One of the most hotly debated topics in the moving industry: should you require a deposit to book a move?

A deposit can help reduce cancellations and no-shows, but it might also lower your booking rate and scare off potential customers. Among Chariot moving software customers, a slight majority of moving companies do charge a non-refundable deposit. Most send an estimate with an embedded deposit payment flow — once the customer signs, they’re prompted to pay.

If you’re a moving company unsure whether to charge a deposit — or how much — this post offers a simple analytical framework to help you decide, plus an interactive calculator to run the numbers for your own business.

TL;DR: When to Charge a Deposit

✅ You should probably charge a deposit if:

• You have high cancellation rates you think deposits would prevent
• You don’t expect a major drop in your booking rate by introducing deposits
• You have tools (like Chariot) that streamline the deposit process

❌ You should probably not charge a deposit if:

• Your cancellation rate is very low, and when customers cancel you can efficiently backfill them them
• You’re concerned that deposits will meaningfully reduce your booking percentage
• You don’t have an easy system to collect and track deposits

We also discuss below why charging deposits on bigger multi-truck and long-distance moves makes sense for most movers, even if you don't charge deposits on smaller local moves.

Why Some Movers Charge Deposits

1. Reduce Cancellations and No-Shows

This is the biggest benefit — and the most intuitive. A customer who pays a deposit is more committed. If they cancel, they lose money. If they don’t pay, they may not be serious about booking. That’s a red flag.

2. Screen for Risky Customers

Asking for a deposit acts like a soft credit check. If a customer can’t pay $100–$200 upfront, they may also be unreliable on move day.

3. Card on File = Easier Final Billing

If your CRM or processor supports it, taking a deposit means you have the card on file — which simplifies final payment and gives you recourse if they ghost you.

Why Some Movers Don’t

Every 1% increase in booking rate can increase your revenue by more than 1%. For example:

• 100 leads/month × 50% booking rate = 50 jobs = $50,000 revenue
• Increase to 51% booking = $51,000 revenue (+$12K/year!) -- a 2% boost! 

The same way, a 1% drop in booking rate can decrease your revenue by more than 1%.

With that in mind, a deposit adds friction to your sales process. Some customers won’t book and your booking rate could fall. Even if cancellations drop, that lost revenue may not be recouped, unless you're booking higher-revenue moves than you were before the change.

2. Operational Headache (If Not Automated)

Without a CRM or integrated tool, deposits can become admin-heavy. Time is required to collect payments manually, track who paid, chase down cards, and ensure deposits are deducted from the final bill.

3. It Might Turn Off Customers

Some customers see deposits as a lack of trust or a red flag. If you don’t charge one, you can frame it as a benefit: low-pressure, easy booking!/

How to Decide: A Simple Revenue Formula

The revenue impact of charging a deposit is fundamentally: 

[Increase in revenue from reduced non-backfilled cancellations] - [Revenue lost from a lower booking rate]

Remember: not all cancellations hurt you as badly as others. If you can backfill a canceled job, the lost revenue is recovered (though this requires more sales time, and that time is money too). That’s why we focus on non-backfilled cancellations in this analysis.

Example: Deposit Makes Revenue Worse

Let’s say:

• You get 100 leads per month
• Average job size = $1,000
• Current booking rate = 50%
• Non-backfilled cancellation rate = 4–8%

If you charge a deposit:

• Booking rate drops to 45%
• Cancellation rate drops to 2–4%

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Even with a significant drop in cancellations, the 5% dip in booking hurts more — resulting in $1,000–$2,000 less revenue per month.

So should you never charge deposits? Not so fast...

More Scenarios: When It Makes Sense

The example above shows that if your booking rate falls meaningfully, it can outweigh the revenue impact of fewer cancellations. But what if it falls by less than that? 

Let's assume your current booking rate is 50% and non-backfilled cancellation rate is 8%. The image below shows the change in revenue based on how far the booking rate and cancellation rate falls.

If your current cancellation rate is high (e.g. 8%), and your booking rate only drops a little (e.g. from 50% to 48%), the deposit might still boost revenue.

General rule of thumb:

To break even on revenue, your cancellation rate must drop by at least 2x the amount your booking rate drops.

• If booking rate falls 3%, cancel rate must fall 6%
• If booking rate falls 5%, cancel rate must fall 10%

This ratio shifts if your booking rate is far from 50% (if it's lower, the cancellation rate needs to be even more than 2:1) — but 2:1 is a helpful starting point.

^{Use the Calculator Below!}

Want to test it for your company? Use the interactive calculator below. Plug in your own numbers for:

• Leads per month
• Job size
• Booking rate (with and without deposit)
• Cancellation rate (with and without deposit)

We'll show you how your total revenue changes.

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The Verdict: Charge a Deposit If…

You should charge a deposit if:

• Your cancellation rates are high, and you struggle to backfill those jobs
• You believe charging a deposit will significantly lower cancellations
• You don’t think requiring a deposit will meaningfully hurt your booking rate
• You have convenient tools — like a moving CRM that embeds deposits into the estimate-signature flow — so collecting deposits won’t create extra admin work

You should probably not charge a deposit if:

• You already have very low cancellation rates or can easily backfill canceled jobs
• Your main concern is ensuring customers are reliable and willing to pay
• You believe deposits could significantly reduce your booking rate — e.g., if 5 out of every 100 customers (5%) might not book if a deposit is required

Strategy Tips: Different Deposit Strategy by Job Type

Depending on your moving company's customer base and job mix, charging deposits on certain types of moves but not others might be the best approach.

For example: some movers don't charge a deposit for smaller, local moves, but charge them on more expensive larger moves (for example involving multiple trucks) or long distance moves.

Using the framework above, why can this work? 

Small/ local moves: 

• Higher booking rate risk: Customers value speed/ simplicity more on these moves
• Easier to backfill: more demand for local /small moves
• Less revenue leakage if there's a non-backfilled cancellation
• --> Risk of friction > reward of deposit

Bigger/ long-distance moves: 

• Lower booking rate risk: Longer sales cycle, deposits more common
• Harder to backfill: There's fewer long distance moves, and if the move involves multiple crews, all of them need to be backfilled
• More preparation work/ office overhead leading up to move day
• More revenue leakage if cancelled last minute
• --> Deposit math likely to work out for most moving companies

How much to charge?

Most movers choose one of these:

• Flat rate: e.g. $200
• % of estimate: e.g. 10%
• Multiple of hourly rate: e.g. 2 hours @ $150 = $300

The benefit of the non-flat approaches is that they scale with the customer/ move size. This is good, because bigger moves are harder to backfill if they cancel and more of a payment risk. But flat rate approaches have the benefit of simplicity.

As for the exact amount to charge, we don't have an exact recommendation, other than to make it meaningful -- at least $50. You need cancellations to drop for the deposit to be effective. So find the balance between creating real financial incentives not to cancel/ drop you for a competitor, without turning off customers.

Final Thought: Consider Your Competition

If your competitors all charge deposits, you probably won’t lose bookings by doing the same. But if few do — and you’re using no-deposit booking as a differentiator — highlight that in your sales pitch.

And if you’re using Chariot, we make deposits seamless: estimates, e-signatures, and payments all in one flow.

Ready to experiment? Use the calculator and try it out!