How to start a moving company in Ohio: the PUCO certificate, what it costs, and what to do this week

Ohio licenses movers through the Public Utilities Commission, and the certificate is cheap, online and quick. What it costs, the insurance it requires, the tariff you write yourself, the paperwork every Ohio move needs, and the work you can take before any of it.

Ohio is a big moving market with one of the easier licenses to get. There is no hearing, no exam, no protest period and no application fee as such. You apply online, your insurer files proof of coverage, the Commission invoices you for a per-truck tax and a revenue-based fee, and the authority letter arrives by email the business day after you pay.

What Ohio asks for instead is paperwork on every job. The written estimate has seventeen required items, the bill of lading is issued the moment you take the goods, and your rates live in a tariff you file with the Commission before you charge them. This is the order we would do it in. We run a licensed carrier in New York, not Ohio, so read the Public Utilities Commission's own FAQ and the household goods rules before you take a job that needs the certificate, and call Motor Carrier Registration when a page is unclear. They answer this question every week.

What needs the certificate and what does not

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, PUCO, licenses every for-hire motor carrier that operates between two points in the state, and a household goods mover needs the certificate with a household goods endorsement. The trigger is transport: your vehicle, their belongings, money changing hands. There is no vehicle-size exception in the statute or the rules, and PUCO's FAQ answers the rental question directly: a mover in a rented truck still needs to register.

• A paid move in any vehicle you drive, pickup, rental or 26-foot box truck: PUCO certificate required. Operating without one is a $500 forfeiture.
• Labor-only work, loading or unloading a truck, trailer or container the customer rented: the certificate attaches to transporting property by motor vehicle, and you are not operating one. PUCO publishes no statement on it either way, so confirm your exact setup with Motor Carrier Registration, then take the job. How to price it and find the first customers.
• In-home moves, room to room or floor to floor: no transport, same answer.
• Moves that cross a state line, into Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania or West Virginia: federal rules apply on top. The USDOT number and federal authority are covered here.

Labor-only is how we tell everyone to start, in any state, because it needs no truck and no permit and it pays the same hourly rate.

Step one, before PUCO: a USDOT number

Ohio's rules say an applicant should have a USDOT number before applying, and PUCO's FAQ puts it more firmly: every for-hire intrastate carrier registers with the FMCSA for one. The number is free and takes about ten minutes online. When it asks about your operation, choose intrastate, not interstate. Choosing interstate signs you up for federal filings you do not need yet. One Ohio detail: the business name on the USDOT record has to match the name at the Secretary of State, so form the company first.

Do not pay anyone to get this number for you. The sites that charge $100 to $300 for it are filling in the same free form.

Step two: the PUCO certificate

The formal name is a certificate of public convenience and necessity, and the number it gives you is your "PUCO No." The application is online only, through the Commission's Motor Carrier Registration system; mailed and emailed forms are no longer accepted. The company name on it has to match the Secretary of State and the USDOT record exactly.

What it looks like in practice:

1. The application. Business details, vehicles, the household goods endorsement, and three certifications a responsible officer signs: that workers' compensation coverage is current, that unemployment compensation coverage is current, and that you meet the financial responsibility rules. The statute says the Commission approves the certificate when those are in order. There is no fitness hearing and no public need test.
2. Staff review. Submitted, then either approved or sent back as "changes needed." Anything staff asks for is due within 15 days or the application is rejected.
3. The insurance filings. After approval, your insurance company, not an agent or broker, logs in and files proof of liability and cargo coverage electronically.
4. The invoice. Do not send money with the application. Once the policies are in the system PUCO invoices the vehicle taxes and the household goods fee. You pay, and the next business day the system emails the authority letter and a tax receipt for each vehicle, which rides in the truck.
5. The tariff. Filed with the Docketing Division, below, before you charge a rate.

PUCO publishes no processing time, but there is nothing in that sequence that takes months. A hearing arises only if staff reject the application and you petition, or if the Commission moves to revoke.

What it costs, from PUCO's registration form and fee schedule current at this writing:

• Application fee: none
• Per vehicle, each year: $20 for a straight truck, van or car carrying cargo, $30 for a tractor or a truck pulling a trailer, prorated by quarter in the first year
• Household goods fee, each year, by last year's intrastate household goods revenue: $100 under $75,000, $200 from $75,000 to $149,999, $300 at $150,000 and up
• Renewal every year between May 1 and June 30, with the same taxes and fee

For a one-truck company starting with no revenue that is $120 for the first year, less if you start mid-year. Ohio-only carriers do not pay Unified Carrier Registration. The insurance is the bigger number.

The insurance PUCO requires

• Public liability: $750,000, or $300,000 if every vehicle you operate is under 10,001 pounds gross vehicle weight rating. A cargo van qualifies for the lower floor. A 26-foot rental does not. Your insurer files a Form E with the Commission.
• Cargo: $5,000 for the goods on any one vehicle and $10,000 aggregate, filed on Form H. Those numbers are tiny and they are not the real rule. A separate Ohio rule says you may not accept a shipment unless your cargo coverage is at least equal to its declared value, and a customer who declares a two-bedroom house is declaring far more than $5,000.
• Workers' comp and unemployment coverage, certified on the application and a condition of the certificate.

One warning from PUCO's own FAQ page: it still shows $350,000 liability and $20,000 cargo for household goods movers in one section and $750,000 in another. The administrative rule says $750,000 or $300,000 and $5,000 or $10,000. Ask Motor Carrier Registration which figures they will accept before you buy the policy. And if the coverage lapses, you stop operating that day. What moving insurance actually covers and what we carry.

