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Military Finance is always confusing,
and this is especially true when moving overseas. Read our
Military Finance Tips and Essential Information to ensure to find out
more about your Military Money Matters. Armed with this
knowledge, you can protect your interests and ensure that you get
everything that you are entitled to.
Moving a household incurs many expenses. However, you can save a
lot of money by moving yourself.
PERSONALLY PROCURED MOVE PROGRAM
The Personally Procured Move Program (formerly called the
Do-IT-Yourself Move, or DITY Move) is designed to provide
servicemembers with an alternative method of moving their household
goods. Servicemembers may move their household goods themselves
using rental equipment or a privately owned vehicles (POV) or even by
hiring a commercial mover.
PARTICIPATION
Participation in the Personally Procured Move Program is strictly
voluntary, and servicemembers are always eligible for a goverment
move. In addition, servicemembers may opt for a combination of
the two methods.
METHODS OF TRANSPORTING GOODS
If you use a PRIVATELY OWNED VEHICLE,
you may also attach a trailer, but empty and full certified weight
tickets are required. You will have to take your vehicle to a
weigh station when empty (TIP: Make sure your vehicle is empty of
EVERYTHING possible: if it can come out, take it out) and then at your
destination you should weight your vehicle when full. The
transportation office will subtract the empty weight from the full
weight to get the total weight transported. You will be
reimbursed at a certain rate per mile multiplied by the total weight
transported.
If you use a RENTAL VEHICLE, such
as those available from Ryder or U-Haul, you must procure the rental
equipment and the accessories yourself. In addition, just as
when you use a privately owned vehicle, you must present empty and
full certified weight tickets.
You may also contract directly with
COMMERCIAL CARRIERS. You will be reimbursed as in the above
two categories and empty and full weight tickets will once again be
required.
METHODS OF WEIGHING
Vehicles used in the Personally Procured Move Program must
be weighed when empty AND when full.
For trucks, motor homes, and automobiles, the driver and all
passengers must be out of the vehicle, and the gas tank must be full
each time the vehicle is weighed.
For trailers, the driver and all passengers must be out of the trailer
and the gas tank must be full. The towing vehicle and the
trailer must be weighed as a complete unit. Axle weights are
acceptable.
Be sure to weigh your vehicle at a "certified" weigh station.
You can usually find them at truck stops along major highways.
State operated weigh stations along interstates usually cannot issue
certified weigh tickets.
Be sure that the weigh tickets have the following information:
- Your name, rank, and social security number
- Identification of the vehicle weighed
- Legible imprint of the measured weight and date
- Imprint or official stamp with the name and location of the weigh
station.
- Signature and title of the official certifying the weighing
REIMBURSEMENT
Under the Personally Procured Move Program, you can be reimbursed
for up to the amount it would have cost the government to move your
household goods (up to your authorized weight allowance). This
cost is defined as the Government Constructive Cost and is based on an
estimate of the weight of your household goods that you and the agent
from your post's travel office determine at your initial meeting.
A basic worksheet called the "Inventory of Household Goods/Weight
Estimator" is used to make the weight estimate of your goods.
If you ship the goods yourself, the government will pay you up to 95%
of what it would have cost the government to transport your household
goods. If you use a commercial carrier to ship your goods, you
may be reimbursed up to the total amount it would have cost the
government to arrange for and ship your household goods.
During your meeting with your travel office, you must get approval to
make a personally procured move. If you do not get this formal
approval for a personally procured move, you may not get reimbursed
for your move. Personally procured moves to overseas areas are
not recommended (and sometimes not allowed).
INSURANCE
Since you (or the contracted carrier) do all the packing and
actual transportation of goods, the government cannot be held not
liable for any losses or damages that occur during a personally
procured move. If you do choose to do a personally procured
move, the military claims office will not pay a
claim for loss or damage.
You should consider purchasing insurance, either through the moving
company or through an insurance company to cover your rental
equipment, your POV, and/or your household goods. When using a
commercial carrier to ship your household goods, you should ensure the
carrier provides insurance on your household goods in accordance with
local and state laws.
DELIVERY
AND STORAGE OF GOODS
Temporary storage of your goods in a personally procured move is
authorized at government expense. You will be reimbursed,
however, based on how much it would cost the government to store a
like amount of weight. You will have to submit a claim for
personally procured storage on a
DD1351-2
Travel Voucher to your local transportation office.
You may want to purchase insurance coverage for your goods while in
storage as well, because the government will not pay for claims on
losses or damage to your household goods while in personally procured
storage.
INCENTIVE/REIMBURSEMENT CLAIMS
Once you have reached your destination, you must submit a claim to
your local transportation office in order to receive payment for your
personally procured move. Within 45 days of your move date, you
must submit a
DD2278,
DD1351-2, empty and full certified weight tickets, and
complete set of orders.
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Heidelberg