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Removals cost?


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I know it varies for each case but roughly what can we expect to pay for a removals company to move all our worldly belongings from UK to France.  What would you say was a fair price to pay?  We are moving from Wrexham to Aubeterre from a 3 bed bungalow with nothing out of the ordinary furniture wise except some stuff for our new home (12 big rolls of insulation mainly).

Thanks for any replies.

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Six years ago we had a professional? removal truck and draw bar trailer from Surrey to just north of Tours, cost £2500. I researched the possibility of doing it myself by hiring a heavy goods vehicle, as I had the appropriate licence, but with hire costs; fuel; return journey, ferry costs etc. and of course doing the work ourselves, I was happy to pay someone else to do it.When they arrived the trailer was empty, the contents were still in a warehouse in Surrey. [:D] I'm glad to say we didn't have to pay for the next delivery. Also as the temperatures were in the high 30's we had to buy fridge which to their credit the removal company paid for. [:D]
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No, Dave is replying to mine I think. 

Our unit is next door to Swifts, I will give him a knock in a few days.  I have someone coming to give us a price tomorrow night, I didn't want to ask anyone too close to home yet as only a very small number of people know we are going.  Owning a business that deals with lots of people I am quite well known, the damage that could be done to the business I am selling to a good employee is too much to risk (no one would probably care but like to play it safe).  That I feel a bit awkward asking a neighbour for a price then not using them if you know what I mean.

Did they move you Dave and if so how did you find them and how much did they charge if you don't mind me asking?

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Your probably right Crossy. Bit of a coincidence though as Swifts of Kingston was just down the road from where I used to live. Any way best of luck with your move and  new residence. Just make sure they have filled up the truck with all your possessions. [:D]
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hi ok

                    What happened in the end was they picked up the goods  the day we moved out , and they used a firm from Hull part load deal to deliver ... but we had to wait 3 weeks for it to arrive think it was ...wife says  £1800 ??? long time ago

                       Dave

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  • 2 weeks later...
Have just moved contents of 3 bed house from Nottingham to SW France, had quotes from both removal firms and 'man with a van' all around the £3700-£4000 mark. Used man with a van in the end but if I did it again would go for a removal firm, for the little bit extra the lifting and shoving is taken care of.

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Forgot all about this thread.

We had our quote through the other day, £3700 for about 34m3.  We could do it our selves for about £2k but it's one hell of a lot of driving.  I will try to get in touch with Swifts over the next day or two I think than make a decision.

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I did it myself from Greater Manchester to central Paris on a budget of £300. I hired the biggest van I could get and drive, used friends and family to help load up. The budget also included crossing the channel,  staying in a hotel near Calais overnight on the return journey, and a return to flight to Paris the following day (got a 1p flight deal). It was a lot of hardwork, but saved a lot of money. That was three years ago. Delivery companies wanted around £1500.

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Wow, that was cheap!

We are looking at DIYing it for about £2k.  We will need two journeys in the biggest Luton we can get hold of localy, we are looking at shifting about 34m3.  We want to take as much as possible in the 1st load then all out essential things in the 2nd.  Van hire with European cove £300 for 3 days, ferry crossing for the van £150 (on offer atm), iro £275 fuel and toll charges of approx £100, might be a bit less but better over estimate rather than under eh.

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[quote user="crossy67"]Wow, that was cheap!

We are looking at DIYing it for about £2k.  We will need two journeys in the biggest Luton we can get hold of localy, we are looking at shifting about 34m3.  We want to take as much as possible in the 1st load then all out essential things in the 2nd.  Van hire with European cove £300 for 3 days, ferry crossing for the van £150 (on offer atm), iro £275 fuel and toll charges of approx £100, might be a bit less but better over estimate rather than under eh.
[/quote]

 

  crossy67, I'm not criticising your intentions; just want to make sure you are not setting yourself an impossible task. Wrexham to Aubeterre and back in 3 days, are you sure? Also remember that vans are weight restricted, the cubic carrying capacity of  the vehicle is immaterial if the weight load is too high.

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I have thought of the distance quite a lot.  Here is the break down.

Leave Wrexham 3pm and take a nice leisurely drive to Portsmouth (237 miles).  Catch ferry at 11pm and arrive at Le Havre at 8am so a good 8 hours to sleep on the ferry (drug induced come more like).  Then a 6 hour drive to Aubeterre (600km) should see us there about 4pm.  Unload the van in 2 hours, go for food then sleep.  Next day drive back to Le Havre and sleep on the ferry again arriving back home at 2am.  Total driving 1218 miles in 3 days.[:-))]

Long days with lots of driving but doable thanks to the long ferry crossings.

