Frequently Asked Questions

Published rates for a two-mover crew with a truck across Northern Virginia, Maryland and DC run from about $120 to $200 per hour. A review of rates published by DMV moving companies and regional cost guides in September 2026 put the average near $150 per hour and the midpoint near $145. Most companies bill a two- or three-hour minimum, and several add a separate travel or truck fee of $100 to $250 on top of the hourly rate.

Two things make comparison harder than it should be. Most movers in this region do not publish rates at all, so the only way to compare is to collect written quotes from several companies. And national cost trackers quote the market per mover rather than per crew, so a figure like $115 per mover per hour is not comparable to a crew rate and looks far cheaper than it is.

Call The Movers charges below that market. A crew of two movers starts at $95 per hour, rising to about $125 per hour at the height of the summer season, with a two-hour minimum. The truck is billed separately as a one-time fee of $125 to $225 depending on its size.

Two movers start at $95 per hour and run up to about $125 per hour in peak season, with a two-hour minimum and billing in 15-minute increments after that. Three movers are from $145 per hour, which is proportionally less per mover; a larger crew finishes faster. The hourly rate is for the movers only. The truck is charged once as a fixed fee of $125 to $225 depending on the size of truck your move needs. Crew size is set during your estimate based on the actual scope of the move.

For long-distance moves you receive a detailed flat-rate quote based on the labor, materials, the driving distance and time, fuel, truck size and any extra services such as packing or a donation run, so the total is known before the truck is loaded rather than after. The quote is not tied to a projected weight, which means there is no reweigh at the loading dock and no recalculation if the load turns out heavier than someone estimated.

An hourly rate, used for local moves, charges for the movers and the hours your move actually takes. Your crew size and hourly rate are fixed at the estimate, but the final hours depend on how the day goes. Call The Movers always gives you a price range, and we take pride in how accurate those estimates are — we stay within the top of the range unless you substantially change the scope or the scenario of the move yourself.

A flat rate, used for long-distance moves, locks in one total price after a detailed review of your inventory and services, so the final cost is known up front. That price stays the same as long as the move itself does not change on your end — if you planned to pack yourself but the boxes are not ready on moving day, or items you intended to donate or discard are still in the home and need a separate trip, the extra materials, hours or mileage is added to the quote.

A binding estimate is a guaranteed final price based on the inventory and services reviewed at the time of the quote, and it does not change unless you add items or services. A non-binding estimate is an educated guess that can move up or down once the crew sees the real job.

Read past the word “binding” to what it is actually binding on. This is one of the most common sources of surprise bills in the US moving industry today. On weight-based long-distance contracts the price is often binding only on an estimated weight — say 3,000 lbs — which is a projection, not a measurement. When the truck is loaded and weighed and the real figure comes in at 6,000 lbs, the price is recalculated, and so are the charges that scale with it: fuel, line-haul, and whatever else the contract ties to weight. The document said binding, and the customer still pays more.

Call The Movers does not work that way. The estimate is not pegged to a projected weight; it is built from the actual cost of the move as scoped — the labour, materials, distance, time and services agreed. When we give a binding estimate, it does what the customer expects it to do: it tells you what the agreed move will cost. It changes only if you change the job — services added that were not in the original scope, an extra pickup or delivery address, or other customer-requested changes to what was agreed. The difference is not the word “binding”. It is what is binding, and on what terms.

Because weight-based pricing puts the risk on the customer. Call The Movers builds long-distance quotes from labor, packing materials, distance and time, fuel, truck size and any extra services instead of price per pound.

Here is why that matters. A company quoting by weight estimates your poundage, then weighs the loaded truck on moving day and tells you the real weight came in higher, inflating the final bill well past the original number. Because poundage quotes are usually non-binding, there is little holding the company to what it first told you. If another company quotes you by weight, read its binding and non-binding terms closely before you sign.

Building access is assessed during the estimate and reflected in the crew size and hours quoted, rather than added as a separate surcharge on moving day. Tell your estimator about stairs, elevator reservations, loading dock rules and the distance from the truck to the door, and the quote will account for them.

Call The Movers takes no deposit and no advance payment — you pay only for the work done, after the move is complete. Many reputable local movers require little or no deposit, and legitimate companies keep any deposit modest. Treat a request for more than 25 to 30 percent of the total estimated cost up front as a warning sign. Oversized deposits are one of the most common patterns in moving scams, particularly with brokers who disappear after collecting the money.

