What a mover can collect at delivery

The delivery-day ceiling — 110 percent of a non-binding estimate

On an interstate household goods move priced on a non-binding estimate, the customer is not required to pay more than 110 percent of the estimate at the time of delivery.

The same rule read from the other side is the mover's delivery-day collection ceiling: if the shipper pays at least 110 percent of the approximate costs of a non-binding estimate on a collect-on-delivery shipment, the mover must relinquish possession of the shipment at the time of delivery.

This is a trade-specific payment rule with no state cousin. An electrician's collection law is a lien statute; a mover's is a shipping regulation, and it is enforced through the carrier's tariff and the federal arbitration program, not through a register of deeds.

110%A non-binding household goods estimate must clearly state that the shipper will not be required to pay more than 110 percent of it at the time of delivery. — 49 CFR Part 375, 2024 annual edition, retrieved 2026-09-29

110%If a shipper pays at least 110 percent of a non-binding estimate on a collect-on-delivery shipment, the mover must relinquish possession of the shipment at the time of delivery. — 49 CFR Part 375, 2024 annual edition, retrieved 2026-09-29

The estimate paperwork is the collection paperwork

The ceiling is only as good as the estimate it is printed on. A non-binding estimate must show the approximate charges for the identified services, and it must say on its face that it is not binding and that the customer will not be required to pay more than 110 percent at delivery.

Once the truck is loaded, failing to execute a new estimate after the job changes reaffirms the original one. The mover may not collect more than 110 percent of the original non-binding estimate at destination.

Additional services requested after the bill of lading is issued are the exception path: the mover must inform the customer of the added charges, and may require full payment at destination for those additional services and up to 110 percent of the original estimate. A lowballed estimate does not collect the shortfall at the door. That is the trade's version of a late fee that cannot be invented after the fact.

110%Once a shipment is loaded, failure to execute a new non-binding estimate reaffirms the original, and the mover may not collect more than 110 percent of it at destination. — 49 CFR Part 375, 2024 annual edition, retrieved 2026-09-29

For additional services requested after the bill of lading is issued, the mover must inform the shipper of the charges and may require full payment at destination, up to 110 percent of the estimate. — 49 CFR Part 375, 2024 annual edition, retrieved 2026-09-29

Impracticable operations — the 15 percent side door

The regulations allow payment at delivery of charges for impracticable operations, as defined in the carrier's tariff, not to exceed 15 percent of all other charges due at delivery.

That is the one side door above the ceiling, and it is capped and defined. A shuttle, a long carry, stairs the estimate did not price: these are the tariff's business, and the tariff's definitions are what a dispute turns on, not a number invented in the driveway.

For the mover, the discipline is paperwork again. The impracticable charge is at its strongest when it is tariff-backed and shown on the paperwork the customer signs before the truck is loaded, because a 15 percent cap applied to a documented charge is a collection, and a cap applied to an invented one is a complaint.

15%A household goods mover may require payment at delivery of charges for impracticable operations, as defined in the carrier's tariff, not to exceed 15 percent of all other charges due at delivery. — 49 CFR Part 375, 2024 annual edition, retrieved 2026-09-29

Arbitration is owed, not offered

A household goods mover must maintain an arbitration program for individual shippers to resolve disputes about loss and damage and about whether carrier charges beyond those collected at delivery must be paid.

Arbitration must be binding for claims of $10,000 or less if the shipper requests it, and for claims above $10,000 where the shipper requests it and the carrier agrees. The mover must not charge the shipper more than half the cost of instituting the proceeding, and may not require agreement to arbitration before a dispute arises.

For the mover collecting payment, this is the honest boundary of the page: charges not collected at delivery are billed and collected afterwards, and a customer who disputes them has a forum the mover is required to provide. A demand letter that names the arbitration option reads like a carrier following its own rules.

$10,000A household goods mover must maintain an arbitration program for individual shippers, and arbitration must be binding for claims of $10,000 or less if the shipper requests it. — 49 CFR Part 375, 2024 annual edition, retrieved 2026-09-29

The invoice after the truck is unloaded

What a mover bills for is regulated too. The mover must issue an honest, truthful invoice that includes the information the freight-bill rules require, with every rate and charge in accordance with its published tariff, including the method of payment.

The invoice is also where the mover's late-payment standing lives, and it is thinner than the other trades'. There is no lien on the household's new address, and the prompt payment clocks belong to construction. What remains is the tariff's payment terms, the invoice, and the magistrate's court for the residual balance, up to the small-claims ceiling covered on this site.

So the collection strategy for a mover is almost entirely front-loaded: the estimate, the 110 percent at the door, the documented extra charges, and the arbitration-ready invoice after. That is the trade's version of an electrician's lien, and it is why the two trades' pages on this site do not share a conclusion.

A household goods mover must issue an honest, truthful invoice, with all rates and charges in accordance with its published tariff provisions, including the method of payment. — 49 CFR Part 375, 2024 annual edition, retrieved 2026-09-29

$7,500South Carolina magistrates hear contract claims for money only up to $7,500, which is where a mover's unpaid residual balance is pursued. — South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 22, Chapter 3, retrieved 2026-09-29

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