Accessorial Services: Services, other than transportation, performed by the agent at your request (packing, unpacking, extra pickup, etc). Charges for these services are in addition to transportation costs.

Additional Transportation Charge (ATC): This charge compensates the carrier for services performed in areas where the labor rates are higher than the national average. It also compensates the carrier for additional costs incurred due to traffic congestion and added time traveling to the area for pickup or delivery.

Advances Charges: Charges for services of third parties engaged by our agent at your request, paid by our agent and added to your charges reflected on the Bill of Lading.

Auxiliary Service (shuttle): If the assigned over-the-road van is unable to make a normal pickup/’delivery because of physical constraints or conditions and a second, smaller vehicle is needed, this is considered Auxiliary Service. Physical constraints include situations such a narrow road, bridge restrictions, low-hanging power lines, inclement weather and/or the inability to park the moving van within a reasonable distance of the pickup/delivery site. Charges for the service are assessed to you on a flat tariff rate.

Bill of Lading: The receipt for your goods and contract for their transportation and valuation coverage. Your signature acknowledges that your household goods can be loaded on the van and “released to the carrier.

Binding Estimate: An estimate that specifies in advance the exact cost of moving, based on all services determined necessary at the time the estimate is prepared.

Booking Agent: The agent who accepts the order for your move and registers it with United. The booking agent might or might not be your origin or destination agent.

Bulky Article: Items such as boats, snowmobiles, golf carts and campers usually carry a bulky article charge to compensate the hauler for the difficulty of loading and unloading such articles, and their usual bulk or low weight density. In some cases, a “weight additive” is applicable.

Carrier: The interstate moving company providing transportation for your household goods, under whose Department of Transportation registration the shipment is moved.

Claim: Statement of loss or damage to any of your household goods while in the care, custody and control of the carrier and its agents. All claims for loss or damage must be filed and received by the carrier within nine months from the date of delivery.

COD (Cash on Delivery): Shipment where customer pays moving charges at destination before delivery. For COD shipments, payment is required in cash, or by traveler’s check or credit card. If you use a credit card, you must arrange this with your origin agent because authorization is required before loading. Personal checks are not accepted.

Consignee: The person to whom the shipment is to be delivered.

Declared Valuation: Shipper’s declaration of the value of the possessions being shipped, thereby establishing the carrier’s maximum liability for loss or damage to the shipment. The interstate motor carrier provides various released rate tariff levels of valuation options from which you may choose to release your shipment. If no value is declared on the Bill of Lading, the liability is then controlled by the tariff under which the shipment is being handled.

Department of Transportation (DOT): The federal regulatory agency that, through the Surface Transportation Board within the DOT, governs the interstate transportation industry, including movers of household goods.

Destination Agent: The agent designated in the destination area to be available to assist or provide information to you or the van operator regarding delivery of your shipment.

Estimate: An “educated guess” as to the van space requirements, weight of household goods and cost of the move determined by an agent’s physical survey of shipment; the form on which the survey information is recorded. Estimate can be binding or non-binding depending on the circumstances of your move.

Expedited Service: A program that, for an additional charge, allows a specific delivery date to be requested. If the date is not met, standard delay damages will apply.

Extra Stop: If a van operator is required to make an extra stop at either origin or destination other than the main pickup or delivery points, an extra charge will be assessed, the amount to be determined by the tariff.

Flight Charge (stair carry): An extra charge for carrying items to a higher or lower floor.

Full-Value Protection: A valuation option that does not incorporate depreciation as a factor in the settlement of a claim for loss or damage.

High-Value Inventory: Items of “extraordinary value,” such as antiques, coin collections and jewelry, included in a shipment. Items worth more than $100 per pound are articles of extraordinary value. We recommend that you transport these items yourself.

Inventory: The list and condition of your household furnishings, including the number of packed containers prepared at origin and checked off by you at delivery.

Long Carry: A charge assessed when a shipment must be moved more than 75 feet from the trailer to the door of the residence.

Non-Allowables: Items that should not be included in your household goods shipment, including hazardous materials such as poisons, corrosives, explosives and flammables; perishables such as refrigerated and frozen foods, unless special arrangements are made; and other items prohibited by law.

Operating Authority: Registration issued by the DOT authorizing a carrier to move household goods between designated geographical areas. A United affiliated agency also may have its own separate “operating authority” issued by the DOT or other governmental entity, to move shipments within a certain geographical area.

Order for Service: The document authorizing the moving company to transport your household goods.

Order Number: The number used to identify your shipment. It appears in the upper right corner of the Bill of Lading and on the Estimate/Order for Service. The shipper should provide it when contacting the carrier.

Origin Agent: The agent designated in the origin area to be available for preliminary readying of the shipment before movement, or to provide information to you regarding your move.

Overflow: Articles to be shipped that are left behind due to insufficient space on a van, to be loaded on a second van for transportation and delivery.

PBO (Packed by Owner): Articles packed by the shipper, not the carrier, for moving.

Reweigh: Second weighing of shipment performed at destination at the shipper’s or United Van Lines’ request.

Shipper: The person (customer) whose household goods are being moved.

Storage-In-Transit (SIT): Temporary storage of your household goods in the warehouse of the carrier’s agent, pending further transportation.

Survey: The booking agent’s examination of a shipper’s goods to develop an estimate of charges.

Tariff: The carrier’s written policies, rates and procedures applicable to your move.

Third-Party Services: Services performed by someone other than the carrier at your request or as required by federal, state or local law.

Unpacking: Per your advance request, removing your goods from containers and placing them on a flat surface, as well as the disposal of such containers and packing materials. If ordered, unpacking service must be performed at the time of delivery unless requested otherwise.

Van Operator: The driver of the vehicle carrying your household goods.