How to Choose a Mover

The moving industry is saturated with rogue movers. By following this “How to Choose a Mover” guide you can be sure your are selecting a quality moving company. It is imperative that you do your research. Check each and every candidate out by using the following four resources:

Workplace Safety and Insurance Board
Mover's Insurance
Canadian Association of Movers
Better Business Bureau

1. Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB): Ask the mover you are considering for their Workplace Safety and Insurance Board account number. In BC it's called the Workers Compensation Board or WorkSafe BC. If they don’t have an account number they don’t have coverage and you could be held liable for any injuries they receive while on your premises.

You can find the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board for your province by searching on the internet. Please contact us for assistance.

If the mover you are considering is in BC you can check them out at www.worksafebc.com and follow these steps:

Click Get a Clearance Letter (the last heading under Insurance on the center of the page).
Scroll down and click on the yellow bar Get a Clearance Letter.
Under Step 1 click Legal Name.
Type the company's name in the form field, then click Search. The Company’s account number should appear to the left of their name.
Click the box under Select and click Next.
Complete the information required in the form fields with a red asterisk, then click the Next button.
Finally, click Create a Clearance Letter. You will be able to view the clearance letter and the report on the company. Make sure the letter states that they have valid coverage. You can see a copy of our WorkSafe BC Clearance Letter at the bottom of this page.

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2. Mover's Insurance: Ask to see a copy of the mover's Certificate of insurance. The policy must be active during your move. Look at the Expiry date. Has it expired? If so, ask for a current copy and if they can’t or won’t provide you with an active copy don’t book their services. Remember to look at the Cargo section of the policy. It should state at least $250,000 of coverage. This is the Canadian Association of Movers minimum requirement. Click here to see our Insurance Certificate.

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3. Canadian Association of Movers (CAM): The Canadian Association of Movers is the only Canadian mover's association that regulates and keeps records of reputable and not so reputable movers. Check out their website at www.mover.net.

Click on CONSUMER.
Then click on Find a Mover.

Unfortunately, most of the moving companies on the internet and in the yellow pages are not qualified to perform long distance moves. They give the impression they are a full service business with office locations all over Canada when actually it's not the case. Most are independent home/office, cell phone operated businesses. They book your business and farm it out to another moving company who actually does the work. They lack infrastructure, dispatch, customer service departments, trained haulers and office locations to provide you with the service you require.

We strongly recommend you make these companies prove that they have multiple office or agent locations and better yet, check them out with the Canadian Association of Movers. You will be surprised at how many of these companies make fraudulent and misleading claims as to the extent of their abilities and their network.

You should not book a move with any moving company unless they are qualified van line agents, or an official Canadian Van Line. The only registered full service van lines in Canada recognized by the Canadian Association of Movers are:

Great Canadian Van Lines
United Van Lines
Mayflower Van Lines
Atlas Van Lines (includes Premier and AMJ)
Allied Van Lines
North American Van Lines

Check your mover out, qualify their network and if they are not part of the above organizations DON'T RISK EVERYTHING YOU HAVE by taking a chance with one of these "fly by night" rogue movers.

For a general inquiry with CAM on a mover email admin@mover.net, or call Toll free at
1-866-860-0065. If the mover is not a member in good standing do not book with them. You will be surprised at how many companies CAM will advise you to stay away from.

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4. The Better Business Bureau (BBB): The BBB is an excellent resource to check your mover out. If they are not a member there is usually a good reason for it, such as not qualified, poor business ethics, etc. Make sure they are a member in good standing before you do business with them. Because our Head Office is in BC you can verify our membership at the BBB website for BC www.mainlandbc.bbb.org.

Click on Check Out A Business or Charity.
Type in the Company Name and click the check box below for Limit my results to BBB Accredited Businesses.
Click the Search button, then View Report under the company name.

You can verify our BBB Accreditation here or by clicking the BBB logo at the bottom left of every page on this website.

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The letter below is the sample clearance letter generated from the Workers Safety Insurance BC website.

sample letter from worksafeBC refers to our company's moving services