The tariff: Ohio makes you write your prices down

Every Ohio household goods carrier files a tariff with PUCO's Docketing Division: your rates, charges and terms, with your name, address and certificate number on the title page. The Commission does not set the rates. It accepts yours, and changes take effect the day they are filed.

Three rules shape how an Ohio moving company prices:

Any unit the customer can verify. The rule says rates may be stated in any measurable unit the consumer can check, so hourly rates are allowed. Filed Ohio tariffs typically compute time charges as the hourly rate times the hours, plus a fixed travel-time addition. That is our model, written down. Our rate sheet in a formal format is the whole document.

Only what is filed binds the customer. A term in the tariff or the bill of lading binds the customer only if it was disclosed in the estimate. Discounts and individual contracts are allowed, and you keep them on file for twelve months. You can limit your liability for damage only by filing the limits in the tariff.

Weight moves use a certified scale. If any rate is by weight, the truck is weighed empty without the crew aboard and again loaded, the customer may watch, and the tickets go to them.

Published rates, a written minimum, and no surprise line items are the whole reason our company grew. In Ohio the tariff is the law, which makes it easier to compete against the guy with no PUCO number on his truck.

What every Ohio move has to include

PUCO's household goods rules, most of them effective July 1, 2023, are the same habits that make a customer trust you anyway.

1. A written estimate, nonbinding, binding or guaranteed-not-to-exceed, with seventeen required items: your name, address and PUCO number; the estimate type; the services and charges; origin and destination; pickup and delivery dates; the valuation options; the total; the payment methods you accept; the consumer rights statement with PUCO's contact details; and a signature line under a bold statement that the customer is entering a contract. A nonbinding estimate needs a visual inspection unless the customer signs a waiver, and carries a bold warning that the final cost may be higher or lower. An oral estimate is allowed only when the customer calls five days or less before the move or the total is $500 or less. Added goods or services get a written addendum before loading. How we run that walkthrough and say the number.
2. The 110 percent rule at delivery. On a nonbinding estimate you release the shipment on payment of no more than 110 percent of the estimate, with the balance due within 30 days. On a binding estimate the customer pays the estimate. On a guaranteed-not-to-exceed estimate, no more than the maximum.
3. A bill of lading issued immediately when you take the goods, with the estimate, any addenda, the inventory and the weight tickets attached, and a copy in the driver's hands.
4. Valuation in writing. The default in Ohio is full replacement value. You may offer two limits, and either applies only if the customer personally initials it: 60 cents per pound per article, or a declared full replacement value of at least $6 a pound. No initials means full replacement. How we handle the deposit and the agreement.
5. Your company name, city and state, and PUCO certificate number on every truck in letters at least two inches high, and your name, address, phone and "PUCO No." in every ad, including the website and social media.
6. Claims: you may not set a filing window shorter than 60 days, you acknowledge a written claim within 15 days, and you pay, decline or make a firm written offer within 30. Records stay on file twelve months, and a signed delivery receipt does not release you from liability.
7. A complaint procedure with a toll-free number and an email address PUCO staff can use, with a status report within 15 business days when they ask.

The business side

The certificate is not a business. Before the first full move you also want:

• An LLC, filed with the Ohio Secretary of State through Ohio Business Central for $99. Form it when the first few labor-only jobs have paid for it, and form it before the USDOT number, because PUCO wants the names to match.
• An EIN from the IRS, free, the same day.
• General liability insurance before the first job with furniture in it.
• Workers' comp the day you have an employee. Ohio is a state-fund system: coverage comes from the Bureau of Workers' Compensation and nowhere else, the application fee is $120 and non-refundable, and coverage starts the day the application and the fee are in, with a penalty for any gap back to the first hire date. PUCO will not issue the household goods certificate without it, or without unemployment coverage. What to set up before anyone starts.

The order we would do it in

1. This week: labor-only and in-home jobs, with a phone line, a Google Business Profile and a Craigslist post. The first job, step by step.
2. When the first jobs have paid for it: the LLC, then the USDOT number in the same name, general liability.
3. Before the first move in your own truck or a rental: the PUCO application, the Form E and Form H filings, the invoice, the tariff with the Docketing Division, the name and PUCO number on the truck, the estimate and bill of lading forms built to the rule.
4. Before the first employee: workers' comp through the state fund and unemployment coverage, which you will already have because PUCO asked for the certification first.
5. Every year between May 1 and June 30: the renewal.
6. Before the first job across the river into Kentucky or over the line into Indiana, Michigan or Pennsylvania: federal household goods authority.

Every step is paid for by the jobs before it. The full version of that order, with the numbers. The same guide exists for Texas, Florida, California, Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Washington. If your situation does not fit these rows, bring it to the strategy call, and every term above is defined in the glossary.

Figures in this post come from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio's intrastate registration form, revised January 27, 2022, its Motor Carrier Registration user guide revised April 1, 2026, and its intrastate motor carrier FAQ as published on puco.ohio.gov in October 2026; from Ohio Administrative Code chapters 4901:2-13, 4901:2-19 and 4901:2-21 and Ohio Revised Code sections 4921.19, 4921.34 and 111.16 as published on codes.ohio.gov; from the Bureau of Workers' Compensation's U-3 application form revised April 16, 2026; and from the Legislative Service Commission's state agency fee schedules dated November 2024 and August 2025. Check PUCO's trucking pages before you file, because fees change and this page will not always catch it.