Yes. Call The Movers handles international relocations from the DMV to anywhere overseas, including moves to Europe. The move is run door to door on both sides: in-home estimate, export-grade packing and custom wood crating built for ocean containers, certified inventory and customs documentation, transport to the port of departure, ocean or air freight through established shipping partners, customs clearance on arrival, last-mile delivery.

Yes. Washington, DC hosts one of the largest diplomatic communities in the world, and Call The Movers regularly moves embassy and diplomatic staff, both domestically and overseas. Most recently the company relocated staff of the Embassy of Lithuania in Washington, DC.

International moves are always quoted individually after a survey of what is shipping, because the price is driven by volume, the destination port and whether the shipment travels by ocean container or air freight. Ask specifically what the quote does and does not include: destination customs duties, port and terminal fees, and storage at the destination are commonly billed separately by the receiving agent.

Yes. Call The Movers offers full packing, partial packing (typically kitchens, artwork and fragile items), packing materials, and export-grade crating for overseas shipments. Many customers pack their own boxes and have the crew handle only the breakables. If you plan to pack yourself, finish before moving day, because unfinished packing is the most common reason a local move runs longer than quoted. See packing services.

Yes. Storage is available for customers whose move-out and move-in dates do not line up, including short-term storage between closings, longer-term storage during a renovation or an overseas posting, and summer storage for students. Ask for storage pricing during your estimate, since it is quoted separately from the move itself. See storage services.

Yes. Call The Movers moves small businesses, professional offices, medical practices, law firms, retail and federal contractors across Fairfax County, Tysons, Washington, DC and the I-95 corridor. Commercial moves are scheduled after hours so business is not interrupted.

Yes, Call The Movers moves grand, baby grand, upright and player pianos with experienced piano crews, along with slate pool tables, gun and document safes, antique furniture, fine art, sculpture, oversized mirrors, chandeliers, commercial gym equipment, hot tubs and aquariums. Mention the item when you request your estimate rather than on moving day, because it changes the crew size and the equipment loaded on the truck. Items that need a custom-built crate to travel safely — fine art, mirrors, marble tops, chandeliers, sculpture and similar fragile or irregular pieces — are always quoted with a separate crating charge, since each crate is built to the piece and the materials are not part of the hourly rate. See specialty and single-item moves.

Yes. Call The Movers offers senior move management for downsizing and moves into retirement or assisted living communities, and estate distribution for splitting a household between several addresses, which often follows a death in the family or a sale. Both are quoted after a walkthrough, because sorting and distribution take longer than a straight point-to-point move.

Often, yes, particularly outside the May to September peak season. Call 703-577-9227 and ask about availability. Same-week and even next-day moves are often possible when a crew and a truck are free, though the widest choice of dates and crews goes to customers who book two to four or more weeks ahead.

Yes. Call The Movers operates seven days a week, from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Weekends and the first and last days of the month are the busiest slots in the DMV because of lease turnover, so book those dates early.

Compare more than the price — the cheapest quote is rarely the safest one. Build a shortlist of up to five local companies from independent sources rather than company websites: Google for sample size, the BBB for business accreditation and how complaints get handled, Angi for verified hires. Read the one- and two-star reviews first and look for the same problem repeated by many customers. Then ask every company on the list the same questions, starting with the most important one: are you the actual moving company (carrier), or a broker who works as a middleman? Also confirm licensing and insurance, insist on an itemised estimate, and ask what the claims process is before you need it.

Our full guide walks through all eleven questions to ask, how to compare two quotes on a like-for-like basis, and how to use AI search sensibly when building a shortlist: How to Choose a Moving Company: 11 Questions That Can Save You Hundreds of Dollars and Major Headaches.

A legitimate local mover holds federal USDOT registration plus the licensing its home state requires, and a bond where that state requires one. To cross state lines on a long-distance move, the company also needs an MC (motor carrier) number. For any of those to stay active, the mover has to carry the insurance FMCSA requires: $1,000,000 general liability, $750,000 auto liability and $50,000 cargo coverage.

You can check all of it yourself, free and in about a minute, in the FMCSA SAFER database — search by company name or USDOT number at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/CompanySnapshot.aspx. If a company will not give you its numbers, or they do not match the business name when you search, stop there.

Call The Movers operates under USDOT #2929344, MC #988865 and Virginia DOT #690, with all three licences active and the required coverage in place. Look us up and see for yourself.

A moving company (a carrier) owns its trucks, employs its crews, and is legally responsible for your belongings from pickup to delivery. A broker owns no trucks and employs no movers. It sells your job to whichever subcontracted carrier it has available, which is why you often do not know who is showing up until moving day. Brokers are legally required to disclose that they are brokers, and vagueness on that point is itself a red flag.

