Organising an international move

[internationalbeeboo]

Hello, I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right place, but does anyone have any insights to share about organising an international move? We are planning to move from France to Scotland in July 2011, we hope to reduce our flat down to about 10 cubic metres of boxes (massive clearout!) and I don't know whether it's best to hire a van ourselves and drive up, or try to find an international removal company... We are doing this move ourselves (I mean, not because we are being transferred to work abroad), so I want to keep the costs down to a minimum, but without being silly about how much we can physically do ourselves... I have seen some prices quoted on the big removal sites and it scared the life out of me! And then I've also heard stories about people using cheaper solutions and never seeing their stuff again! Does anyone have any tips?

Hiya,
I can share what we have found out so far, as we are in a nearly similar situation. Moving from Brighton to S.Alps France and were quoted just over a grand for 350 cubic feet. Apparently thats roughly a third of one of those big articulated lorries. We looked into the cost of hiring a box van and driving ourselves. (With the ferry, fuel, van hire for 4 days, B and B), it worked out nearly the same if not a few hundred quid more to do it ourselves. Plus you have the stress of driving there and back to return the van and then flying back, which ever order you do the travelling. With the stress of the massive amount of driving, loading, unloading etc we figured it was worth getting someone to do it for us. We still haven't chosen which company, it's still a long way off til we move. The quote we got was from 'movecorp uk'. We will chose a reputable firm thats been around for a long time etc. There's plenty out there from what i can see on the internet. The firm that quoted us said you have to be a little flexible on the move dates, as it is a shared load. Also as its a big lorry its worth finding out the access to your house and arrival house. We might have to unload our belongings down the road and ship it up the road in a smaller local van.

Sounds stressful and costly, but, in the end we figure its worth it instead of selling and re-buying your furniture and belongings, which would be even more difficult and expensive.

Hope that helps a little, let us know how you get on, we would like to hear from people who know a good firm or can give advice about moving too!

Good luck to you and your family

Hi,

I don't know if this is too late to be helpful but I have only just started reading here and noticed this thread. We have moved a fair few times (about 13 I think), the last two were international moves, firstly from UK to France and then France to Italy (Paris to south of Rome).

For the very good reasons listed by kissdelphine I wouldn't consider a DIY move unless you really have to. (I also wonder if you would have any problems at customs?). For both international moves we were fortunate that it was paid for us, and we were able to use an international removal company. The second one we used was especially good, it was a difficult move to organise with a flat in Paris, a house in the country in France, being moved at different times, some things going into storage and all to arrive in Italy on the same day. Also, we had to use a shuttle van to bring our stuff up the narrow lane to our house, with the big van parked about a mile away. Not easy but the company were really good. They are a Scottish company (the removal men were from the UK) but had an office in Paris. I can't remember the cost but it wasn't outrageous for the service, and they were by far the cheapest quote. I am sure they also do part loads. I'm happy to give you the name but not sure if thats allowed on here?

If you want the name of the firm, or any questions I'm happy to help if I can,

Good luck to both with your moves

Hello kissdelphine and Alisonitaly, I just logged on to let kissdelphine know that we've decided to go with a company called Clark and Rose. Alisonitaly, I wonder if this is the one you used as they are based in Scotland! We're going to do a part load removal, they've been the best quote and the most professional that we've heard from. The only tricky bit is that part load removals are based on availability, so we just have to say when we want to move and keep our fingers crossed that they have a lorry in our neck of the woods at that point.

We're going end of June, so I'll update on how the move goes.

Thanks so much for taking the time to write about your experiences!

kissdelphine we used a company (possibly French) based in the UK called RGTS to go from S Bucks to near Nimes - cheap and good!

Hi,

It was Clarke and Rose we used! They really were very good, far better than the first movers we had going from UK to Paris. We found them very professional (I felt really sorry for the two removal blokes - it was 35 degrees here when we moved in and they had to work with 2 Italians who were providing the shuttle van who spoke no English and it took them about 10 hours to get everything in, but they did a great job). With us, I know they worked to get the dates we needed etc. sorted out, so hopefully they will do the same with you.

Good luck with the move, Hope it goes well