If you call three different moving companies for an interstate quote, you'll often get three completely different prices for what sounds like the same job. Part of that is normal market variance. A bigger part is that the three companies you called probably aren't the same kind of business at all. One might be a broker who doesn't own a single truck. One might be an independent local carrier without national interstate authority. And one might be what's called a van line agent — like Silicon Valley Moving & Storage, which has been a Bekins Van Lines interstate agent since 1990.
That distinction is the most underexplained thing in the moving industry, and it's the single biggest predictor of how your move actually goes. This guide explains what a van line agent does, how that's different from a broker or an independent mover, what federal protections kick in either way, and why the agent model is what most people actually want for a long-distance household move — even if they've never heard the term.
The three kinds of company answering your call
Federally, when you Google "interstate movers" and start making calls, you'll end up speaking to one of three business types. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which regulates interstate household goods carriers, draws a clear line between them.
1. Brokers
A moving broker is a middleman. They don't own trucks. They don't employ packers. They don't handle your shipment. What they do is collect your contact information, generate an estimate (often sight-unseen, often optimistic), take a deposit, and then sell your job to whatever actual moving company will accept it for the price they quoted you.
Brokers must be licensed by FMCSA and registered as a broker rather than a carrier, but in practice the consumer often can't tell the difference from the website or the sales call. The risk with brokers isn't theoretical — it's that on move day, you don't actually know who's going to show up. The broker has no relationship with the crew at your door, no operational control over how they handle your belongings, and limited recourse if the carrier they hired underperforms. The price the broker quoted you is also frequently revised upward by the actual carrier once they see the size of the job.
2. Independent carriers
An independent moving company holds its own FMCSA operating authority and owns its own trucks. They do their own pickups, their own long-haul, and their own deliveries. There's no middleman, and your shipment generally stays on one truck under one company's care from origin to destination.
The tradeoff is geographic reach. An independent carrier in San Jose can absolutely move you to Reno or Phoenix or Las Vegas — anywhere within their realistic service radius. But for cross- country moves, particularly to the East Coast or the South, independent carriers either turn the job down or charge a premium because the truck has to deadhead back. They also typically don't have a partner network on the destination end if anything goes wrong on arrival.
3. Van line agents
A van line agent is a locally owned and operated moving company that has signed an agency agreement with one of the major national van lines — Bekins, United, Atlas, Mayflower, North American, or Allied. Bekins, for example, has more than 350 affiliated agents covering roughly 95% of the United States.
Under the agency agreement, the local company performs interstate moves under the van line's federal motor carrier authority and operating systems. They use the van line's bill of lading, the van line's claims process, the van line's tracking, and the van line's nationwide partner network for destination delivery. For local intrastate moves, the same company operates under its own independent name and California license.
That's why Silicon Valley Moving & Storage holds CAL T 188960 for our California work and operates under Bekins' federal authority for interstate moves. Two operating models, one company, one local crew you can actually walk into the warehouse and meet at 186 Barnard Avenue in San Jose.
How a Bekins interstate move actually works
For a customer, the agent model means the company you hire locally is the one doing the most consequential parts of the move. The hand-offs that exist are designed to be invisible. Here's what the actual flow looks like:
- In-home or video survey. The local agent (us, if you're in the Bay Area) does a thorough inventory. Interstate moves are priced by weight and cubic feet, not by the hour, so this survey is what produces a real binding or binding-not-to-exceed estimate. Anyone giving you an interstate binding price without surveying your goods first is guessing.
- Booking and registration. The agent registers your shipment with Bekins. From this point forward, Bekins' systems are tracking it. You're issued an order for service that documents the move dates, valuation coverage you've chosen, and pricing.
- Pack and load (origin agent). The local agent's crew handles packing and loading. This is the most consequential physical work in the entire move — the people who actually wrap and box and load your items are the local crew, not someone Bekins dispatches from out of state. That's why choosing the right local agent matters more than choosing the van line itself.
- Long-haul transport. Once loaded, the truck moves under Bekins' interstate authority. Your shipment may travel on the same truck the entire way, or it may consolidate with other Bekins shipments heading the same direction at a terminal. Either way, the chain of custody stays inside the Bekins system, with documentation following the load.
- Delivery (destination agent). A different Bekins agent in your destination city receives the truck and performs the unload. This is where the agent network's reach matters: a Bekins agent in Austin or Boise or Nashville is held to the same network standards, uses the same paperwork, and reports back through the same claims process as the origin agent.
- Claims and follow-up. If anything is damaged in transit, the claim flows through Bekins, not just the local agent. That centralized process means you have one counterparty for resolution rather than chasing two separate companies.
The federal protections that apply either way
FMCSA requires every interstate carrier — agents, independents, and the carriers brokers eventually hire — to follow the same baseline consumer protection rules. Knowing what you're entitled to is what separates an informed customer from one who finds out about their rights only when something goes wrong.
