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Seattle, WA

Long distance movers in Seattle

Seattle’s curb permit costs sixteen dollars and needs six business days. It is the cheapest in the country and the slowest to get, so we file it the week you book rather than the week you move.

  • Filed early six business days, not six hours
  • Hills and lanes shuttle where a trailer will not fit
  • COI issued direct to management
  • USDOT 2138595 · MC-744411 checkable on FMCSA SAFER
A freeway curving toward the downtown Seattle skyline at sunrise

Licensed interstate carrier

Our authority is public record — and so are our reviews. FMCSA register

WA UTC permit
training required too
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Seattle, WA

What a long distance move from Seattle involves

Seattle curb permits cost sixteen dollars and take six business days.

We file in time and quote one binding price before you pack. It sits inside the price you were quoted rather than arriving afterwards.

The rest is the ordinary work: a survey that counts what you own, a binding price in writing, our own crew loading and delivering, and thirty days of storage if your dates slip.

Moving services in Seattle

Why people book us for a move from Seattle

1,789
Households moved
160
Crew
28
Cities
  • Two movers among cartons, one reading from a tablet Your quote is your final price, in writing after the survey
  • A mover carrying a large carton against his chest, close in Trained crews on our own payroll, never day labor
  • A mover carrying a carton through a kitchen as a resident stands aside Licensed and insured under our own USDOT and MC authority
  • A man at the door of a green storage unit, working the latch Thirty days of storage included on long distance moves
  • A hand marking a date on a wall calendar with a pen We file and pay the Seattle street permit as part of the booking

What it costs

What moving from Seattle typically costs

Price comes from weight and mileage first, then access — and in Seattle access means the hill and the width of the street.

Home size Typical weight To San Francisco To Los Angeles
Studio or 1 bed one bedroom of contents 2,000 – 3,500 lb $2,278 – $5,760 $2,806 – $6,065
2 – 3 bedrooms the most common interstate move 4,000 – 9,000 lb $3,004 – $7,108 $3,255 – $7,857
4+ bedrooms often needs a trailer to itself 10,000 – 14,000 lb $4,860 – $9,688 $5,799 – $10,082

The dollar ranges are the MARKET rate for these lanes, not our quote: Seattle to San Francisco and Seattle to Los Angeles. moveBuddha's monthly dataset of live quotes across vetted movers, last updated 31 August 2026. Weights are the industry rule of thumb. We price your move from a survey of your actual inventory and give you one binding number in writing, which is why no figure above is presented as ours.

Get a binding price

Included and extra

What your final price includes

The complaint in this industry is always the bill that grew. This is the line between included and extra, before you have to ask.

  • Included One truck, one crew The crew that loads you is the crew that unloads you.
  • Included Storage for 30 days Useful when a closing slips.
  • Included Basic cover 60 cents for every pound an item weighs.
  • Extra Full cover Pays to repair or replace what we list together.
  • Extra Packing and crates Up to 15 boxes is partial, more than that is full.
  • Extra Car shipping Open or enclosed.
  • Extra The street permit Its own line on your estimate, not hidden in a total.

How the price is built

How your move from Seattle works, step by step

Four points where something is decided. The permit is the one with a calendar attached.

  1. File the permit

    Six business days out for non-metered spaces, four for metered. Sixteen dollars, and the slowest thing on the list — so it goes in at booking.

  2. Survey, and the street

    We count the inventory and check whether a trailer can reach the door, how steep the approach is, and where a shuttle would stand.

  3. Load day

    Signs posted 72 hours ahead and the curb held. On a hill street the shuttle works the address and transfers to the trailer.

  4. Transit and delivery

    One carrier, one crew, and a delivery window rather than a promised hour — weather and hours-of-service limits are real constraints.

Long distance moving routes from Seattle

Road distance and the transit window we plan against on the lanes we run most from Seattle.

All routes
Curb permit
$16 per truck, up to two days
Extra days
$8 a day from the third day on
Permit notice
6 business days four for metered spaces
To California
3–6 days Seattle to San Francisco, 807 mi

Permit figures published by the Seattle Department of Transportation. Signs must be posted at least 72 hours before the reservation.

Seattle's curb permit costs sixteen dollars and takes six days

Seattle has the cheapest curb permit of any city we work in and the longest wait for it, which catches people out in exactly the wrong direction.

A Temporary No Parking Zone costs sixteen dollars per truck for up to two days, then eight dollars a day after that. For non-metered spaces the city wants six business days of notice; for metered spaces at least four. The signs then have to be posted at least seventy-two hours before the reservation starts. Compare that with Philadelphia’s three business days or Boston’s five and the pattern is clear: the low price says nothing about the lead time. We file it in the week you book, not the week you move.

Then the ground. Seattle is built on hills and a lot of its residential streets are narrow, dead-ended or both — Queen Anne, Capitol Hill and much of West Seattle will not take a 53-foot trailer up to the door. Where they will not, a smaller truck works the address and transfers to the trailer parked where it can legally stand. That is a line on the estimate, decided at survey.

