Why Do Moving Companies Charge Double Drive Time?

All California movers are required to abide by the laws of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Within these laws are stipulations around what costs can be passed down to customers. For all hourly moves in the State of California, moving companies are required to charge double drive time. The actual CPUC law is written as follows:

‘the time used shall be the total of loading, unloading and double the driving time from point of origin to point of destination.’

Unfortunately, ‘origin’ and ‘destination’ are interpreted differently by some moving companies. The generally accepted interpretation is the actual driving time between the customer’s origin location (the address you’re moving out of) to the destination location (the address you’re moving in to) is doubled and charged at the hourly mover rate.

As confusing as it may be, CPUC requires all moving companies to use the double drive time law to protect consumers. Using double drive time provides visibility to the customer of the actual driving costs being paid and it compensates the moving company for their actual driving time, plus the time to return to the origin (where the job started). Using the double drive time law, the customer is responsible for all drive time between the new and old house and the moving company is responsible for the driving time between their warehouse and the origin location.