- A written estimate. Federal law requires a written, signed estimate before the move. For interstate moves, this can be binding (the price won't change), non-binding (the final price is calculated based on actual weight), or binding-not-to-exceed (the final price won't go above the estimate but could come in lower).
- A bill of lading. The bill of lading is the legally required contract between you and the carrier. It's your receipt for the shipment and the document that governs everything that happens after the truck leaves. Read it before you sign it. Make sure the inventory, valuation choice, pickup and delivery windows, and total estimated charges all match what you agreed to.
- Two valuation options, by law. Every interstate carrier must offer Released Value Protection (essentially free, but limited to 60 cents per pound per item — if a 40-pound flat-screen TV is destroyed, you'd recover $24) and Full Value Protection (the carrier pays the replacement cost of damaged or lost items, costs more, and is what most households should choose for an interstate move).
- The "Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move" handbook. Federal law requires every interstate carrier to provide you with this FMCSA-published booklet at booking. If a company doesn't, that's a regulatory violation and a red flag.
- A 30-day inventory inspection window. After delivery, you have time to inspect items and file claims. Don't sign off on the inventory without doing a real walkthrough.
- Verifiable USDOT registration. Every interstate carrier and broker must hold a USDOT number and be registered with FMCSA. You can look up any company at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov to verify their authority status, insurance, and complaint history. Silicon Valley Moving & Storage operates under USDOT 70719.
These protections exist regardless of which model you hire. The difference between a good interstate move and a bad one is usually the company's adherence to these standards in practice — not whether the standards exist on paper.
Why the agent model fits Bay Area customers
For most of the interstate moves we handle out of San Jose, Palo Alto, Mountain View, and the rest of the Bay Area, the van line agent model lines up well with what customers actually need. A few reasons:
The destinations are spread out. Bay Area outbound moves go to Texas, Nevada, Florida, Idaho, Tennessee, Arizona, Colorado, Washington, North Carolina, the Northeast, and overseas. An independent carrier that's great for a move to Reno isn't necessarily set up to handle a move to Tampa with any kind of efficiency. A national network is.
Tech relocation moves often have complex timing. Equity-event timing, school calendars, and rolling start dates at new jobs mean Bay Area customers frequently need flexible delivery windows, storage-in-transit options, or partial deliveries to a temporary corporate housing setup. Network infrastructure handles those scenarios more cleanly than a single-truck independent move.
High-value goods are common. Bay Area households often include art, collections, professional equipment, server racks, wine collections, and pieces that need crating. A network with established specialty handling and proper Full Value Protection coverage makes more sense than cheap-and-cheerful for a $300,000 household.
You can still meet your local crew. The local agent — us, in the Bay Area — is the one packing your house and loading your truck. You can visit our warehouse, meet the estimator, and see the equipment before you book. That's the part of the move that determines whether your stuff arrives in good shape, and it's not something a broker can offer.
How to verify any interstate mover, regardless of model
If you're getting interstate quotes — from us or from anyone — here's the verification checklist that takes about five minutes and tells you whether you're talking to a legitimate company:
- Look up the company at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov using the USDOT number they give you. Confirm the entity type (carrier, broker, or both), the operating status (authorized for property), the insurance coverage on file, and whether they have authority for household goods specifically.
- For a California pickup, confirm a valid CAL-T license number. California requires this for any household goods carrier doing local or intrastate work. SVM holds CAL T 188960.
- Ask whether the company is performing the move themselves or subcontracting/brokering it. The answer should be unambiguous and in writing on the estimate.
- For van line agents, ask which van line they're affiliated with and how long. Agency relationships are public — Bekins, United, Atlas, Mayflower, North American, and Allied all publish their agent networks.
- Read the most recent reviews — not just the top ones. Pay attention to how the company responds to complaints. The response pattern tells you more than the star rating.
The short version
The cheapest interstate quote you get is usually a broker. The most local-feeling quote you get is usually an independent that works best for shorter long-distance moves. The quote from a van line agent — a local company you can actually visit, working under the operating authority and network of a national van line — is what most Bay Area households end up choosing for cross-country moves, because it gives you both the local accountability of a real company you can hold accountable and the network reach to handle a delivery in any state.
For more on what to expect from a long-distance move generally, our guide to local vs. long-distance moving explains how pricing, timelines, and regulation differ at each distance. And if you're already planning an exit from California specifically, our guide to moving out of California covers FTB residency rules, timing, and destination tradeoffs in detail.
If you're in the Bay Area and looking at an interstate move, our interstate moving page covers our specific process and Bekins agency credentials, and you can request a free quote with no obligation. We'll come to your house, do a real survey, and give you a binding estimate based on what you actually have — not a sight-unseen number designed to win your business and get revised later.
Sources cited in this article include the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the FMCSA "Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move" handbook, and Bekins Van Lines public agent network materials. SVM operating credentials (USDOT 70719, CAL T 188960, Bekins agency since 1990) are publicly verifiable through FMCSA SAFER, the California Public Utilities Commission, and Bekins Van Lines.