There won't be a silly amount of weight, we have a lot of very light bulky stuff to take and apart from  the wood burner very little heavy so should be ok.  I hope!

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[quote user="crossy67"]I have thought of the distance quite a lot.  Here is the break down.

Leave Wrexham 3pm and take a nice leisurely drive to Portsmouth (237 miles).  Catch ferry at 11pm and arrive at Le Havre at 8am so a good 8 hours to sleep on the ferry (drug induced come more like).  Then a 6 hour drive to Aubeterre (600km) should see us there about 4pm.  Unload the van in 2 hours, go for food then sleep.  Next day drive back to Le Havre and sleep on the ferry again arriving back home at 2am.  Total driving 1218 miles in 3 days.[:-))]

Long days with lots of driving but doable thanks to the long ferry crossings.

There won't be a silly amount of weight, we have a lot of very light bulky stuff to take and apart from  the wood burner very little heavy so should be ok.  I hope!


[/quote]

   hi ok

                      Do not want to spoil the maths  but to average 100 kph  on french roads ....   folks  I give you  " THE STIG "

                                     Dave

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Via auto route not impossible by any means, google maps route finder gives journey time of 6hrs 5min, I usually make a good 1/2 an hour on tomtom's times over a 4 hour journey.  If it runs over and we end up having to stay in Portsmouth for the night on the way back is no big deal.  I am getting the van off a friend that owns the hire co so an extra day's rental would be ok and owning the place I work at means I can take another day off, so long as the boss doesn't mind[;-)]

I find working on 60km/hr is very accurate in France and not too far out here either.  I don't see average 62mph on a toll motorway as being that ambitious, add an hour for lunch and an hour to get off the ferry and onto the road.  We dock at 8am, aiming for Aubeterre at 4pm is 8 hours to do a 6 hour drive.

Watch this space, are we running a book on how we do?[:D]

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[quote user="crossy67"] I have thought of the distance quite a lot.  Here is the break down. Leave Wrexham 3pm and take a nice leisurely drive to Portsmouth (237 miles).  Catch ferry at 11pm and arrive at Le Havre at 8am so a good 8 hours to sleep on the ferry (drug induced come more like).  Then a 6 hour drive to Aubeterre (600km) should see us there about 4pm.  Unload the van in 2 hours, go for food then sleep.  Next day drive back to Le Havre and sleep on the ferry again arriving back home at 2am.  Total driving 1218 miles in 3 days.[:-))] Long days with lots of driving but doable thanks to the long ferry crossings. There won't be a silly amount of weight, we have a lot of very light bulky stuff to take and apart from  the wood burner very little heavy so should be ok.  I hope! [/quote]

I'm sure you'll manage it "crossy67" but probably worth tacking on a few more hours and an extra stop; I might mention I do this trip frequently, give or take a few k, by the time we clear the docks, we mimic the speed limit pretty much 130kph on motorways, (Van load capacity of 5.0m³ Payload (kg): 1,023-1,212,) hills & traffic etc two stops for P&T or D&C (10min each) and I've never done it under 6hrs, (worse was 7.5hrs). A friend recently came down in his Merc 7 ton flat bed with a tractor & furniture loaded up, took over 8hrs, (getting 16 k to the gallon). They took two days going back to avoid tolls and save some fuel (sleeper cab) I think he said lorries up to 12 ton are limited to 110 kph max on autoroutes and excluded 10 p.m Saturday to 10 p.m Sunday? Probably worth checking the limits for your truck.[:D]

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And there was I encouraging him not to do it himself!

Packing and unpacking the stuff plus all the admin is hard work enough and plenty of stress there already without taking this on, IMHO.

And, it's not like moving down the road to the other side of town, is it?  A long drive down Wales, across to the West Country, a ferry ride and then down to Aubeterre AND BACK sounds like not a lot of fun.

PM you later, JJ....

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Maybe it's not quite 'a whim and an adventure'...  but perfectly do-able, in a decent car the game was to try to beat 5hrs (within speed limits of course), the steed has quite an effect on timings, a box van dances around in a cross wind, generally doesn't go round corners (especially French motorway slipways where did they get those radii?), isn't first away on junctions, doesn't nip through traffic, and finally struggles to get up to 110kph. All of which adds hours to distance runs. Back to the original post though, probably the most cost-effective secure and safe way of moving possessions intact, if you're able.
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