Self Move

[powerdesal]

I have just had a visit from the first of the shipping companies that I contacted. Shock / horror, it looks like we will need a 40 foot container not the expected 20 footer.

The surprising thing was their comment that it would be considerably cheaper to ship to a UK port as opposed to France.

The thought then struck me that I could ship to (say) Southampton, clear the contents and immediatly load into a self hire truck and drive to France. The problem is that I have no idea who / where to hire a UK truck from. I think I am cleared to drive up to 7.5t (?0) but is this enough for 40 cu m of stuff.

Before I start major internet searching  can anybody give the benefit of their knowledge in similar circumstances of self hire trucks to France.

[Alex H]

Just a quick stab from Yell

A Mercedes 815 Atego is 7.5 tonnes and has a load space of 32cu m.

BUT

it only does 18mpg - OUCH [:'(]

and is £104 a day in the UK

[powerdesal]

A very quick and dirty calculation using your figures TP (assuming I can squeeze the stuff into 32 cu m ) come out at about £750, including the ferry.

Whilst I don't have the actual comparitive quotes yet, on the basis of the assessors verbal pricing I am well ahead doing the truck hire thing. A rough saving of at least another £750 - £1000.

Further refinement is needed after receipt of the quotes.

A quick question, do the hire trucks in that size travel normal ferry rate or freight rate, I assumed freight rate.

[vervialle]

I used a removal company to take a part load down to the limousin and it worked out cheaper than van hire.They would be happy to pick it up from a port, I think the one I used was French Moves,they were very pleasent to deal with and they quote by the cubic metere, am not sure if they are still in business, but it might be worth getting a quote from a few and they would certainly be beaten down a bit at the moment as business is quiet.

[Alex H]

[quote user="powerdesal"]

A quick question, do the hire trucks in that size travel normal ferry rate or freight rate, I assumed freight rate.

[/quote]

Sorry, don't know that, always use the tunnel myself [:D]

[Tressy]

[quote user="powerdesal"]Before I start major internet searching  can anybody give the benefit of their knowledge in similar circumstances of self hire trucks to France.
[/quote]

I only moved from N.W England to here, but did do the self drive with a van the same size as you're proposing.

Are you going to be unloading/re-loading the 40 cubes yourself, assuming it'll fit? (It won't, don't do it!).

It took some doing - 4 people at one end went pretty quickly, apart from the rows, of course.[;-)]  The two at the other end really struggled. [:'(]There were maybe 6 very heavy/big items, but it was mostly boxes of stuff, and plants.  If it's just you, consider that you may well need help at either/both ends of the loading-travelling-unloading.

If everything you have doesn't fit, do you know someone who can store the excess, on the day?

Would you be driving the whole length of France, or to somewhere ooop north? The fuel for our move was v.expensive.[blink]

Then there's the cost of returning the hire vehicle to consider. That's either built into a multi national-company's quote for you to drop off the hire van in France somewhere nearby, hopefully, or you will have to manage and fund it (and your return) separately. £££

We paid normal rate, not freight, but it was 5 years ago. 

Only you can do your sums, but even from our home base it was really hard work, much more expensive than it promised to be, and we had to replace all the stuff that wouldn't fit in the van, too...[:-))]

Best of luck though. You must be getting excited.[:)]

[powerdesal]

[quote user="vervialle"]I used a removal company to take a part load down to the limousin and it worked out cheaper than van hire.They would be happy to pick it up from a port, I think the one I used was French Moves,they were very pleasent to deal with and they quote by the cubic metere, am not sure if they are still in business, but it might be worth getting a quote from a few and they would certainly be beaten down a bit at the moment as business is quiet.[/quote]

Thanks Vervialle, that sounds like a good idea, I will pursue that line.

[powerdesal]

[quote user="Tressy"]

[quote user="powerdesal"]Before I start major internet searching  can anybody give the benefit of their knowledge in similar circumstances of self hire trucks to France.

[/quote]

I only moved from N.W England to here, but did do the self drive with a van the same size as you're proposing.

Are you going to be unloading/re-loading the 40 cubes yourself, assuming it'll fit? (It won't, don't do it!).

Thats the worrying part

It took some doing - 4 people at one end went pretty quickly, apart from the rows, of course.[;-)]  The two at the other end really struggled. [:'(]There were maybe 6 very heavy/big items, but it was mostly boxes of stuff, and plants.  If it's just you, consider that you may well need help at either/both ends of the loading-travelling-unloading.

I wouldn't even attempt it on my own, I anticipate using son in law at least (big strong soldier) who should be on leave at that time.

If everything you have doesn't fit, do you know someone who can store the excess, on the day?

Major worry point there.

Would you be driving the whole length of France, or to somewhere ooop north? The fuel for our move was v.expensive.[blink]

Short journey in France, Cherbourg or Caen to Villedieu LP

Then there's the cost of returning the hire vehicle to consider. That's either built into a multi national-company's quote for you to drop off the hire van in France somewhere nearby, hopefully, or you will have to manage and fund it (and your return) separately. £££

I factored in the return ferry and return fuel, I forgot the people prices, I would anticipate walk on / walk off ferry crossing.

We paid normal rate, not freight, but it was 5 years ago. 