The warning signs are consistent and easy to spot once you know them:

• A quote dramatically lower than every other estimate you received.
• A deposit request over 25 to 30 percent of the total.
• No physical business address you can find or verify.
• No USDOT or MC number, or one that does not match the business name in SAFER.
• Unmarked trucks arriving on moving day.
• A blank or incomplete contract you are asked to sign now, with details to be filled in later.
• A “binding” price that turns out to be binding only on an estimated weight. Find the weight figure in the contract and ask, in writing, what happens to the price if the loaded truck weighs more.
• A long-distance quote given over the phone without ever seeing your inventory in person or on video.
• Cash, wire transfer or peer-to-peer apps only, with credit cards refused.

Start getting estimates at least two to four weeks before your move date, and four to six weeks during the May to September peak season, when good crews book up early. A rushed timeline is exactly what scammers rely on: the less time you have, the more likely you are to skip the license check, the reviews and the contract. This is a recommendation, not a requirement. Call The Movers regularly takes short-notice bookings, including next-day moves, whenever a crew and a truck are free.

Fake reviews share a pattern: vague and generic wording with no specifics, reviewer profiles with no photo and no history of other reviews, and a sudden cluster of five-star reviews posted within days of each other. Two patterns are especially telling. First, a burst of five-star reviews appearing right after a bad one — that is damage control, not coincidence. Second, click through to the reviewer’s own profile: if the same person reviewed three or four moving companies on the same day, in different cities, those reviews were bought. Genuine reviews tend to name specific crew members, dates and details of the move, which is difficult to fabricate at scale.

Check more than one platform, and weight the Better Business Bureau profile heavily. BBB reviews are the hardest to manufacture of any platform — no anonymous reviews, the reviewer’s email or phone is validated and the transaction is confirmed before publishing — and the profile also shows the company’s accreditation status and complaint record, which star ratings alone never tell you.

Use Google as your volume baseline, because reviewers there usually have a review history across many businesses, and cross-check against Yelp and Angi. Read Yelp with one caveat: it runs an automated filter that decides which reviews are shown and which are pushed to a hidden “not recommended” list, so the star rating you see is a filtered subset rather than every review the business received. Click through to the not-recommended reviews before drawing conclusions. If the numbers look wildly different across platforms, or a company shows five stars on its own website and no presence anywhere else, that is worth a second look.

Read the rating and the number of reviews together — neither number means much on its own. A company with 150 or more reviews and a 4.7 or higher average across several years is a far safer bet than one with 12 flawless reviews, because a large sample is harder to manipulate and shows sustained activity. Then read the reviews themselves, especially the negative ones. Every company that has been moving people for years has some. What matters is what happened next: did the company reply, did it take responsibility, was the damage claim paid, did the customer come back and say the issue was resolved? A handful of critical reviews with visible, professional resolutions tells you more about how you will be treated than a wall of five-star ratings with no replies at all. Check how recent the newest reviews are while you are there.

BBB accreditation is a voluntary program funded by annual dues, but paying is not enough to get in. A business has to meet the BBB’s standards for honest advertising and commit to responding to customer complaints; applications are reviewed, and accreditation can be refused or revoked. It is a useful signal, because the BBB publishes unresolved complaints, so a company with years of accreditation and a clean complaint record has more accountability on record than one with no BBB presence at all. Call The Movers is BBB accredited and has been recognised with the BBB 10 Years of Excellence award, which is given only to businesses that hold accreditation in good standing for a full decade.

Partly, by default. Every mover is required by law to offer at least released value protection, a baseline of about 60 cents per pound per item. That makes a claim technically possible but sits far below what most belongings are actually worth. Ask specifically about full value protection or the mover’s own cargo and liability coverage, which pays based on replacement value instead.

Released value protection is free but minimal, and it covers by weight rather than value. A $2,000 television weighing 40 pounds would be covered for about $24. Full value protection costs more and covers repair, replacement or the item’s cash value if it is lost or destroyed, which is the coverage worth buying for anything valuable or irreplaceable.

Note the damage on the inventory or delivery paperwork before the crew leaves, photograph the item, and report it to the company in writing as soon as possible. Federal rules give you up to nine months to file a written claim with an interstate mover, and the mover then has 30 days to acknowledge it and 120 days to resolve it. What you are paid depends on the protection level you chose, which is why the coverage question above is worth answering before moving day, not after.

