international moves?

a2lette

hi, we're planning a move from london to the US in late Spring or early Summer. i'm trying to budget for the moving costs, and finding this to be quite tricky. does anyone have experience they could share (companies, costs, websites to check out?)

in case it helps, we'll be moving no furniture, but probably way too many books (i'm guessing we'll get it down to 10-30 boxes of books from its current 50+), clothes for 2 people, some bedding, and some kitchen items (some pans and small gadgets and glasses, no china or appliances)

any ideas or thoughts? i have no idea if this is going to cost £300 or £3000, and really would appreciate having any idea at all of what we should be aiming for.

thanks in advance.

fbrj

It will depend if air freighted or by sea....probably the latter.

Movers tend to estimate by the "container load" - which is a standard size. From what you've said I think you would be hard pressed to fill 1/4 of a container!

I suggest you look up some international movers (eg Crown) and ask them - with the info you have provided here.

a2lette

thanks, fbrj. I've looked at a load of international removals companies websites, and the problem is that they don't tend to give estimates without sending someone around. we're not at that stage yet, and won't be for a couple months, but i was hoping someone would know a rough range for part of a container would run us.

i agree that by sea will probably be the way over, with a box or two of excess baggage on the plane for essentials.

thesaint

My father ships freight to the Caribbean, the companies he uses do not do the U.S. but they charge per cubic metre, they do not need to come around to give you a quote unless you want to them to pack e.t.c.

SammyD_2

We are moving to New Zealand with Anglo Pacific - give them a call, they will give you a quick estimate over the phone. Sounds like you will be doing a group shipment (ie your goods are combined with other peoples to make up a container). As a rough guide, we are paying £3500 for a full 20ft container, which is a whole houseload (four of us, and enough toys for a toy shop). And that is to NZ, so depending where in the US you are going, it will be cheaper.

izoomzoom

Hi

I used to working in freight forwarding and have moved country, and my advise would be to contact a freight forwarder. Unfortunately I can't make any recommendations as I don't know the UK market, but googling will help you come up with some companies.

Bascially you would need to tell them the dimensions of all the packages and the weights. I know that you don't have an idea of these at the moment, but come up with some sort of approximation and then get quotes based on that. Weigh a book and measure it and then times it up. You can always go back once you are more finalised and get finalised quotes.

Also, you will need to tell them exactly where to collect from, and at the very least the town of destination (although if it is a big city, you would probably get charged a local destination delivery charge as well).

The FF should also provide you with a quote for customs and shipping documentation, and make sure that you ask for it to be all inclusive, because some would love to add in extras.

You will also be surprised that air-freight although more expensive may end up cheaper. When we moved, we had about 5 boxes (about 10kgs ea), and I thought they would have to go surface (sea freight) but for a marginal 20% extra (I guessing) they eventually went via a courier company (most expensive air freight) and arrived within a day or two of us arriving (I had sent them myself).

Finally, are your books etc worth sending? My experience is that unless they are extremely valuable or cannot be replaceable (and you will definitely need / use them in the future), think twice about sending them. A few more notes in your wallet is a lot less to carry then tonnes of useless stuff. (Sorry if you don't agree, but it has to be said).

HTH

gil13

the costs depends on home much packing is required, to keep the costs down if you do a lot of the packing yourselves it will certainly help.