AMSA (American Moving and Storage Association)

What Is AMSA?

The American Moving and Storage Association (AMSA), established in 1936, is a national non-profit trade association representing over 4,000 members of the professional moving industry in the United States. Among these members you will find van lines, agents, independent movers, forwarders, industry suppliers, international movers and others.

The main aim of AMSA is not to just set high industry standards, but also to represent the interests of professional moving companies while providing transparent information and assistance to the customers these companies serve.

ProMover Certification

AMSA has strongly focused on providing professional and certification programs to its members. Among those, we can find the ProMover Certification, offered to domestic and international movers, which was launched in 2009 as a way to protect consumers served by member companies.

The certification was designed to fight the imposters within the industry by giving consumers a way to separate high quality professional movers from con artists. All certified ProMovers are fully licensed and meet the association’s high standards for quality, safety and professionalism.

What Are the Entry Requirements?

To become an AMSA member all a moving company has to do is fill out a form and pay a fee, which seems quite basic. However, to become a ProMover, the company must meet the following requirements:

• A minimum of one year of experience in international household moving services;
• Hold a US or any other country operating authority required to legally operate within the industry;
• Spotless AMSA membership for at least 18 months;
• Meet the Registered International Move (RIM) equipment, security documentation and facility standards;
• Pass a written examination;
• Have a BBB rating of at least a B (the higher, the better);
• Adhere to the International ProMover Code of Ethics;
• Reference from business partners;
• Additional review of complaint history by AMSA staff.

Why Should You Book an AMSA Mover?

When you hire a member of the American Moving & Storage Association, particularly one with a ProMover certification, it will be guaranteed that you’ll be booking a professional mover. This in turn will allow you to:

• Save time and money –DIY costs can add up quite quickly;
• Avoid unexpected problems (e.g.: damage to your household goods);
• Ensure that your belongings are handled with quality and care;
• Receive the best overall protection for your household goods.

AMSA Movers: How to Find Them

The easiest way to check whether a moving company holds a ProMover certification is by being on the lookout for the logo shown above. In case you have already started scouting for movers and have a few preferences in mind and you cannot seem to find the logo on the company’s website, you can check out if the company is a ProMover by entering their motor carrier number on here. Likewise, you can also check out the alphabetical listing of all ProMovers provided by AMSA here.

We hope this article helped you get a better idea of what being a member of AMSA means. Of course, you can find good moving companies that are not part of AMSA in which case we recommend that you check their most recent reviews to verify their quality. If you are looking for more information about moving associations, we recommend that you take a look at the articles linked below. 🙂