The 'average mover' doesn't exist — and averages hide the ones to avoid. In San Diego's carrier table, one established mover's vehicles were placed out of service in 47% of inspections; a few rows down, a similar-sized competitor sits at 7%. Same city, same rules, sevenfold difference in how often their trucks fail.
Across all movers with enough inspections to measure, the median out-of-service rate is 18.2% — close to the national all-truck average of roughly 20–22%. Comforting, until you see the spread: the worst tenth of movers ground 42.9% or more of inspected vehicles. The average is fine; the distribution is where the risk lives.
This is why we publish the number per carrier rather than reassuring you with a citywide mean. Two quotes that look identical on price can sit at opposite ends of the maintenance spectrum — and the federal record is the only place that difference is visible before moving day.
Method: vehicle out-of-service rate = vehicle OOS inspections ÷ vehicle inspections, FMCSA SMS files joined to our carrier set on USDOT number; reported only for carriers with 5+ vehicle inspections (n=2,910). Named-city example from our San Diego carrier table. Retrieved 14 August 2026.