A customer calls three weeks after their move. Their dining table has a gouge in the leg that wasn't
there before the crew loaded it. They want to know what happens next — and so should you, because federal
law already answered that question before you ever picked up the phone. Under 49 CFR Part 370, the moment a
proper written claim lands on your desk, a clock starts running that you don't control and can't extend.
Miss it, and you're not just risking one bad review — you're risking a regulatory complaint and, in a bad
case, a lawsuit you had every chance to avoid.
What Actually Counts as a Valid Damage Claim?
Not every complaint is a claim, and the distinction matters because your legal clock only starts on a real
one. Under 49 CFR § 370.3, a valid claim must be in writing, identify the shipment (customer name, address,
move date, or bill of lading number), assert that your company is liable for the loss or damage, and
demand a specific or determinable dollar amount. A driver's bad-order notation, a delivery-receipt
scribble about a scuff, or an inspection report on its own does not count — the regulation explicitly
says those documents, standing alone, don't satisfy the filing requirement. That's not a loophole to hide
behind; it's a reason to have a real claim form ready the moment a customer says something's damaged,
so the process starts on paper instead of in a string of half-remembered phone calls. The customer's side
of this is federally protected too: the FMCSA gives them nine months from delivery to file, so "it's been
too long" isn't a defense until that window actually closes.
What Are Your Legal Deadlines Once You Receive a Claim?
Two numbers matter here, and neither is negotiable. First, 49 CFR § 370.5 requires you to acknowledge
receipt of a proper claim in writing within 30 days — unless you've already paid or declined it
within that same window. Second, § 370.9 gives you 120 days from receipt to pay the claim, decline it in
writing with a reason, or make a firm compromise settlement offer. If you genuinely can't resolve it by
then, the regulation doesn't let you go quiet — you're required to send the claimant a written status
update at that 120-day mark and every 60 days after, for as long as the claim stays open, and to keep a
copy of every update in the claim file. A moving company that just doesn't respond isn't avoiding the
problem; it's manufacturing a paper trail of regulatory non-compliance that makes an already-bad situation
worse if the customer escalates.
How Do You Calculate What You Actually Owe?
The math depends entirely on which valuation option the customer selected before the move, and this is
where a lot of avoidable disputes start — not because the numbers are complicated, but because nobody
double-checks which option was actually on file. Under Released Value Protection, your liability caps at 60
cents per pound per article regardless of what the item was actually worth — FMCSA's own example is a
25-pound TV that gets a $15 settlement no matter what it cost new. Under Full Value Protection, you owe
the replacement value, repair cost, or a cash settlement at current market value — and per § 370.9(b), a
household-goods carrier settling under FVP must use the item's **replacement cost with a depreciation
factor applied** to reach current actual value, not the original purchase price. There's one more wrinkle
that catches movers off guard: items worth more than $100 per pound — jewelry, china, furs, and similar
extraordinary-value pieces — only carry full liability if the customer declared them in writing
before the move, typically on a "Declaration of Article(s) of Extraordinary Value" form. Undeclared,
your exposure caps at $100/lb for that item even under FVP. This is exactly why the [valuation choice
belongs on your bill of lading](/glossary/bill-of-lading), signed, before day one — reconstructing which option a customer picked from
memory three weeks after the fact is how movers end up settling the wrong number.
What If You Deny the Claim — Or the Customer Disputes Your Settlement?
You can decline a claim, but you can't just walk away from the disagreement. [Interstate household-goods
carriers are required to offer a neutral dispute-settlement program](https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/protect-your-move/what-if-problems) — arbitration, in practice — and you
must tell customers about it in writing before the move, not after a dispute already exists. If a customer
isn't satisfied with your settlement offer, that program (or another legal remedy) is their next step, and
FMCSA itself can't adjudicate the dollar amount of the claim; its only lever is investigating your company
if the customer files a complaint through FMCSA's online complaint tool. That's a real distinction worth
understanding: FMCSA won't force you to pay a specific claim, but a pattern of complaints against your
DOT number is its own compliance risk, separate from any individual dispute.
Does Cargo Insurance Cover This, or Is Valuation a Separate Obligation?
