Storage in Transit (SIT)

The most common scenarios: your closing date slips, the lease at your new place doesn't start for two weeks, you're renovating before move-in, or your interstate move beat your flight by a few days. The carrier delivers the shipment from the line-haul truck into their destination-agent warehouse, and your goods sit there — wrapped, palletized or vaulted — until you're ready. SIT is a single contract under your existing bill of lading, not a new agreement.

Federal regulation 49 CFR § 375.213 caps SIT at 90 days. Inside that window, the carrier's liability for loss or damage continues exactly as it did on the moving truck — released-value or full-value protection, whichever you elected on the bill of lading. On day 91, the shipment legally converts to permanent storage. The warehouse is usually the same physical location, but the contract becomes the warehouse's standard storage tariff and the liability typically drops to a lower warehouse limit (often $0.30/lb per article).

SIT pricing has three parts. (1) Warehouse handling: a one-time charge for moving goods into and out of storage, often $300–$700 for a 2-bedroom shipment and $700–$1,500 for a 4-bedroom. (2) Daily storage: per-100-lb per-day pricing, commonly $0.50–$1.50/cwt/day. A 6,000-lb shipment at $1.00/cwt/day runs $60/day, or about $1,800/month. (3) Final delivery: redelivery from the warehouse to your new home is billed like a local move — origin labor, drive time, destination labor. None of those costs were necessarily on your original interstate estimate, so ask up front.

Standard SIT warehouses are dry and roof-protected but unconditioned. If your shipment includes antique wood furniture, leather, art, electronics, or musical instruments, ask whether the destination agent offers climate-controlled SIT. It's usually a 20–40% premium on the daily rate, but it prevents the most common storage-related claims (warping, glue failure, condensation on electronics, leather drying out).

A public-access self-storage unit gives you 24/7 entry and a flat monthly rent but zero insurance, zero inventory tracking, and no chain of custody. SIT is the opposite: you don't have walk-in access, but each item is inventoried, vaulted or palletized, the carrier maintains custody, and your interstate moving valuation continues to apply. For shipments under 90 days, SIT is almost always the safer choice. For 6+ months, self-storage plus a separate insurance policy often wins on cost.

If you know you'll need storage, tell every estimator up front and ask for SIT pricing on the same estimate, broken out as a separate line. Many reputable van lines will include the first 7 days of SIT free or at a deep discount. Make sure the contract specifies the warehouse address, climate control yes/no, the daily rate, the redelivery basis (hourly vs. flat), and the day-91 conversion terms. Don't accept "we'll figure that out later" — that's how surprise bills happen.

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