Certificates of Insurance,
Handled Same-Day

If you’re moving into a managed building (a downtown tower, a La Jolla high-rise, a UTC complex) the property manager’s first question isn’t your move date. It’s “send your mover’s COI.” The certificate of insurance proves the moving company carries real liability and workers’-comp coverage, names the building as a certificate holder, and shifts move-day risk where it belongs: onto the professionals’ policy, not the residents’ HOA.

Buildings that require COIs typically also govern freight elevator reservations, loading dock windows, floor and wall protection, and move-in hours, the full choreography. We handle that choreography weekly across San Diego’s managed buildings.

Managing a building where a resident has booked us? Send your requirements and we’ll return the certificate, typically same business day.

What a COI Does Not Cover

A certificate of insurance answers the building's question, not yours. It shows that the mover's general liability and workers' compensation policies are in force on the move date, so the property manager can see that a dropped dolly in the lobby or a crew member's injury on the dock falls under the mover's policies. It says nothing about what happens to your sofa. Coverage for your own belongings comes from a separate part of the moving contract called valuation, and the two are easy to confuse when a manager is asking for paperwork and you are trying to close on a move date.

For interstate moves, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration sets two valuation options. Under released value protection, which costs nothing extra, the mover is responsible for no more than 60 cents per pound per article, so a 25-pound television that is lost or damaged is worth $15 in a claim. Under full value protection, the mover must repair the item, replace it with a like item, or settle in cash at current market replacement value, regardless of the item's age. If you do not choose released value, an interstate shipment moves at full value protection by default.

When you request a COI from us for a managed building, ask about valuation in the same email. The certificate goes to the property manager; the valuation choice goes on your own paperwork, and it should be settled before the crew loads, not after something is scratched. The COI request form on this page collects the building's limits and certificate-holder wording. Your own coverage decision is a separate conversation with our office at (858) 490-0155.

Federal Filings Behind an Interstate COI

For a move that crosses a state line, the certificate rests on federal filings. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires interstate household goods carriers to have proof of bodily injury and property damage liability insurance on file, submitted on Form BMC-91 or BMC-91X. Household goods carriers must also carry cargo insurance, filed on Form BMC-34. FMCSA does not supply these forms; the insurance company making the filing keeps its own and submits them. The minimum levels of financial responsibility for each type of carrier are set in 49 CFR 387.9.

Discount Movers operates as a licensed interstate carrier under US DOT #4372335, family owned in San Diego since 1997, and hauls its own long-distance loads rather than brokering them to another company. That matters for a certificate because the insurer named on the COI is the insurer of the crew and truck that actually show up. When a building outside California asks for its own certificate at the delivery end, send us that requirements sheet too and ask for a certificate written to it.

Buildings that require a COI usually require floor protection too. Runners along the route, cardboard over hard floors and lobbies, seams taped, jambs and corners covered. Down before the first item moves, at both ends. Tell us the building’s requirements and they are on the truck.