BOC-3 filing for household-goods (moving) brokers

Yes. A household-goods broker - an FMCSA-registered company that arranges interstate moves for consumers without operating its own trucks - holds FMCSA operating authority, and every operating authority requires a BOC-3 process-agent designation on file under 49 CFR Part 366 before it activates. The BOC-3 names someone in each state who can accept legal service on the broker's behalf. An HHG broker that skips the BOC-3 cannot activate its moving-broker authority.

Yes - and this is the key difference from a moving company. The carve-out in 49 CFR 366.4(b) lets brokers and freight forwarders that do not operate commercial motor vehicles list themselves as their own process agent, as long as they maintain a physical address in each state where they operate. An HHG broker arranges moves but owns no trucks, so it falls inside that carve-out. A moving company that runs CMVs does not - it must use an FMCSA-registered blanket provider. In practice most HHG brokers still use a blanket service because keeping a physical address in 48+ states is impractical.

The Form BOC-3 itself is identical - same fields, same blanket process-agent network, same $75 flat fee. What differs is the surrounding registration. A property broker registers for property-broker authority (the MC-B prefix); a household-goods broker registers for FMCSA household-goods broker authority (HHGB) and takes on consumer-protection duties under 49 CFR Part 375 that property brokers never touch - including disclosure obligations toward the consumers whose moves it arranges. Both carry the $75,000 broker bond (BMC-84) or trust (BMC-85), and both can self-designate under 366.4(b) because neither operates trucks.

They are separate filings that must all clear for your authority to go live. Your OP-1 application selects HHGB (household-goods broker) authority. The $75,000 broker bond (BMC-84 surety bond or BMC-85 trust) is filed with the FMCSA by your surety. The BOC-3 process-agent designation (49 CFR Part 366) is filed separately - by us for $75, or self-designated if you maintain addresses in every state. All of these have to land inside the FMCSA filing window for the moving-broker authority to activate. The BOC-3 is not the bond and the bond is not the BOC-3 - they are independent requirements.

If you operate any commercial motor vehicles, you are a motor carrier, not just a broker - and the 366.4(b) self-designation carve-out does not reach you. You must use an FMCSA-registered blanket process-agent provider for your BOC-3. The carve-out is limited strictly to brokers and forwarders without CMVs. If you hold both HHG-carrier and HHG-broker authority under one legal entity, a single BOC-3 in that entity's name covers both authorities - you do not need a separate designation per authority type.

No. The BOC-3 only designates your process agent. It does not satisfy the household-goods consumer-protection rules in 49 CFR Part 375 - the estimate requirements, the "Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move" booklet, or the arbitration-program duties that attach to household-goods authority. Those are separate obligations you carry on top of the BOC-3. Filing the BOC-3 is the foundation that activates your authority; Part 375 is the consumer-facing layer built on it.