They're related but not interchangeable, and conflating them is a common mistake. Valuation coverage
(Full Value or Released Value) is the federally mandated disclosure you make to the individual
shipper about how much you're liable for if their goods are lost or damaged — it's a regulatory
requirement, not an insurance policy. Cargo insurance is the commercial policy that actually pays out
when you owe a customer money under that valuation promise. [Motor truck cargo insurance covers goods in
transit](https://www.championrisk.com/moving-storage-insurance/cargo-insurance); bailee's liability covers goods in your care but not necessarily moving, which
matters if you offer storage services. [Interstate household-goods carriers must keep a BMC-34 (or BMC-83) cargo
insurance filing active with FMCSA](https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/registration/insurance-filing-requirements) — a lapse there triggers automatic suspension
of your operating authority, not just a claims headache. And the federal minimum ($5,000 per vehicle,
$10,000 per occurrence) is dangerously low against a real household shipment; treat it as the regulatory
floor, not your actual coverage target, when you're budgeting for moving company insurance.
How Do You Build a Claims Process That Protects You Instead of Costing You the Case?
Every deadline and every settlement number above depends on documentation you either have or don't have
the moment a claim lands — and that's the part that's actually in your control. The condition of an item
at pickup, the valuation option the customer signed, the exact date delivery happened, and whether an
item was self-packed all determine what you owe, and every one of those facts needs to exist in writing
before the dispute starts, not reconstructed from memory afterward. A paper bill of lading buried in a
truck cab or a filing cabinet doesn't answer "which valuation did they pick" fast enough to hit a 30-day
acknowledgment deadline — and a missed deadline turns a defensible claim into a compliance problem on top
of it. DriveSales' digital inventory and bill-of-lading system time-stamps condition photos, captures the
signed valuation choice at the point of signature, and keeps the whole record tied to the job — so when a
claim comes in, you're pulling up the file in seconds instead of calling the crew lead to ask what they
remember. Book a 15-minute demo and bring a real claim you've handled recently; we'll show you
exactly where the documentation gaps are costing you time on every dispute, not just the expensive ones.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a text message or a driver's note about damage count as a filed claim?
No. Under 49 CFR § 370.3, bad-order reports, inspection notes, and delivery-receipt notations do not
satisfy the filing requirement on their own — a proper claim must be a written communication that
identifies the shipment, asserts your liability, and states a specific dollar amount.
What happens if I miss the 30-day acknowledgment deadline?
You're out of compliance with § 370.5, which is itself grounds for an FMCSA complaint even before the claim's
merits are decided. The fastest fix is a claim-intake process that flags the receipt date automatically
rather than relying on someone remembering to log it.
Can I just deny a claim if I think the customer is wrong?
Yes, but you still have to respond in writing within the 120-day window per § 370.9, state your reason,
and point the customer to your dispute-settlement program if they disagree. Silence is not a denial —
it's a separate compliance failure.
Does homeowner's insurance cover moving damage instead of my company?
Sometimes, but that doesn't change your federal obligation. FMCSA's guidance is clear that your
company is responsible for the value of goods you agreed to transport regardless of what other coverage
a customer might have — a customer's own insurer paying out doesn't relieve you of the valuation
obligation you made on the bill of lading.
What's the difference between released value and full value protection in a real claim?
Released Value caps your liability at 60 cents per pound per item no matter its actual worth — a
$3,000 TV weighing 50 pounds settles for $30. Full Value Protection makes you responsible for repair,
replacement, or a cash settlement at current market value, using replacement cost minus depreciation
under § 370.9(b). Every mover must offer both, and full value applies automatically unless the customer
signs to waive it.
Do these federal deadlines apply to local, intrastate moves too?
49 CFR Part 370 governs carriers operating in interstate commerce. Intrastate moves fall under
state-specific rules that vary — check your state's moving-company regulator, since some states mirror
the federal timelines and others set their own.
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*Every deadline in this piece only matters if you can actually find the paperwork it depends on.
[See how DriveSales keeps signed valuation choices, condition photos, and the full job record in one
searchable file](/features/inventory-management) — book a 15-minute demo and bring your last claim.*
