Moving back to Australia - shipping companies

[scully]

Has anyone had experience of shipping their house contents and/or car back to Australia? If so, which company did you use, were they good, anything we should consider before choosing a company etc etc? Also, any experience on the customs aspect of entering Australia with a 2nd hand car? Any advice welcome!

would it not be easier to just sell your car there and then buy another one when you got here... we did that - sold our two cars and then when we got here had a hire car for a week or so and then just looked and bought another one.

We did not have furniture etc - again - simply got rid of as much as possible. Sent three large boxes and then whatever we could fit in our suitcases. However - we had a house to come to ( I had rented it out whilst I was away) and some contents that I had in storage whilst I was gone.

We stayed with my mum for a couple of weeks which gave us time to sort out brains out and get organised to move - included buying the furniture etc.

To us - whilst it seemed a bit of a pain - it was much easier in the long run than trying to ship furniture etc back. We simply packed in the boxes - things we could not be without - photo albums, toys for dd1, linen, paperwork, books etc.

You could rent - fully furnished whilst you sorted out what you needed for your house - so many places to buy stuff that are really reasonable here in Aus. We are still slowly getting sorted.... but we are also painting and decorating at the same time.

The shipping company that we used - Excess Baggage - we looked at their pick and delivery issues, insurance, storage rates etc. They sent the cartons to us and then arranged for themto be picked up whilst in the UK and then delivered to our address here in Aus.

Probably not much help but that is what we did.

car?! why!?

A friend of ours shipped a 4 bed house load of stuff to NZ, think it cost around £5,000, cant be sure of exact figure.

We are at the moment going through the Visa process for Australia and we are thinking of shipping furniture etc and a car. So will watch this thread with interest. We have quite an expensive car which we are happy with and it would be more expensive to buy the same car in Australia, but havent gone into the figures yet to see if it will be cheaper or more expensive.

I plan on ringing Customs to find out some more info on charges etc, as we also like our car here and if it isn't too expensive, then saves the hassle of trying to find another one, plus accomodation, with 2 small children, once we arrive.
We're looking at moving back in the next 12mths, I'm from there but have lived here for 10.5yrs and dh has never lived there, & I basically don't want to move back and feel like I'm starting again. Would prefer just to move the things that we have here, that we like and have taken the time to choose, and then just have the basics like electrical goods etc to buy once there.
I'll let you know when I find out anymore info, but with dd2 being 8wks old, it may take me a little while

Actually you sound a bit like us Scully, apart from we are both Brits, but have been to Oz lots and for long periods of time. We dont want the hassle of buying new stuff out there when ours is perfectly adequate, I dont want to feel like I'm starting again. We have a 3 1/2 and 2 year old and are planning to go to Sydney.

Would be interested in your findings.

you need to be careful also regarding cars - parts have to be imported if it is a 'foreign' car and parts can be very vey expensive. You will probably find you can buy a similar type of car for less than you think. The type of car can also affect the insurance and it may be higher depending on your make and model.

Scully - you can find fully furnished short rent properties that you canrent until you find somewhere to live.

When we moved - dd1 was 22 months old and I was 19 weeks pregnant. Dd1 had quite a bit of moving around and coped really well with it. We moved out of our UK rental and then spent 10 days with dh's family and then a week in Singapore, then two weeks with my muma dn then finally into our own place.

You really can buy almost a whole houseful of furniture depending on where you shop, with little hassle.

I know it can seem like a hassle 'starting again' but for us that was part of the adventure - new life in Aus..... and you know it wasn't as hard as we imagined getting everything organised for the house. I would have just been so worried about furniture etc arriving here in good condition along with the cost of shipping and insuring it.

We spent a week getting the furniture sorted and delivered and then sorted out the small stuff. You can start with the basics and we just got bits and pieces each week and before we knew it had what we needed... and are now onto what we want.

Hi
We are also moving back to Oz later this year.Friends of ours moved to Sydney last year and paid £4,000 to ship the contents of a 3 bedroom house to Sydney.
We are not planning to ship car to Australia due to costs, this site gives loads of useful information about shipping your car, costs involved etc
www.karmanshipping.co.uk
hope this helps

We have moved countries a few times and shipped furniture. I can't remember the name of the removalists we used but whoever you choose if you want your things to be insured you need to let them pack and unpack everything. Make sure you watch them unpacking it and note any damage otherwise they won't take responsibility. We did have some water damage moving back from Oz but we got compensated.

We've had friends ship households back to South Africa and NZ and they've been happy they did. Having had our own property over here for 4yrs there are some things I'm reluctant to sell, that have years left in them and we like, and we won't get close to their original price if we sold 2nd hand. Think I'll contact a couple of companies to get estimates. Looks like our car would cost about double what it did here, to buy, but we then have the costs involved to get it out there to take into account. Good think we're not moving for a little while yet, lots to consider

The goods we sent by sea took three months to get here too - soomething to bear in mind. Sent them off Feb and they arrived end of may - week before we did.

There are so many good family cars available brand new for decent prices.... some that you may not have had experience of that would be comparable to what you have there... what make of car do you have? Perhaps I can find something similar for you to consider??

Re the car: My dh has shipped his stuff the other way, from Oz to here when we got married.

He has an MGB he is devoted to and it got shipped over along with eveything else. I thought he was crazy doing it, but he told me you pay for the container and a container takes a car plus everything else he possessed, so in fact he lost nothing by shipping it over.

yeh I think you need to look at it long term - shipping an MGB to the UK would make sense - parts etc would have been a lot cheaper than if he had done it the other way. UK or European cars are very expensive when it comes to servicing - especially parts..... we thought about buying another renault but it was so expensive long term even though it was a fab deal. The parts and servicing worked out to be very expensive and the insurance can be frustrating as they insure the car here not the driver like they do in the UK.

my sis used Pickfords. Not the cheapest but she bargained with them for a better deal . She was very pleased, could not fault the service. No idea about charges for taking a car but I do know cars in Oz can be way more expensive than in the UK

my brother works in shipping.... i could give him your details and see what he could do you...

my email is [email protected]

Good point about the insurance Eidsvold, must look into that....our car is a jeep, so not sure yet about the cost of servicing, parts etc on an American car. Do you know if insurance companes there recognise the insurance you have had here, i.e. if we have 5yrs no claim bonus here? Thanks for that offer J, what area of shipping does your brother work in? We have friends in shipping, but none work in this area unfortunately and none ship to Australia.

I do know they recognised my aussie company in the UK. I simply got them to write me a letter saying I held insurance and had a rating one for however long with no claims.

So when I got back here - funnily - old company was a nightmare to deal with but another company was more than happy to insure us - both dh and I. Again we just had a letter from our english company saying how long we had been insured and what rating etc we had along with our no claims.

You might look into other options. I know you probably love your Jeep but there are sooo many types of 4WD's for crazy money here that you could look into buying. Or government auctions. We bought an old banger just to see us through for a while - ahd it for a year and then purchased an ex-gov't vehicle that was 2 years old with very little on the clock and it has been fabulous.

You have your usual Fords and Holdens but there are so many Asian makes of cars that are doing award winning cars and 4WD's. Is it diesel? As diesel is a good 10 cents more a litre than petrol here now.

here might give you an idea

I would suggest contacting a shipping company and get a full container as J.A.R.M suggested this would be much cheaper than a courier company it would take much longer but they would also have access to customs agents in Australia that would be able to help you clear the container through customs. Really do your research though as I know there are lots of different things customs need when clearing some items. If you needed a good customs agent in Australia I can advise you of one that is really great. Also a good shipping company is AGS their website if www.agsworld.com