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Travelers
Best overall for moving companies
We often recommend Travelers for companies in industries with specialized needs. This highly rated insurer sells virtually every type of business insurance there is, including cargo and logistics coverage and commercial auto insurance. Travelers is financially strong and gets relatively few customer complaints given its large market share.
Nationwide
Best for companies that store property
Like Travelers, Nationwide is a large insurer that sells nearly every type of coverage you could need. That includes Bailee’s coverage, motor truck cargo, warehouse liability and a scheduled property floater, which can protect individual valuable items while they’re in your possession.
Progressive
Best for owner-operators
Progressive is the nation’s largest auto insurance company and covers a variety of trucking businesses, including household movers. It offers insurance for your vehicle itself, vehicles you tow and the cargo you haul.
Progressive has fewer inland marine options than Travelers or Nationwide. But it can still be a good choice if you have a small team and rarely keep customer property in storage.
What is moving company insurance?
Insurance helps protect your moving company financially in case you face a lawsuit, damaged property or an injured employee.
For example, moving company insurance can pay for costs related to the following:
- Your movers get into an auto accident on the way to a client’s home.
- You accidentally damage a client’s heirloom dining set while unloading it.
- An employee throws out their back and has to go to physical therapy.
- A neighbor in an apartment building trips over your dolly and sprains an ankle.
What kind of insurance does a moving company need?
Moving companies are complex as business insurance goes. You’ll need a few types of property insurance to protect your business assets along with the property you’re moving. That includes different policies for items in transit and things you keep in storage.
Commercial auto insurance
This is coverage for your truck or fleet. It can pay for repairs if your vehicle gets damaged in an accident. Commercial auto insurance also includes liability and personal injury coverage.
If you move items across state lines, the federal government requires you to have at least $300,000 in bodily injury and property damage coverage.
You’ll also have to get an endorsement that says your insurer will cover medical bills for anyone injured in an accident with you, even if they deny your claim otherwise. (The insurance company can then recoup those costs from you.) This is called the MC-90 endorsement.
Do you tow client vehicles? If so, you probably also need on-hook towing insurance. This protects the car or truck you’re towing if it gets damaged in transit.
Insurance for items in transit
Cargo insurance is a policy pretty specific to movers. It covers others’ property while your business handles or transports it. If one of your movers accidentally drops a box of dishes or packs a piece of furniture incorrectly, for instance, this is the policy that pays to help the customer replace it.
Cargo insurance is a type of inland marine insurance. But some inland marine policies only cover property that belongs to your business — not your customers. If you're not getting specialized coverage, read your policy closely to make sure it provides the right protection.
Interstate movers need enough cargo insurance to cover the full replacement cost of an entire truckload of property. That allows you to offer full value protection to clients, which is a federal requirement (more on that below).
Insurance for items in storage
If you store client property — even just for a night — you need two additional types of coverage:
- Warehouse legal liability insurance. This covers property damage caused by one of your employees.
- Bailee’s coverage. This is another type of inland marine insurance. It covers other people’s property that is temporarily in your possession at a fixed location, regardless of who caused the damage. (These nuances are why we recommend working with an insurance agent to get all the coverage you need.)
You should also get commercial property insurance to cover your warehouse or storage space itself.
General liability insurance
All businesses should carry general liability insurance. It protects you against three common types of legal claims:
- Causing bodily injury to a third party (not one of your employees).
- Damaging property that isn’t in the custody of your business.
- Causing personal or advertising injury. This includes claims like libel, slander and copyright infringement.
Workers’ comp insurance
Workers’ comp insurance pays for employees’ medical care if they get injured on the job. It also covers a portion of their wages while they recover.
Most companies with employees are legally required to carry workers’ comp. You can be fined or even put in jail if you don’t. See your state’s rules here.
Moving across state lines? You need more coverage
If you move property from one state to another, you have to register your moving company with the federal government. You also need a U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) number. You can register for a USDOT number online.
Beyond that, you have to offer two options to clients. This ensures their property is protected:
- Full value protection. Clients pay you for this coverage. It promises you will cover the full replacement value of goods that get lost or damaged in transit. You’re allowed to offer a limited form of coverage that only covers “items of extraordinary value,” which means items worth more than $100 per pound.
- Released value protection. This must be free to your clients. Your company takes responsibility for up to 60 cents per pound per item. For example, if you damage a client’s home office monitor that weighs 12 pounds, you’d only have to pay $7.20 compensate them.
If you damage something and a client claims full or released value protection, your cargo insurance policy generally pays out to cover that loss.
Clients have nine months to file claims with your company after their move.
How much does insurance cost for moving businesses?
Moving companies pay these median premiums, according to online insurance company Insureon:
- $876 per month for commercial auto insurance.
- $755 per month for workers’ comp.
- $120 per month for general liability insurance.
Insureon doesn’t publish a median premium for cargo insurance specific to moving companies. But for trucking companies in general, it’s $129 per month.
Your moving company may have different premiums depending on factors like:
- How many employees you have. Workers’ comp premiums are based on how many employees you have and what they do.
- How much you tend to move. If you mostly move one-bedroom apartments, your property risk is probably less than that of a company that mostly serves million-dollar homes.
- If you travel across state lines. If so, federal regulations kick in requiring high levels of coverage. That tends to be more expensive.
- Where your business operates. Some states see more lawsuits than others. Insurance companies may charge companies in those states more.
- Previous claims. Insurance costs usually go up after you file a claim.
Ask your agent for quotes from several insurance companies so you can compare several premiums. Choose the one that offers you the coverage you need at the best price.
Save up to 30% on business insurance
NerdWallet Small Business helps you get real-time quotes from 30+ insurers, and instant access to your Certificate of Insurance (COI) through our partner, Coverdash.
How to get insurance for your moving business
Follow these steps to get the coverage you need.
- Find an agent. You’ll probably have to work with an insurance agent to get cargo insurance, which moving companies need. Ask your professional network or your neighbors for any agent recommendations. We generally recommend independent insurance agents, who can sell policies from a variety of companies.
- Work with them to figure out what coverage you need. The guide above should help. Your agent may also suggest professional liability insurance. This can protect you from claims you caused financial harm by doing your job poorly. For instance, you miss a delivery date due to an administrative error. Your clients have to stay in a hotel for multiple days awaiting their furniture and sue you for those costs. If you have an office, an agent might also recommend a business owner’s policy.
- Compare quotes. Hopefully your agent can bring you several quotes. Compare what these different insurance companies offer and how much they want to charge you for it. Your agent should be able to provide some insight into each company’s reputation when it comes to claims too.
- Buy insurance. Choose an insurer and make your first premium payment. You can usually choose to pay your entire premium upfront or pay in installments, though sometimes insurers charge a small fee for that. If you choose the latter, set up automatic payments so your coverage doesn’t lapse.
- Learn how to access your certificate of insurance. A certificate of insurance proves that you have coverage. You may need to show it to clients. Some insurers allow you to access your COI through an online dashboard. If yours doesn’t, make sure you download and save a copy so you can access it later.