Only you can do your sums, but even from our home base it was really hard work, much more expensive than it promised to be, and we had to replace all the stuff that wouldn't fit in the van, too...[:-))]

Best of luck though. You must be getting excited.[:)]  Not excited, more worried.

[/quote]

[Jacqui Too]

More food for thought: If you hire a 7 1/2 ton in the UK will they hire it to someone who does not have a UK address.

Can the shipping company guarantee the date that it will arrive in UK port and will it need to clear UK customs? I know friends who waited 4 weeks for their container full of furniture from their US home to be cleared through customs at Harwich (They stayed in my holiday cottage as they had no furniture to put in their new home!)

Where will the transfer from container to your hire vehicle take place, at the docks? Will they let you spend several hours loading it up?

You can find out about whether it is freight by trying to see if you can book it with any of the ferries on-line if not then it probably is freight, but actually freight is sometimes much cheaper that passenger/ car.

[powerdesal]

I have an acceptable UK address.

The shippers will clear the consignment, they are usually pretty accurate with pick up dates, I have had stuff shipped before and have always had a collection date, after clearance.I believe there is a specified demurrage period , after which you have to pay storage charges.

I believe you normally have time / place to unload your stuff into your own transport.

As it happens I believe that Vervialle has the best suggestion and I have already contacted the company suggested, and others to get the full story and quotes.

Thanks for the thoughts and the thought provoking points / questions.

[witsinfr]

[quote user="powerdesal"]I have an acceptable UK address.

The shippers will clear the consignment, they are usually pretty accurate with pick up dates, I have had stuff shipped before and have always had a collection date, after clearance.I believe there is a specified demurrage period , after which you have to pay storage charges.

I believe you normally have time / place to unload your stuff into your own transport.

As it happens I believe that Vervialle has the best suggestion and I have already contacted the company suggested, and others to get the full story and quotes.

Thanks for the thoughts and the thought provoking points / questions.

[/quote]

Powerdesal

As one who was in the 'business' let me help you with a couple of points.

1). Port storage: Most (but not all) shipping lines allow upto 7 days from the actual date of the vessel before beginning to charge for the space in the port your container is taking, after the first 7 chargeable days it will often increase per day for the following week, thereafter it gets very expensive.

2). Container demurrage: Again working from the actual date of arrival of the vessel at the destination port, most shipping lines allow 7 days freetime for you to 'have' the container, charging normally from day 8 until such time as it is returned empty to their appointed depot.

Don't confuse these two charges, with personal effects it is very important as most lines will charge you BOTH CHARGES. The reason for both charges being payable is that the shipping line probably own or lease your container, but they don't own the port that you landed your container at, hence the second charge of port storage as well as demurrage.

Some lines amalgamate the port storage/demurrage charge, calling it simply demurrage, but it is worth checking to make sure so that you don't get any nasty shocks.

As far as delivery of the container to your designated discharge point, a 40' container would normally have a free-time of between 3-5 hours to discharge before they can start charging for the excess time.

Take it from me, my 'French' clearance/delivery agent thought that they could pull the wool over my eyes when they caused a delay in my container, it ended up with them having to swallow 5 days of charges...[:D]

You know my email address, if you have any questions I can probably help, have been in shipping/logistics for 20+ years, hence my pleasure in setting the agent 'right' when trying to stitch me with extra costs on a fully prepaid room to room shipment.

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

How would insurance be affected? If something breaks during transit to the UK (it did with us when moving my mums stuff out to Oz and then bringing a bit back to France 10 years later), but obviously you won't be able to check until you get it home and unwrapped, the insurance company might not pay up claiming that the damage was caused between the UK and France.

[powerdesal]

I am sure the insurance company would do exactly that.

Depending on the cost difference (I don't have the quotes yet), it may still be acceptable, we actually have very little of any real value that can be broken to an ireparable (sp) state. That shouldn't be interpreted as "poor Steve", but most of our stuff here is ordinary household stuff, not works of art or fine china etc. Of course my tools are a different matter, but again, its probably difficult to really brake most of them.

The most delicate items will be the granite and marble worktops which would be expensive to replace.

Most breakeages (if they occurred) would be an annoyance rather than a catastrophy.

[Russethouse]

Any point in hiring the van in France and travelling to the UK, at least when you were finished, you really would be - not have a van to return.

[powerdesal]

I'm really hoping that the idea from Vervialle works out best.

I had a visit today from Allied Pickfords who seem quite realistic about the idea that Pickfords UK or Pickfords France do the changeover at Southampton. I await their quote with interest (or trepidation)

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Alex H"][quote user="RobertP"]Thanks for this post. I too considered a self move, after seeing the costs. I've done it before. But I was a lot younger then and we had less stuff. I have thought that this might be a good opportunity to get rid of some of it:) But I think I'll hire someone this time.

Bob
[/quote]

Why do advertisers never read the date on the last post?

[/quote]Well spotted, Alex.  He certainly fooled me.  I never read anybody's links under normal circs but I'd been foolish enough to respond to this one because of the special needs child.[:@]

I've reported you, Bob, but if you're genuinely thinking  of coming here then I appologise profusely.  If not then I think your use of a disability to wheedle your way into a bit of free advertising on this forum truly stinks.