Moving on the cheap - any advice?

continentalgal

Thank you for all the replies so far - lellie: I have a DC but I thought that car rental is only possible with a CC because of the protection/insurance/credit limit (?) on the card.

But in any case ... speaking of car rental, the more I reveal, the more complicated it gets :embarasse ... I lived a few years in the US and had to exchange my driving licence for one from there, anyway, when I returned here, I was told I had to apply for a replacement but I never did because it coincided with the health problems, and driving a car in my condition was really out of the question.

Not too long ago I enquired about the procedure and was told by the DVLA that I need to get hold of a document from my home country, which wouldn't be a problem 'cause I've got a copy here, the bummer is that it shouldn't be older than 3 months prior to applying for a UK driving licence which it isn't any more. ... are you still with me ... so, in a way I'm somewhat doubtful that I'll get this all sorted out in the remaining few weeks left before uni starts, and secondly, I'm not really sure if getting behind the steering wheel after 4 years of not driving at all, and certainly not on the left side of the road, would be such a good idea _pale_ ... and my concern is for other people, not myself .

danielle24: thanks for that advice - someone had told me about that option but I haven't looked into that yet 'cause I don't quite know how to approach removal companies about this. What you're saying is bad news - what exactly happened? Did your friend's stuff get lost? If it's not too inconvenient for you, I'd be grateful if you could find out the name of the company in question.

Connie

Savvy_Sue

I can't believe you're the only Aberdeen student who's currently in London ...

Now, I've never used it, but I believe there's a site called gumtree where you might be able to post a "Wanted, lift to Aberdeen for new student" post and see if you get any takers. Clearly you want to be cautious here, a bit like internet dating, but you might find someone willing to hire a small if you share the costs.

It's also possible that the Students Union in Aberdeen has a noticeboard (either online or IRL) where you could post such a wanted. Obviously many students will now be home for the summer, but there may be a postgrad or two still up there who might be spending a while in London later this month or next.

The thing which might limit this is if you're moving into student accommodation which isn't available until a set date. If you can be flexible it should be much simpler.

But if it did work, you'd even have a friendly face in Aberdeen to look out for!

LilMissEmmylou

Danielle that would be a very rare thing to happen if you ask me. Ive used that method before and am using it again this month to move my house from n.ireland to liverpool. its much cheaper as they only charge u for the space you use in the van. You just call them up and ask - "hey do you do shared loads for trips" its quite a common thing and wont seem like a silly question

Stubert

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Now, I've never used it, but I believe there's a site called gumtree where you might be able to post a "Wanted, lift to Aberdeen for new student" post and see if you get any takers. Clearly you want to be cautious here, a bit like internet dating, but you might find someone willing to hire a small if you share the costs.

Don't put your real email address on gumtree. If you do you'll probably be lucky enough to get 50 emails a day saying you've inherited a great windfall!

tomstickland

I've had a bit of a think about this, and using a courier like parcel2go or via interparcel might be the cheapest way, compared with hiring a van or paying a van driver to do it.
If you could split your belongings into 3 or 4 boxes that meet the requirements (under 25KG and certain dimensions) then you could do most of it for around £40. Then catch a train with your bike.

u2o

Im in exactly same position! Im thinking of using uni-move-it.com (ran by Cheshire Removals) service later this month for Manchester - Edinburgh, anyone heard of this company before? Its a part-load system.

Lilmissemmylou: what company have you used?

Danielle: which one was that, do you know?

continentalgal

tomstickland wrote: »

I've had a bit of a think about this, and using a courier like parcel2go or via interparcel might be the cheapest way, compared with hiring a van or paying a van driver to do it.
If you could split your belongings into 3 or 4 boxes that meet the requirements (under 25KG and certain dimensions) then you could do most of it for around £40. Then catch a train with your bike.

That's exactly the idea I had except I may have a few more boxes but still, it would be much cheaper! I think I'll keep that as my most-definite-plan-B-likely-to-become-plan-A! Just wondering if the courier would start asking questions if he (oops, is that considered sexist?) started
loading the boxes and noticed that they were all addressed to the sender's name?

The noticeboard thingy is also a great idea, I'll be going to Aberdeen next week, also visiting the uni, so I'll definitely check it out, thanks s_sue! As with gumtree, funnily enough, I occasionally browse through the rideshare category and got in touch with one guy offering an empty van to Aberdeen in August (= soon). Was hoping he might go there on a regular basis but nope I've had some ads on gumtree and have been lucky so far for not drowning in spam emails (I gather I'm moving soon anyway and will have to cancel my ISP account so can't be bothered after that) :rolleyes:

continentalgal

u2o wrote: »

Im in exactly same position! Im thinking of using uni-move-it.com (ran by Cheshire Removals) service later this month for Manchester - Edinburgh, anyone heard of this company before? Its a part-load system.

Interesting, I got the quote for £330 for the move from their website (Lon-AB) and I was thinking that was for an individual move, no mentioning of a part-load (or perhaps I was blinded for a moment from the tears in my eyes after seeing the price!).

u2o

continentalgal wrote: »

Interesting, I got the quote for £330 for the move from their website (Lon-AB) and I was thinking that was for an individual move, no mentioning of a part-load (or perhaps I was blinded for a moment from the tears in my eyes after seeing the price!).

Yeah when I phoned up (who were very nice), I asked how long it'd take to reach my destination. That's when they told me that it depends on when there are vans going in that direction - so im guessing that means sticking my boxes in a van with space left. FYI, it apparently gets delivered within a week. I was quoted £187.50 for my Manchester - Edinburgh move, still quite expensive!

ka7e

Partloads.biz have an online form that you can fill in and your details are passed on to companies that will quote for your removals. You fill in dates, locations and cubic area needed.