Washington is worth a word on its own. It is the only state we work in that makes a mover complete mandatory training before it can hold a permit at all, on top of liability and cargo insurance and business registration. The Utilities and Transportation Commission says plainly that operating as a mover without its permit is illegal, and it publishes a consumer guide to moving in the state. If you are booking an in-state move, that guide is a better authority than any moving company’s website.

What decides a Seattle move

Sixteen dollars, six days, and a hill

The permit is the cheap part and the slow part at the same time. The hill is what decides the crew.

The Space Needle and downtown Seattle at sunset with Mount Rainier behind

6 business days for non-metered spaces

Six business days of permit notice

Four days for metered spaces, and signs posted at least 72 hours before the reservation begins. Longer notice than Boston or Philadelphia, for a fraction of the fee — which is why we file it at booking.

Seattle's waterfront piers and the Great Wheel lit at dusk below downtown

$16 per truck, up to two days

The cheapest curb permit in the country

Then eight dollars a day from the third day. The cheapest curb in the country, which is worth knowing precisely because the low number tempts people to leave it late.

The carved face at the top of a totem pole in Seattle

No trailer on much of Queen Anne and West Seattle

Hills a trailer cannot reach

Narrow, steep and often dead-ended streets that a 53-foot trailer cannot reach the door of. A smaller truck works the address and transfers — priced at survey rather than improvised on the day.

Sources: Seattle Department of Transportation temporary no parking zone permit information.

Protection

Moving insurance: what your belongings are covered for

Every interstate move carries released-value liability by law, and it is lower than almost everyone expects: sixty cents per pound of the item, not what the item is worth. On a shuttle move your things are handled twice rather than once, which is the point at which the choice between the two stops being academic.

Hands tearing a strip from a roll of bubble wrap
60¢ / lb
released value — free, but you have to choose it
Full value
the federal default if you choose nothing
$100k / $500k
auto transport, open or enclosed

Rain and a second handling are both reasons to wrap before the door, not at it.

What each level actually pays

Moving in under a week?

Then the permit is the thing to start. Two ZIP codes gets it moving.

323-379-1382 Get a price

Where we load in Seattle

Three kinds of address, three kinds of load.

The Space Needle standing above the downtown Seattle skyline and Elliott Bay
Apartment buildings along the Seattle waterfront seen from the water
Aerial view of Seattle between its waterways, with Mount Rainier on the horizon
The Seattle Great Wheel and the waterfront piers on Elliott Bay
A rooftop terrace with tables and umbrellas overlooking the water in Seattle

  • Downtown and South Lake Union

    Downtown · Belltown · South Lake Union

    A booked dock plus the SDOT reservation: six business days for a non-metered space, four if it is metered.

  • Steep and narrow streets

    Queen Anne · West Seattle · Magnolia · Ballard

    Often dead-ended and too steep for a 53-foot trailer to reach the door. A smaller truck works the address and transfers.

  • Across the lake

    Bellevue · Redmond · Kirkland · Renton · Shoreline

    Separate cities, so the $16 SDOT permit does not apply. Each has its own reservation process and its own notice period.

A freeway curving toward the downtown Seattle skyline at sunrise

Reviews from customers on our long-distance lanes

“Cross Country Movers made our lives so much easier during our move from Seattle WA to So Cal. They handled our home goods with care.”

Read every review

Where to go next

Common questions about moving from Seattle

323-379-1382 All moving questions
How much is the parking permit and how long does it take?

Sixteen dollars per truck for up to two days, then eight dollars a day from the third. The cost is the easy part: the city wants six business days of notice for non-metered spaces and at least four for metered ones, and the signs have to be posted at least seventy-two hours before the reservation starts. It is the cheapest permit we deal with and the slowest to get.

Can a full-size truck get up my street?

On much of Queen Anne, Capitol Hill and West Seattle, no — the streets are steep, narrow, and often dead-ended. Where a 53-foot trailer cannot reach the door, a smaller truck works the address and transfers to the trailer parked where it can legally stand. That is a separate line, priced at survey.

How do I check a mover in Washington?

The Utilities and Transportation Commission licenses every residential mover operating inside the state and says plainly that working without its permit is illegal. Washington is also the only state we work in that requires mandatory mover training before a permit is issued, alongside liability and cargo insurance. The UTC publishes a consumer guide to moving in the state — start there.

You are an interstate carrier — does the UTC permit apply to you?

It applies to moves that start and end inside Washington. Interstate moves are federal: USDOT 2138595 and MC-744411, checkable on the FMCSA register. For a Seattle-to-Seattle or Seattle-to-Spokane move you want a carrier holding a current UTC permit.

Does the rain change anything?

It changes when things get wrapped rather than whether. Wrapping happens inside, before the carry, rather than at the curb — and on a shuttle move that matters more, because the load is handled twice.

What is my furniture actually insured for?

By default sixty cents per pound of the item — the federal released-value standard, included at no cost. That is weight, not worth. Full-value protection is the paid alternative on an inventory we declare together.

Moving out of Seattle?

The permit filed early, the street checked, and a binding number before you commit.

323-379-1382 Get a price

Get a price for your move from Seattle

Two ZIP codes and a date is enough to start. A coordinator confirms the permit timing and whether your street needs a shuttle before anything is booked.