How to start a moving company in Florida: the FDACS registration, what it costs, and the catch about labor-only

Florida registers movers through the Department of Agriculture, not the DOT, and its definition of a mover includes loading. What the registration costs, the insurance it requires, the IM number rule, and what you can do this week.

Florida is one of the busiest moving markets in the country and one of the strictest about who gets to call themselves a mover. The rules are in chapter 507 of the Florida Statutes, the regulator is the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and the thing that trips up new companies is in the definition: a mover is anyone who, for pay, contracts for or engages in the loading, transportation or shipment of household goods.

Loading. Not just driving. That one word changes the usual advice, so read this before you take a labor-only job in Florida.

We run a licensed carrier in New York, not Florida, and we are movers, not lawyers. Read the statute and the FDACS registration guide yourself before you take a paid job, and call FDACS when a line is unclear.

Who has to register

Chapter 507 covers moves that start and end inside Florida. If you are paid to load, move or ship household goods, you are a mover and you register with FDACS before you take the first job or run the first ad. Household goods means what is in a home. Business freight is not covered.

That leaves less room than in most states:

• A paid move in your vehicle or a rental: registration required.
• Labor-only loading or unloading of a truck or container the customer rented: the statute's definition of a mover includes loading, so treat this as covered until FDACS tells you in writing that your setup is not. Ask them. They answer this question constantly, and the answer is worth having in your file.
• In-home work with nothing loaded or transported, such as moving furniture between rooms: not a move under the statute as we read it. Still ask.
• Moves across the state line: federal rules on top. The USDOT number and federal authority.

In most states we tell people to start with labor-only this week, the work that needs no permit, and add the permit before the first job that requires one. In Florida, do the registration first. It is a few hundred dollars and it is the difference between a business and a misdemeanor.

What the registration costs

The FDACS registration fee is $300 per year, paid two years at a time, so $600 at filing and $600 at each renewal. Active-duty military, veterans and military spouses can apply for a waiver. The application is a form with your business details, the owners, any trade names from the past five years, and proof of insurance. Fees are nonrefundable.

Florida also has a separate category for moving brokers, companies that sell moves and hand them to carriers. If you are doing the work yourself, you are a mover, not a broker.

The insurance FDACS requires

Two policies have to be on file before the registration is issued, with FDACS named as certificate holder so they are told if the coverage lapses:

• Cargo coverage of at least $10,000 per shipment for loss or damage to the household goods you are moving. A company with two or fewer vehicles can post a bond or certificate of deposit instead, but a policy is simpler and it is the thing that actually pays the customer.
• Auto liability of at least $50,000 per occurrence for a vehicle under 35,000 pounds, which covers every rental box truck. The minimum rises with vehicle weight.

Those are floors. $10,000 does not cover a two-bedroom load, and $50,000 does not cover a serious accident. What we carry and why.

The IM number goes on everything

Once registered, you get a Florida intrastate mover number. The statute requires two things with it:

1. Every ad includes "Fla. IM No." followed by your number. That means the Google Business Profile, the Craigslist post, the Facebook page, the website and the business card.
2. Every truck has it on the driver's side door, in letters at least one and a half inches tall. A magnetic sign on a rental counts.

Customers in Florida have been taught to look for the IM number, which is good for you. The unmarked pickup is your competition, and the number is the cheapest way to not be him.

Every Florida move needs an estimate and a contract, signed, before you start

Chapter 507 requires a written estimate and a contract, signed or electronically acknowledged by the customer and the mover, before any moving work begins. The contract has to list your company details, the dates, the customer's information, where the goods will be stored if they are stored, an itemized breakdown of the charges, and the forms of payment you accept. You have to accept at least two of cash, check and card.

We do all of this in New York because it is how you avoid the argument on moving day. In Florida it is the law, and the state enforces it. How we write the quote and the contract and deposit are the same habits.

What happens if you skip it

FDACS issues a cease and desist to unregistered movers and can go to court for a civil penalty of up to $5,000. Operating as a mover without registering is a first-degree misdemeanor. The state also runs stings on movers who advertise without a number. None of this is worth the $600.

The business side

Registration is not a business. Alongside it:

• An LLC, filed with the Florida Division of Corporations. Florida is among the cheaper states to form one in.
• An EIN from the IRS, free.
• General liability insurance before the first job with furniture in it, separate from the cargo and auto policies above.
• Workers' comp the day you have an employee. Florida requires it for most employers once you have four or more employees, and we would buy it with the first hire regardless. A mover is a mover: somebody will get hurt eventually, and the policy is what keeps that from ending the company.

The order we would do it in

1. This week: the LLC and EIN, general liability, cargo and auto coverage, and the FDACS application, in that order. While it processes, set up the phone line and the Google Business Profile with the number left blank. What a first week looks like.
2. The day the registration arrives: add the IM number to every listing and a sign to the truck, then run the first ad.
3. The first jobs: small moves and storage loads at full price, with the estimate and contract signed before the truck moves. What to charge.
4. Before the first employee: workers' comp.
5. Before the first out-of-state job: federal household goods authority.

Florida front-loads the paperwork compared with other states, which means the first week costs more and the first ad runs later. It also means the companies that bother are a smaller group. The full version of this order, the strategy call if your situation does not fit these rows, and the glossary for every term above. The same guide exists for Texas, California, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Washington.

Figures come from chapter 507 of the Florida Statutes and the FDACS registration guide as of October 2026. Check fdacs.gov before you file. Fees change, and this page will not always catch it.