Call The Movers handles every damage claim individually and stands behind its crews. The process is built to catch problems on the day rather than weeks later: the truck is inspected when it is loaded and again when it is unloaded, and the crew walks through the home with you both after everything is carried out and after everything is carried in. This is why the customer or their representative needs to be present throughout the move — if you notice anything, tell the crew leader on the spot or call the office, and it gets addressed before the crew leaves. Note it on the bill of lading and photograph it the same day, then send the written claim to info@callthemovers.com or call 703-577-9227.

Most movers will not transport:

• Hazardous materials: propane tanks, paint, gasoline, ammunition, pool chemicals.
• Perishable food.
• Plants, especially across state lines.
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• High-value items such as cash, jewellery and important documents, which should travel with you.

Most full-service movers, Call The Movers included, handle basic disassembly and reassembly of beds, tables and similar furniture as part of the standard service. Confirm it is in your specific quote rather than assuming it, because some labour-only and budget quotes exclude it.

Two cases are handled separately. Complex pieces — modular wall units, built-in wardrobes, sectional systems, adjustable bed frames, large gym equipment, pool tables — are assessed individually at the estimate stage, because the time, the tools and sometimes a specialist are not covered by standard disassembly. Tell us about them in advance and the assessment happens before moving day, not on it.

Antique and very old furniture is the other case. Joints that were glued decades ago, dowels, veneer and pressboard can fail when a piece is taken apart, no matter how carefully it is done — the weakness is the age of the piece, not the handling. On anything old or fragile the crew will flag the risk before touching it and discuss the options with you: move it assembled where that is possible, or proceed with disassembly at your direction, with the condition noted on the paperwork beforehand.

A one-bedroom apartment typically takes about 3 to 5 hours with a two-movers crew, a two- or three-bedroom home usually 5 to 8 hours, and larger homes a full day or two. Most companies bill a minimum number of hours, commonly two to four, no matter how short the job turns out to be. Call The Movers has a two-hour minimum, at the low end of that range, and bills in 15-minute increments after it.

Yes, you or someone you authorise should be present at both ends. The crew needs someone to confirm what goes and what stays, approve the final walkthrough, sign the paperwork and handle building access. If you cannot be there yourself, tell the company in advance who is standing in for you and make sure that person can make decisions.

October through April is generally cheaper and easier to book than the May to September peak, and mid-month dates are less in demand than the first or the last weekend of the month, when leases turn over. In the DMV that pattern is sharper than in most markets because of how many renters move on the same dates.

Rates are broadly similar across the three jurisdictions, with published 2026 rates for two movers and a truck running about $120 to $200 per hour and averaging near $150. Arlington, DC and the inner Beltway suburbs sit at the higher end because of demand and building access: freight elevators, parking permits and loading dock scheduling all add time. Call The Movers starts at $95 per hour for two movers across the whole service area, at the same rate in all three jurisdictions, plus a one-time truck fee of $125 to $225 depending on truck size.

When you compare quotes, compare like with like. Ask each company for the crew size, the hourly rate, the minimum hours, whether travel time is inside the rate or billed as a separate fee, and what happens if the job runs long. Two quotes that look $20 apart per hour can be $300 apart on the invoice once minimums and travel fees are counted.

Probably, if you are moving into or out of a condo, co-op or high-rise. Many buildings in DC, Arlington, Alexandria and Bethesda require a Certificate of Insurance from your mover before allowing use of the freight elevator or loading dock. It usually has to reach building management several business days ahead of the move, so ask your building for its requirements early and ask your mover how quickly it can issue one. Call The Movers provides COIs at no charge.

In Washington, DC you generally need a reserved parking or Emergency No Parking permit from DDOT for the curb space in front of your building. Apply through DDOT’s Transportation Online Permitting System at tops.ddot.dc.gov. The permit fee is $50, plus a meter fee where the space is metered. Many applications are approved automatically, but DDOT asks you to allow up to two weeks for processing if yours is not, so apply early. Once approved, the permit and the no-parking signs are printed at a DDOT kiosk and posted at the curb ahead of your window — check the current posting notice period in your permit instructions, because DDOT updates it. Arlington County issues its own Moving Van / Container Permit through the Transportation Right-of-Way permit system, and Alexandria has a separate temporary no-parking sign process.

The customer is responsible for obtaining the permit; Call The Movers will advise on the curb length needed, which is typically 40 to 80 feet for a 26-foot truck. Without a permit the truck may have to park far from the door, and a long carry adds hours to an hourly-rate move. Sources: DDOT “Moving Trucks on Public Space” and the Arlington County Moving Van / Container Permit page, checked 22 September 2026.

Call The Movers has run moves across Northern Virginia, Maryland and every quadrant of DC since 2003, and there is a dedicated page for each of the 61 areas served. Start with the locations page and open the one nearest you.