Removal companies and costs

[Rob G]

Hi there,

We will be moving from Warwickshire to the Ile-de-France region (91) in June this year. Does anyone know of a good removal firm that they would particularly recommend? And can anyone give us a rouhg idea of likely removal costs?

Also any other tips about the practicalities of removals would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Rob

[Penny29]

Hi Rob.

I'm afraid I've only negative things to say about the nig companies - they promise much in their pre-sales banter but the service eventually delivered usually falls far short.

In my own personal experience the "insurance" wasn't worth the paper it was written on, our instructions were ignored, goods were damaged and the "staff" consisted (at the French end) of one driver and one decrepid old man.

Were we to do it again we would DIY all our boxes by flying into France, hiring a van from French Hertz and drive it back to the UK to collect our stuff. For the large items of furniture we would simply hire a "one man and a van" from small adds in French Property News/Living France/The News & accept that we would have to do all our own packing/help with loading/unloading etc.

We used a large removal company, paid a lot and still ended up assisting with loading/unloading etc, so it isn't a case of getting what you pay for.

There are many many threads on the subject if you do a general search under "removal companies", "removals" etc - from memory some people have highly recommended firms from the UK.

 

 

 

 

[Chris Head]

I'm afraid I side with Penny here, we researched and were not impressed with either the costs (boy were they big!) involved or the lack of professionalism offered to us. In the end we decided to remove ourselves, luckily I have a van I need for my work and did it all ourselves, saved alot and bought some great memories!

Chris

[Racerbear02]

We bought a 40 ft artic trailer for £400 secondhand, loaded it oursleves then paid a man witha tractor unit to bring it across for a cost of £1000 including ferry, then sold the trailer over here.

Much cheaper than any quote we got and there wasn't the pressure on time of loading and unloading, we just unloaded the tailer as we needed it.

Good luck with your move

[Jeremy]

Dear All,

sounds like a few horror stories. we moved in 2003 and ended up with 2 luton style vans, total cost 1700 quid and a lot of hard work.. The removal co that did quote a good price were fully booked when we needed them, but would have cost 2,200.

For the 500 pounds it would have been worth them having all that driving, back ache etc, but there you go..

I would now suggest to potential movers, what do you REALLY want to lug around..Do you REALLY want it??

Try to minimise, justify and throw away JUNK..

When we finally arrived we found most stuff was the wrong colour/shape/size/design and so on..

Ayear or so on and we now have too much JUNK and I dread the thought of EVER moving again.

Anyway, good hunting, think hard on what you want to bring to France, then see whats the smallest vehicle  you can move it in.

A friend moved last year and 2 pantechnicons and a transit luton came to £20k with 3 months storage....

[Ron Avery]

Rob

You cannot get an idea of costs from others as the two biggest price factors are the cubic capacity and the distance, also if you have a small load you can get on a split delivery that cut the costs. 

We paid about £3000 for 40 Cu m ( a 4 bed detached house) to the Aveyron,  this isn't too bad as we know of a couple who paid £1000 in the UK to move a similar load 9 miles.

It does costs a lot to move to France because it takes time as lorries are governed by driving rules and few trips to France can be accomplished in one day due to driving hours restrictions.  We used Lapworths  of Leicester, they are on www.lapworthsRemovals.com.  The UK people are very helpful and the team we had for the move were excellent, they worked very hard packing in the UK and unloading  in France,   they were careful with everything and very professional in the loading of the lorry and trailer. I could not fault them, they were brilliant and fully insured.

On their site you can get an estimate of costs, you  enter your stuff room by room, this will give you a ball park figure.  They do have a packing service if you want it or if you want to do your own they provide all the packaging, boxes bubblewrap, blankets etc that you will need, all delivered to your house in good time so you can pack at your leisure, they also provide special wardrobe boxes for clothes to be hung up in rather than packed flat, they even provide the parcel tape and applicator. 

[Mayennaise]

We used Brittannia (branches all over UK). They were excellent when we moved over last May. As we were flexible with the delivery dates (we moved out of our house 6 weeks before we moved in here)they stored our stuff for free and delivered it two days before we signed for the house. The previous owner had already agreed to store our stuff when it arrived providing we insured it. When we came to unpacking - nothing was broken and even my treasured house plants had survived. Can't recommend them enough. Can't remember the cost, although we had several quotes and they were in the middle somewhere.

[Lizs]

We moved to Duras - Lot et Garonne last Feb. Cost £2K via ET Brokers, try their web site. They find quotes for you for a £0 fee only payable when you decide which you're having. We had the cheapest, 2 great blokes. Nothing fancy but all went well.

liz

[lindamarilyn]

Hi

We are moving with Rogers Removals, because we are lucky enough to be personal friends with the boss.
However they have done all our family and friends removals very professionally and reasonably.

So I feel I can recommend them on. They are London based but of course travel anywhere.

[email protected]  for quote.

www.rogersremovals.co.uk

Mention recommended by Linda and Peter 

[Dog]

I paid £2,200 no VAT to move 22 tons from Northampton to Perigueux.

The garden shed did turn up 3 months later, but they did only charge £100 for the 8x10ft shed.

Lowest other quotes were £5,500 and £8,200 both plus VAT - do shop around.

[Dave&Olive]

Funny just got a Quote in my hand from Swifts of Wrexham to move the contents of our large 2 bed house in N Wales to 79 for £1450 plus V.A.T looks like they have just got the job will phone them pronto before they change their minds

               Dave & Olive

there phone nos is 01978 721221

[Ron Avery]

D & O

Sounds about right, 2 bed house £1500 - 4 bed £3000, I wonder if  Dog brought his house over, 22 Cu Metres or 22 tons?  22 tons seems an awful lot of furniture 

[hoverfrog]

just had a quote from et brokers for £1622 for Wiltshire -> 87, which I thought particularly good as we have such things as a full size pool table, 4 poster bed and an upright piano, to say nothing of the trampoline!!

So, thanks to whoever it was mentioned them

[Dog]

They did move a lot of of books and cast iron items, litho stones, 7 motorcycles, 4 square pianos, various stone statues and large furniture.

I am presently lusting after some of that enormous French dining room furniture - the wifelet is coming around to the idea!