Home/Guides/Carrier or Broker: Reading the FMCSA Record
Who actually moves your things
We read the SAFER record of 38 Long Island moving companies on 21 October 2026, and none carried the entity type Broker. FMCSA’s page on movers versus brokers explains why the word matters. A moving company ‘Owns trucks and employs moving staff’.
It ‘Assumes full responsibility for the transport of your goods.’ A broker ‘Does not own trucks or have professional movers’. It ‘Acts as a middleman; not authorized to transport goods’. That difference decides whose tariff sets your price and who is answerable for the load. SAFER lists 27 of our 38 as Carrier and 4 as Carrier/Shipper. Two more are Carrier/Shipper/Freight Forwarder, and for 5 we could not confirm a federal record at all (FMCSA record). This guide explains what each label means and what a broker owes you under federal rules, then shows how to read the record yourself in about two minutes. It also covers the line that confuses the most people. Nine of our 38 records read Not Authorized, and that status says nothing about a New York State license.
FMCSA’s ‘Understanding Movers vs. Brokers’ page gives four traits for each side. We set them side by side in FMCSA’s words.
does not assume responsibility for the cargo and usually does not take possession of the cargo.
FMCSA’s glossary defines a household goods motor carrier as an authorized for-hire carrier that moves household goods ‘in exchange for payment based on published tariff rates.’ Tariff is the hinge word. A carrier quotes from its own tariff. A broker must quote from the tariff of the carrier it hires, and it may not have chosen that carrier when it gives you a number.
The Rights and Responsibilities handbook, revised October 2022, says a household goods broker ‘arranges for the transportation of your shipment but does not provide line-haul transportation’. The truck that shows up belongs to someone else, and so does the contract of carriage.
A mover and a broker, in FMCSA's own words (read 21 October 2026)
FMCSA’s movers versus brokers page lists what a broker must do. We print the list in FMCSA’s words, because the wording is what you can hold a broker to. The handbook adds one more limit: a broker ‘may only provide an estimate on a mover’s behalf if it has a written agreement with the mover’.
If a company that calls itself a broker will not name the carrier, cannot show the written agreement, or sent nobody to look at your rooms, it has skipped a federal duty. Ask for the carrier’s USDOT number and run the check yourself.
Moves that stay inside New York are regulated by NYSDOT. It says it grants licenses ‘to moving companies that operate within New York State’ and that ‘we only regulate moves that started and finished within New York.’ The federal broker rules above apply to interstate moves.
NYSDOT is blunt about the handoff. Once a shipment ‘has crossed a state line’, it says, jurisdiction ‘is now under the Federal government.’ That puts every Long Island to Florida move under FMCSA.
Google Maps put Mineola to Orlando at 1,104 miles and Mineola to Naples at 1,318 miles via I-95 S when we checked on 21 October 2026. A lane that long is where a broker is most likely to be the voice on the phone, because the company selling the move may never see the truck. Men On The Move lists a ‘Florida Express’ service and Samonas Prime Moving cites regular trips to Florida on their own sites (first party).
Florida’s Attorney General said in a 1 July 2024 alert that movers and moving brokers ‘must register with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.’ That concerns Florida’s own intrastate regime. Your move from Long Island sits with FMCSA from the moment the truck crosses into New Jersey, and the seven duties above are the ones that bind.
FMCSA’s SAFER system returns a company snapshot for any USDOT number. Five lines on it answer this guide’s question and the ones that follow from it.
We read 38 records on 21 October 2026. SAFER prints Carrier for 27 companies and Carrier/Shipper for 4. It prints Carrier/Shipper/Freight Forwarder for 2, and we could not confirm a federal record for 5 (FMCSA record). Nobody in the set is listed as a broker. The records page prints the entity type for every company.
The plain Carrier label covers Verity Van Lines of Seaford (USDOT 24880, ‘Authorized for Motor Carrier of Household Goods’, 15 power units) and Maffucci Moving & Storage of Amityville (USDOT 106412, 20 power units). Carrier/Shipper covers Men On The Move of Woodbury (USDOT 526079, 17 power units) and Morton J. Lemkau Moving & Storage of Syosset (USDOT 241033, 4 power units). The two Carrier/Shipper/Freight Forwarder records belong to the Elmsford entity behind Two Men and a Truck’s Freeport branch (USDOT 3074688) and Zippboxx of Bohemia (USDOT 3077817).
