Coverage for Texas household goods movers — built for TxDMV motor carrier registration, the consumer-protection rules of Transportation Code Chapter 643, and the FMCSA filings interstate movers need.
Texas regulates household-goods movers through the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, and any carrier that hauls household goods for compensation must register — regardless of the size of the vehicle. Chapter 643 of the Transportation Code layers on consumer-protection rules movers must follow, from binding-vs-nonbinding estimates to a posted street address. Here is how that shapes your insurance.
Texas household-goods movers register as motor carriers with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV). Under Transportation Code Chapter 643, a motor carrier may not operate a vehicle of any size to transport household goods for compensation unless it registers under the chapter — there is no small-vehicle exemption for movers.
Chapter 643 also directs the department to adopt consumer-protection rules: movers must indicate clearly whether an estimate is binding or nonbinding and disclose the maximum price a customer could pay, follow a formal dispute-resolution process for fees and damage, and list a Texas street address and registration number. These rules sit alongside — not instead of — your insurance obligations.
To register and stay in good standing as a motor carrier, a Texas mover must maintain the required insurance and keep it filed. The operative limits are usually driven by the work: corporate relocation accounts, property managers who require a certificate naming them as additional insured before a crew enters a building, and van-line agency agreements typically push commercial auto to a $1M combined single limit with $1M/$2M general liability and a cargo limit sized to the loads. Movers that store goods need warehouse legal liability in addition to transit cargo.
A Texas company that moves household goods across state lines also needs federal authority. Interstate household-goods carriers must hold a USDOT number and keep $750,000 public-liability and $5,000 cargo on file with the FMCSA, plus an MCS-90 endorsement on the liability policy, per the FMCSA insurance requirements. We coordinate the TxDMV registration insurance and the FMCSA filings together so a lapse on one doesn’t quietly suspend the other.
Tell us about your operation and your loss history — we’ll confirm we can write Texas and structure the limits to match.