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Original poster

Long distance removal costs

24 replies

YouCanCallMeA1 · 22/09/2021 15:11

Moving 300 miles and the quotes for removals are coming in at around £4.5k (4 bed house, books but not cluttered) PLUS £1.5- 2k for packing.

Have costs skyrocketed recently or am I just really out of touch with costs and it's always been like this for long distance?

OP posts:

Original poster

YouCanCallMeA1 · 29/09/2021 14:41

Update to this: quotes are now £5-6k including packing because of concerns about fuel supply and cost.

I can't find any way to make it cheaper!

OP posts:

BIoodyStupidJohnson · 29/09/2021 14:50

We paid just over £5k for a 400-mile move earlier this year, including pack and unpack. It was an excellent service but the other firms we asked for quotes were in the same ballpark so I think this is just what it costs.

For us the expense was (partly) due to having to store overnight, and have separate teams at each end, because it couldn't all be done in a single day. Not sure if it's the same for you on 300 miles.

gogohm · 29/09/2021 14:52

I paid £1200 12 years ago no packing so it sounds about right based on how much things have increased.

Bing42 · 29/09/2021 15:10

Literally paid £5k the other week for a 400 mile plus removal inc packing 😔 So much money isn’t it?

dontblamemee · 29/09/2021 15:24

I paid £1600 3 years ago to move a 3 bed 200 miles. Not including packing as I did that myself. Sounds like costs have increased a lot 😵

Hebeee · 29/09/2021 17:11

We paid £4300 in 2007 for a 200 mile move (no packing service) from a very full six bed house.

More recently we've paid between £2k and £3.5k for smaller quantities over a similar distance (again, no packing service), but as the last time was over three years ago and we once again have increased our stuff, I'd guess it would be considerably higher. So your quote(s) sounds about right to me.

Stickyblue1987 · 29/09/2021 18:16

We moved from south east England to NI last year and it cost £3.8k for delivery and a full packing service. We used an NI company which proved a lot cheaper. Local quotes were coming in at between 5-6k. They were excellent!

AppleStars · 29/09/2021 18:58

That is mental, we moved from Australia to Ireland at the start of last year and it was just over £4000 to ship a container home, including packing and unpacking at both ends! Insurance was about $1200 (£700ish) on top.

DreamThrum · 29/09/2021 19:28

We are moving 150 miles and have quotes for around £2k (4 bed house, no packing included)

FerretFumbler · 30/09/2021 18:54

That sounds extortionate. I moved 250 miles over the summer and paid £1000. Didn’t include packing. Obviously doing it all in one day as opposed to loading one day and then unloading the next is cheaper but more stressful, but very pleased with my guys and would definitely recommend them if you are in the Midlands area.
I used a comparison site which gave me a handful of quotes.

sallyisstarstruck · 01/10/2021 21:30

We moved roughly 300 miles last week. They packed the 2 bed house in the morning of day 1, left at lunchtime and arrived at the new house late morning day 2. Cost £3500 which was the cheapest quote we got.

OlafLovesAnna · 01/10/2021 21:34

Oh gosh that's a lot.

I've just been quoted £1250 for packing and removals for moving less then a mile which made me wince a little but it seems that that's the going rate.

Tealightsandd · 01/10/2021 21:39

That sounds about right sorry OP. It is expensive but they have their costs including as a pp says sometimes overnight.

Someone I know paid around £800 for a student move 300/400 miles home. That was no furniture or packing or anything else.

(A good example of why people who can't afford to live in their home areas that have become expensive - eg. London or Cornwall - 'just move somewhere cheaper).

Mother87 · 01/10/2021 21:54

www.shiply.com/ I' ve found this company to be very reasonable - you post the job & wait for replies to come in...

Ekofisk · 02/10/2021 13:54

Four years ago we did a 600 mile / 3 day move that came in at £3.5k including packing for a 5 bed house. We chose a company that had bases close to either end, so it was just the driver that came down and a couple of guys were sent from the depot local to our destination (but we did get several quotes). They kept the costs down by getting a backload though.

We had paid £1000 for a 1 mile move with packing the previous year.

Very surprised at the packing cost - we have only ever paid around £200 extra over for packing. Books are straightforward to pack in the special book boxes.

Also surprised at the cost of shipping from Australia to Ireland - we shipped transatlantic over 20 years ago and it was well over $10k for a 20ft container back then.

Ealaigh · 03/10/2021 14:42

We moved from London to Ireland recently, £4500 including partial packing (we did a lot ourselves). 4 bed upper floor flat to 3 storey townhouse.

Tiredteacherxxx · 03/10/2021 16:22

@FerretFumbler

That sounds extortionate. I moved 250 miles over the summer and paid £1000. Didn’t include packing. Obviously doing it all in one day as opposed to loading one day and then unloading the next is cheaper but more stressful, but very pleased with my guys and would definitely recommend them if you are in the Midlands area. I used a comparison site which gave me a handful of quotes.

I'd love the name of the Midlands firm you used! Thanks

GoinSouth · 03/10/2021 18:12

Recently paid £1400 for a 2 bed ground floor flat travelling 160 miles, no packing - 2 vans due to all my garden tubs. Other quotes were same or more. The lowest, £750, the guys didn't even bother turning up.

InpatientGardener · 03/10/2021 18:21

Moving 200 miles, quote of 2k no packing but all packing stuff provided. We did have one quote of 1750 but the guy that came out was very odd and inappropriate so decided it was worth 250 extra for professionalism. I did actually barter down the company we're using by 200 by sending them the lower quote and explaining we would rather go with them. I found different companies did a long distance move different ways and the cheaper option involves them taking the stuff to their depot the day you complete then driving it down to you the next day rather than doing an overnight stay.

InpatientGardener · 03/10/2021 18:23

To add that's a 3 bed semi with a standard amount of stuff.

StrongerOrWeaker · 03/10/2021 21:16

We did it ourselves. Rent a van and did several trips. Can't remember how much it was. Probably just a few hundred quid. It was only 150 miles away though.
Lifting the washing machine was a killer I must say!

Chipsahoy · 04/10/2021 12:20

It’s horrific. We ended up doing it ourselves. Sold tons of furniture, got a van and moved it up over a weekend with three trips. It was utterly exhausting but it only cost £500. What we saved we can now get brand new furniture…

Original poster

YouCanCallMeA1 · 04/10/2021 20:12

I'm weirdly reassured that it's not just me boggling at these prices, and also that they seem to be about the going rate.

Doing it ourselves isn't an option unfortunately - 5-6 hour drive each way, small children, pets, and a LOT of books. I just can't.

The thing that's pushing the price up apparently is that the working time directive for HGV drivers means that the move has to happen over three or four days to comply with breaks from driving. And a fully loaded lorry will do that journey in 7 or 8 hours.

OP posts:

Ekofisk · 04/10/2021 20:39

As above, we did 600 miles over 3 days - Day 1 was load up and lorry away by lunchtime, driving as far as possible and overnighting. Day 2 was lorry driving down and overnighting close to our new house. Day 3 was arrive early, unload and away by lunchtime.

Drivers can drive 9 hrs a day, with 11 hours rest.

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