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What Does It Mean for a Moving Company to Be Bonded?

Most people feel protected when they find out that a moving company is bonded, but they often confuse the word with insurance. Being bonded means that the company guarantees that they will perform the work you hired them to do. This guarantee is a financial guarantee that they will fulfill and uphold their contract.

While insurance offers protection for the moving company, bonding offers protection to the clients. If something goes wrong, the client can file a claim against the moving company, and the bond acquired by the moving company will cover the cost of the claim, provided it is deemed to be valid. In its simplest terms, bonds are meant to protect consumers from harmful, unethical, or otherwise poor business practices.

Note that you will need to be bonded if your state or municipality requires it. In addition, since your business will steadily be performing services in customer’s homes or on the premises of other businesses, you should strongly consider getting bonded to protect your customers and your business’ financial health.

Although being bonded is mainly protection for the customer, it can also offer your moving business financial stability in the case of a dissatisfied customer. In a negative scenario where a customer makes a claim against your business, the compensation required to settle the claim would come from the bond and won’t impact your immediate operations.

In addition, being bonded offers you a layer of trust between your moving business and your customers especially since you are giving them assurances to the quality of your services while offering a way for them to be made financially whole if something goes wrong.

When your moving business is bonded, it can send a message to prospective customers that you are professional, credible, and ethical. If you are unsure whether you need or ought to be bonded, you can consult an attorney, a surety or insurance company, or another qualified bond specialist who can advise you on your individual situation.

However, aside from bonding, other important documents that reliable movers have are license and insurance. Before people hire a moving company, they always want to see these two documents as well.

How to Get Your Moving Company Bonded in 2023

Whether you are new to the moving industry or have been working in it for decades, you have probably realized that getting a surety bond can be confusing. But to help make the process quicker and easier, here are steps to consider;

  1. Verify Which Surety Bond Form You Need

Right before you contact a surety provider, you should understand the exact surety bond form you need along with the bonding amount. Knowing this information from the onset allows the surety provider to issue your bond quickly.

For instance, the form for a city of Seattle bid bond will differ greatly from the form used for a California contractor license bond. To get this information, contact the government agency or project owner that’s requiring you to get a bond.

  1. Apply For A Surety Bond

Have it in mind that the easiest way to find a surety provider is to search online for one that issues bonds nationwide. This way you will know that they can bond with you no matter what state(s) you plan to work in. In addition, when you contact a surety provider, know that you will be expected to answer basic questions about your professional work experience and personal financial history.

Depending on the type of bond you need, you may also have to provide your social security number so the surety can review your credit score. If your moving business has more than one owner, the financial credentials of all owners will be considered.

  1. Get a Surety Bond Quote

The exact price you will pay for a surety bond will vary for a number of reasons. For one, the thing you need to consider is the bond amount. A $50,000 surety bond will indeed cost more than a $10,000 surety bond. However, using the bond amount as a starting point, your surety provider will then calculate a premium that’s based on your financial credentials.

Have it in mind that Applicants with good credit will more or less pay 1 to 5 percent of the bond amount while those with poor credit could pay up to 20 percent. The ideal way to determine exactly what your surety bond will cost is to contact a surety company.

  1. Pay for Your Surety Bond

Once you approve the quote, you will be required to pay the full premium upfront. Sometimes surety underwriters can offer premium financing to qualifying applicants. But most times though, you should be prepared to pay for your premium in full before you can get the bond. Once you have paid your premium, the surety provider will execute your bond and then send it to you.

  1. Verify The Information On Your Bond

Regardless of who you file the bond with, you will have to ensure that all information you presented are 100% accurate. Your bond will be rejected if;

  • Your business name is spelled incorrectly
  • Your business address is wrong
  • The bond amount is incorrect
  • Proper signatures are not present

If you find an error on the form, contact your surety immediately.

  1. File You Surety Bond With The Obligee

Once you have verified the accuracy of the bond form, file it with the obligee that is requiring the bond. This is the final step of the process.

Conclusion

Bonding more or less means that a company, usually a provider of contract-based services, turns to a third party, called a bonding company that will verify the service provider, and then will promise to pay a penalty if the contractor does not fulfill their contractual obligations. Nevertheless, a bond is not to be confused or mistaken for an insurance policy and it will not pay for any damage sustained by the client’s property as the result of the bonded contractor’s work.