Five have no confirmed record. No record is a gap in our file, and we say so on each company page. It means we could not match a name on a website to a number in the federal system, so ask the company for its number before signing.
Our set was built from companies that present themselves as Long Island movers. A broker selling Long Island moves from an office in another state would not appear in this count.
| SAFER label | What it means | In our set of 38 |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier | Registered to transport goods itself. FMCSA: a mover ‘Owns trucks and employs moving staff’. | 27 |
| Broker | Registered to arrange transport. FMCSA: ‘Acts as a middleman; not authorized to transport goods’. | 0 |
| Carrier/Shipper | A carrier record that also carries the Shipper designation. SAFER does not explain the second word and we print it as shown. | 4 |
| Carrier/Shipper/Freight Forwarder | A carrier record that also carries freight forwarder and shipper designations. Two Men and a Truck’s record adds FF-23210 beside MC-63194. | 2 |
| No record matched | SAFER name searches returned nothing, or the printed number came back inactive, or a record exists that we could not tie to the website. | 5 |
Nine of the 38 records read NOT AUTHORIZED on the operating authority line (FMCSA record, SAFER, read 21 October 2026). Every one of the nine also shows USDOT status Active and no out of service date.
SAFER prints a note beside that status saying it does not apply to intrastate operations. Most of the nine also show Carrier Operation as Intrastate Only (Non-HM). The status means FMCSA has no interstate operating authority on file for that company. It does not mean the company is unlicensed for a move from Massapequa to Huntington.
NY Transportation Law section 191 bars intrastate household goods carriage ‘unless there is in force with respect to such person a certificate issued by the commissioner.’ NYSDOT’s licensing page keeps the regimes apart. A company that also operates ‘state to state’ registers with the Unified Carrier Registration instead of paying the state vehicle fee. We found no exemption in TRA 190 for federally registered carriers, so interstate authority adds to the state certificate and never replaces it.
Whether any of the 38 holds that certificate is could not check for all of them. NYSDOT’s CarCert portal marked its carrier search ‘Functionality Under Development’ on 21 October 2026. NYSDOT says to call (518) 457-6512 or email nymoving@dot.ny.gov with the exact company name and, if you have it, the NYDOT number. The Moving Genie prints NYSDOT 43443 and A & J prints NYS DOT #10405 on their sites (first party claims we could not verify).
The nine Not Authorized records, with the town and USDOT number on each. Jernick Moving and Storage has two records, one Authorized and one Not Authorized, and is not in this list.
FMCSA says a mover ‘Owns trucks and employs moving staff’ and quotes from its own tariff. A broker ‘Does not own trucks or have professional movers’, ‘Acts as a middleman’, and must quote from the tariff of the mover it hires. The broker also ‘does not assume responsibility for the cargo’.
No. FMCSA registers brokers and lists seven duties for them, starting with registration and a list of the movers they use. The problem is a broker that hides its status. FMCSA says a broker must reference ‘their status as a broker’ in its advertising along with its physical location and MC number.
Ask whose tariff the number rests on. FMCSA says a broker ‘Must base estimates on the tariff of hired mover’ and may give an estimate only under a written agreement with that mover. Then put the USDOT number into SAFER and read the Entity Type line.
It means FMCSA shows no interstate authority on file, so that company should not be carrying your goods across a state line. SAFER itself notes the status does not apply to intrastate operations. A move inside New York needs a NYSDOT certificate instead, and that check sits with NYSDOT at (518) 457-6512.
None of the 38 we checked. SAFER lists 27 as Carrier and 4 as Carrier/Shipper as of 21 October 2026, with 2 more as Carrier/Shipper/Freight Forwarder. For 5 we could not confirm a federal record at all, which is a different problem from being a broker.
FMCSA’s glossary says a broker ‘does not assume responsibility for the cargo’. The carrier named on your bill of lading carries the liability, at released value of 60 cents per pound per article unless you chose full value protection. Our valuation guide prints the figures.
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All 38 Long Island records are on one page, dated. If yours is missing, send the name.
