Long distance removal costs

Paragon

Hi all, I am moving from Scotland to the Somerset in 2 weeks, all a very last minute move but unavoidable. I have all the furniture a normal 2 bed flat has so could possibly do it myself but it would mean driving down and back, a distance of 400 miles each way, possibly twice because I'm not sure it would all fit in a Luton van in one go. This would be very time consuming. I got a couple of quotes in, at £1600 and £1200 but that's a lot of money. A couple of others said they'd quote me by today but haven't.

I am very tempted just to pay for the removals so I follow in my car and not have to shuttle up and down the country as well as lugging wardrobes and beds upstairs but just want to make sure I'm not being ripped off at £1200. Any thoughts / comments?

Fire_Fox

Have a mega clear-out, then shift anything bulky yet worth very little on eBay/ Gumtree/ Freecycle/ charity shops and move the remainder in a Luton. Should save you enough money to replace the bulky yet cheap items using eBay/ Gumtree/ Freecycle/ charity shops or even brand new. Ditto the car, may be cheaper to sell it and buy another down there: if you rent a van from a national company you can do a one way trip no problem. Otherwise get rid of everything bar what fits in the boot of your car or can be stored in a mate's garage until your next visit and rent somewhere furnished. Having said all that only you know how much you value your time.

Cannon_Fodder

Got a 1-bed flat's contents into a LWB Merc - equivalent of Transit. A Luton should take the second bed stuff, esp if as FF says you only take what you really want to keep.

PasturesNew

Is your stuff worth more than the cost of the removals? It might be worth considering binning everything you can't take and buying new in Somerset. And/or do that and get a small man/van service for the stuff that you really want to keep.

Or, get some short-term self storage as far down the journey as you can bear to travel and hire a van now and get one load down there soonest, living with just the bare essentials you need now. Then on moving day you move into your new place with the bare minimum, then at your first convenient spare day, hire another van and go collect your stuff from the self storage. It will take some working out how much you NEED to live with between now and then - and actually working out how much you can really move yourself on the moving day... but it's a solution that enables you to spread out the work to be done.

dacouch

The problem you may be caused if you are contacting larger removal companies, this is because they will normally send a 7.5 ton or larger vehicle. Drivers of these size vehicles have to take breaks and are limited to how many hours they can drive in a day. On a long move like this it will mean the driver will need too complete it over two or possibly three days. So you have the labour cost for a driver and probally two staff for two or three days plus accomadation costs.

If you contact smalled companies they are often cheaper to start with and will probably send two vans with two drivers in each van and bash the job out in a day for a bonus / overtime. This could mean a much cheaper deal for you

Running_Horse

Get quotes from companies at both ends, as the going rate in one area may be much cheaper than the other.

TUS

I think I'd side with saving money and sucking up the time it consumes. Do it all yourself in a Luton. Get rid of anything bulky which is easily replaced. Pack the van VERY strategically and stop at a cheap hotel on the way down. Job done.

Worst case and you need to make 2 trips ... put the second load in storage in Scotland for a week or so to give you a break between the 2 trips. Do 1 way hires for both trips.

Paragon

I really not interested in binning and then replacing an of my furniture. I brought it in the first place because I liked it and need it so I'm not going to create more hassle and waste more time binning then re-buying things, least of all my car which I need to get to work when I arrive in Somerset. The 400 miles drive takes 7.5 hrs so no company is going to get it all done in a day even if they start packing at 7am they would be leaving Somerset until 9pm. I can't see the sense in putting anything into storage temporarily either since that involves time, effort and cost. Ultimately I have a 3 day window to move all my stuff down. I just want to know if £1200 is reasonable?!

dacouch

Paragon wrote: »

I really not interested in binning and then replacing an of my furniture. I brought it in the first place because I liked it and need it so I'm not going to create more hassle and waste more time binning then re-buying things, least of all my car which I need to get to work when I arrive in Somerset. The 400 miles drive takes 7.5 hrs so no company is going to get it all done in a day even if they start packing at 7am they would be leaving Somerset until 9pm. I can't see the sense in putting anything into storage temporarily either since that involves time, effort and cost. Ultimately I have a 3 day window to move all my stuff down. I just want to know if £1200 is reasonable?!

For a long distance move like this they would generally pack the day before and often load the majority of the items the day before so they can just turn up on the day to collect the remaining items and then set off asap. There are plenty of companies that would work until stupid o'clock so the times are not neccessarily a problem

Paragon

Paid £600 in the end, bargain I thought since it would have cost me £450 to do it myself plus loads of hassle.

RX-78

Thats a very good price for the distance! We had some quotes for 25mile move (ok, it involves taking things down from 3rd floor flat with no lift) for 2 bed flat to a house and they were 600 squids.