Transporting Household Items

[john and deb]

I would appreciate the thoughts of anyone who has them on the following: -

We are thinking of hiring a van in January to take a few items of furniture down to the languedoc. Do I need to think about customs? Is there a better way? What is the attitude of UK hirers to taking their vans abroad? Does anyone know how much this may be (roughly)? If we did, do people offer the opportunity of collecting things to come back to the UK, for a small share of the cost? Has anyone brought back things for others?

Etc. Etc.

John

[Mazan]

>We are thinking of hiring a
>van in January to take
>a few items of furniture
>down to the languedoc.
> Do I need to
>think about customs?

Not unless you intend importing illegal or controlled items.

[bee]

We hired a van in June for 5 days to take over some furniture to our house. When I phoned all the different companies to get quotes none of them minded that we were going abroad but, of course, it is more expensive. It is definitely worth trying to haggle a bit - we got 5 days for the price of 4 from Budget, and we were able to pick up early and drop off late. I think it worked out about 55 a day, which is quite a lot.
We were asked what was on board the van and the customs had a quick look inside but that was it.
The only other thing is the mileage you are expected to do - we were given a limit on the number of miles, but we were only going to Normandy so this wasn't a problem.
Bee

[nicolem]

Hi John & Deb

We are doing the same thing on the 10th October with a hire van.
As long as the hirers know what you are doing there should be no problem. As for furniture all ours is old stuff not quite antique and we foree no problem.
We will let you know when we gwt back.

nicole

[Barbara Jones]

We have recently hired a van to take furniture etc to our flat in the Vendee. The hire company need to know the van is going abroad - they arrange the insurance. green card etc and we had unlimited mileage. It was really straightforward. Customs may want to know what you are taking so it is a good idea to either make a packing list or just carry some sort of proof that you've purchased a property. You will probably be checked when bringing the vehicle back into the UK because of the problems with illegal immigrants - just make sure you don't leave the vehicle unattended and padlock the back. I would also avoid arriving at the port in the dark. We had an afternoon crossing.

Apart from the illegal immigrant question the only real problem is parking the thing if it is the only transport you have while taking your belongings over. You will need a couple - maybe even four adjacent parking spaces at the supermarket - otherwise no problems.

Barbara