How to start a moving company in Texas: the TxDMV certificate, what it costs, and what to do this week
Texas requires every household goods mover to register with TxDMV, even with a pickup. What the certificate costs, the insurance it requires, the paperwork every Texas move needs, and the work you can take before any of it.
Texas is a big moving market with a clear rulebook, and the rule that surprises people is the first one: there is no small-vehicle exception. If you carry someone's furniture in a pickup for money, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles considers you a household goods carrier and expects you to be registered.
That is less scary than it sounds. The certificate is a few hundred dollars and an online application, and there is a whole category of work you can take before you have it. This is the order we would do it in. We run a licensed carrier in New York, not Texas, so read the TxDMV pages yourself before you take a job that needs the certificate, and call them when a page is unclear. They answer this question every week.
What needs the certificate and what does not
Texas regulates the transport of household goods for compensation within the state. The trigger is transport: your vehicle, their belongings, money changing hands. Vehicle size does not matter.
- A paid move in any vehicle you drive, from a pickup to a 26-foot box truck: TxDMV certificate required.
- Labor-only work, loading or unloading a truck, trailer or container the customer rented: you are not transporting anything, so the household goods registration is about the vehicle you do not have. This is the work to start with. Confirm with TxDMV that your exact setup is outside the registration, then take the job.
- In-home moves, room to room or floor to floor: no transport, same answer.
- Moves that cross a state line: 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. How to price it and find the first customers.
Step one, before TxDMV: a USDOT number
TxDMV will not take your application without a USDOT number, even if you never plan to leave Texas. The number is free from the FMCSA 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.
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 TxDMV household goods certificate
The application is online through the TxDMV motor carrier system. You fill it in, TxDMV reviews it, your insurance company files proof of coverage electronically, and then you pay and receive a certificate number. TxDMV says the review takes one to two business days, longer if you have held authority before.
What it costs, from TxDMV's fee schedule as of this writing:
- Application: $100, one time per registration
- Per vehicle: $10 for a one-year registration, $20 for two years
- Liability insurance filing: $100
- Cargo insurance filing: $100
For a one-truck company that is $310 for the first year. Fees are nonrefundable, so have the insurance in place before you apply.
The insurance TxDMV requires you to carry:
- Auto liability of at least $300,000 if your vehicles are under 26,000 pounds, which every rental box truck is
- Cargo coverage of at least $5,000 for the goods on any one vehicle, and $10,000 when one vehicle carries more than one customer's goods
Those are the state's floors, not what we would carry. A single two-bedroom load is worth far more than $5,000 to the family that owns it. What moving insurance actually covers and what we carry.
Two things Texas asks for that other states do not. Household goods carriers file a tariff, which is a written list of your maximum rates, and they document a procedure for keeping registered sex offenders from working unsupervised in customers' homes. The tariff is your rate sheet in a formal format. The second is a short written policy and a background check step in hiring.
What every Texas move has to include
Once you are registered, TxDMV sets rules for the job itself, and they are the same habits that make a customer trust you anyway:
- A written proposal before loading that shows the most the customer could be required to pay. TxDMV does not set your rates. It requires that the customer sees the ceiling before the truck fills up.
- The TxDMV rights and responsibilities sheet handed to the customer before the move. It is a free download from TxDMV.
- Your liability for damage stated in the contract. Texas lets you set it, including at zero, but it has to be in writing. We would never set it at zero. How we handle deposits and the contract.
- Your company name, TxDMV certificate number and USDOT number on both sides of the truck. Magnetic signs are fine, which matters when the truck is a rental.
Note the pattern. Texas requires the written ceiling and the paperwork that most movers avoid, because that paperwork is where customers get burned. Published prices and a contract before the job are the whole reason our company grew. In Texas they are the law, which makes it easier to compete against the guy in the unmarked pickup.
The business side
The certificate is not a business. Before the first full move you also want:
- An LLC, filed with the Texas Secretary of State. Texas charges more than most states to form one, so file it when the first few labor-only jobs have paid for it, not before.
- An EIN from the IRS, free, the same day.
- General liability insurance before the first job with furniture in it, and workers' comp the day you have an employee. Texas does not require private employers to carry workers' comp, which is unusual, and it is still the first thing we would buy. Why, from a company that has filed a claim.
The order we would do it in
- 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.
- When the first jobs have paid for it: the USDOT number, the LLC, general liability.
- Before the first move in your own truck or a rental: the TxDMV certificate, the tariff, the insurance filings, the signs.
- Before the first employee: workers' comp.
- Before the first out-of-state job: 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 Florida, California, Illinois, Ohio, 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 TxDMV's published fee schedule and insurance requirements as of October 2026. Check txdmv.gov before you file, because fees change and this page will not always catch it.
- Moving pricing guideHourly or flat, how to say the rate, and how the math works. The calculator itself is in the course.
- Quote-call openingHow our quote call starts, word for word, with your name and rate filled in. The rest is in the course.
- Google Business Profile fieldsFree: what to set up first and the profile fields, word for word.
- One job, start to finishA real one-bedroom move, every message with its timestamp.
- Moving industry FAQThirty-five questions about getting in: trucks, licenses, insurance, pricing, hiring, when to buy the truck.
- GlossaryPortal to portal, released value, COI, and fifty more terms in plain English.
More from the blog
How to start a moving company in Arizona: no state license, the hostage load law, what it costs, and what to do this weekArizona is one of the few states with no household goods mover license at all. What governs you instead is a 2017 consumer statute on contracts and hostage loads, ADOT's commercial registration and weight fees, and the ordinary rules on insurance, tax and employees. What each one requires, what it costs, and the work you can take this week.11 min read
How to start a moving company in Georgia: the DPS household goods certificate, the maximum rate tariff, what it costs, and what to do this weekGeorgia licenses movers through the Department of Public Safety and publishes the maximum rate every mover may charge. What the household goods certificate costs, the insurance it requires, the state's hourly ceilings and minimums, the paperwork every Georgia move needs, and the work you can take before any of it.13 min read
How to start a moving company in Illinois: the ICC license, the hearing, what it costs, and what to do this weekIllinois licenses movers through the Illinois Commerce Commission, and it is one of the few states that makes you prove a public need at a hearing, pass a written exam and file a rate tariff before the first paid move. What the license costs, the insurance it requires, the rules on estimates and liability, and the work you can take before any of it.13 min read
How to start a moving company in North Carolina: the certificate of exemption, the maximum rate tariff, what it costs, and what to do this weekNorth Carolina licenses movers through the Utilities Commission and publishes the maximum hourly rate every mover may charge. What the certificate of exemption costs, the insurance it requires, the state's rate ceilings and estimate rules, and the work you can take before any of it.13 min read
How to start a moving company in Ohio: the PUCO certificate, what it costs, and what to do this weekOhio 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.12 min read