only that for a holiday home… cheap/nice stuff bought here in France might be the way to go… with any small bits brought over packed in the car…
It’s great fun working your way through the Trocs and the vide greniers…
Hi Chris, we bought a property near Pau with the intention of moving permanently out to France over a 2-3 year period. We found the options for hiring a van and moving furniture ourselves quite expensive. We finally settled on using a logistics company who provided a man and his van. He was Polish, extremely helpful, ie, helped with loading, arriving at our home in the UK when it suited us and arriving at our home in France 3 days later - again to suit our timelines. Nothing was missing and nothing was broken!! A huge sigh of relief. We are now in France permanently having used the service 3 times (huge volume of stuff collected over numerous years). The last van they provided was a 12 tonne with tail lift, with a payload of 6.5tonne which took the majority of the heavy stuff. There is little difference for access between a 7.5tonne and 12 tonne if this is of concern to you. I am more than happy to provide the details of the logistic company. It cost us just under £800 each time which was a lot cheaper than quotes we had received from removal/van rental companies. I should also mention that finding insurance for your household goods being transported in this manner is near impossible and admittedly on the first trip we had a few sleepless nights, but all came through without a hitch. Please note that you will have to help load/unload.
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My goodness, Petra. That sounds like a top result. I would LOVE the details of the company. Where are they based and where were you based?
Hello Chris,
Company is CRM Logistics, 01634 290222 ask for Matt Smith or Katie Town. They are based in Rochester and have a website crmlogistics.co.uk
We were based in Dorset and moved to north of Tarbes in the SW of France (dept 65). It really was as simple as telling the company when you wanted the van at your place, loading it and then meeting them to unload in France.
If you mention my name they will understand exactly what you are after.
Kind regards. Petra.
Having done this more than once, I can only describe my findings. “Hire it leave leave it there” appears to be almost unknown in France, and where it is known it does not cross boundaries. Hiring from, and returning to, Calais is a workable idea, but be careful when you hire, as it is incredibly difficult to get unlimited mileage in France. If this idea does appeal to you, hire on line, via the USA, as you can get unlimited mileage like that - I have done this. However and as was suggested, the least expensive option (IMHO) would be to hire in the U.K. and return to the U.K. getting a cheap form of public transport to get you to where you want to be before or after. Also, do be careful of the French trick of letting you pay for the fuel in advance, it appears to be less expensive that way; it can be but only if you return the vehicle completely empty of fuel - you will have paid for a full tank and do not get any money back if you return it half full. I always return the vehicle with a full tank of fuel. Finally, when you hire, you can get a huge extra insurance guarantee put on to your credit card, unless you purchase the extra insurance. This can apply anywhere, however, your credit card may protect you and, therefore, make this an unnecessary extra expense. Check with your credit card provider.
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French trick? I prepay for the fuel every time I hire a car from a UK airport and it has worked out fine every time.
When moving furniture I have never needed unlimited mileage as it’s easy to calculate a very accurate distance for the round trip. When hiring in the UK make sure that the insurance is valid in Europe and that you do not have to seek permission to put the van on a ferry. Some parts of Britain never did get the hang of being part of Europe. In France I have used vans from two supermarkets and two well known international firms. The supermarket vans were cheaper, newer, in better condition and had more ‘luxuries’.
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Aquitaine http://www.survivefrance.com/u/aquitaine David Martin http://www.survivefrance.com/u/aquitaine
July 4
French trick? I prepay for the fuel every time I hire a car from a UK airport and it has worked out fine every time.
When moving furniture I have never needed unlimited mileage as it’s easy to calculate a very accurate distance for the round trip. When hiring in the UK make sure that the insurance is valid in Europe and that you do not have to seek permission to put the van on a ferry. Some parts of Britain never did get the hang of being part of Europe. In France I have used vans from two supermarkets and two well known international firms. The supermarket vans were cheaper, newer, in better condition and had more ‘luxuries’.Visit Topic http://www.survivefrance.com/t/any-thoughts-on-the-best-way-to-transport-furniture-etc-from-the-uk-to-south-of-france/16758/17 or reply to this email to respond.
In Reply To
Tigger http://www.survivefrance.com/u/tigger Marc Arnall http://www.survivefrance.com/u/tigger
July 4
Having done this more than once, I can only describe my findings. “Hire it leave leave it there” appears to be almost unknown in France, and where it is known it does not cross boundaries. Hiring from, and returning to, Calais is a workable idea, but be careful when you hire, as it is incredibly d…
Visit Topic http://www.survivefrance.com/t/any-thoughts-on-the-best-way-to-transport-furniture-etc-from-the-uk-to-south-of-france/16758/17 or reply to this email to respond.To unsubscribe from these emails, click here http://www.survivefrance.com/email/unsubscribe/c2cb5d69905d58ab6b96def243b807876aa3d3602b777a4c7894f25e58dc3ce4.
David, you’re at it again.
- It may well work for you and I suggested that pre-paying for fuel would work if one returned the vehicle empty. I will now add, that it still doesn’t work for me because a lot of French supermarkets, e.g. Leclerc, offer fuel at a very reasonable price. So, I fill up prior to returning my vehicle - where’s the problem?
- You write that you hire from the U.K. and I was writing about France. Then, you write that you hire from French supermarkets.
- In France, if you pay for mileage and you have to travel a long distance, it is exorbitantly expensive.
- I have hired untidy and unacceptable vehicles from both Britain and France.
- I merely gave my opinion. please do not feel obliged to shoot me down when I give my opinion.
Finally, If your way of hiring a vehicle works for you, I’m please for you. If your opinion helps someone else to get a deal that works for them, I pleased for the help that you have given them. This is the point of a forum, to get many opinions which allow the reader to make up her/his own mind.
No. You’re at it again. I have hired in both the UK and France. You said that pre payment was a French thing. It is not, it is universal. When I have used the system in the UK it has been excellent. If I hadn’t been going to use more than a tankful I wouldn’t have been so stupid to take that option. However the system has saved me time and money.
In the past couple of years I have used a French supermarket van to collect a load of furniture from Germany using a mileage based on a ‘quote’ from via Michelin. The mileage covered was spot on and the van hire very well priced. Last year I used a van from a well known company in France to empty a U.K. flat for an elderly relative. They arranged the hire and paid the bill. The cost was considerably higher than the supermarket vans that I had used previously and the van provided was tired and lacked many of the features, including air conditioning, found in the cheaper option. I am not waging a vendetta against your posts, I am sharing my recent, relevant experiences.
In addition a near neighbour who moved back to the UK from France last year used vans hired from both countries. He found the French van hire to be much more straightforward and considerably cheaper than the British ones.
Sounds to me like the OP has a lot to take on board… and we’ve all come up with a wide variety of ideas…
When hiring/travelling etc…as always… get quotes and ensure they are like-for-like… and after that, it is up to individual choice.
So glad we are settled… phew… last time I said “no way will we ever move”… we were up and gone within 6 months… so you will note… I am carefully NOT saying that 
Personally, I can’t stand the pre-paid tank of fuel option.
When I’m trying to return a vehicle on time I just can’t be bother to be faffing around about trying to put in just a dribble of fuel so that I can return it super empty. You never know how accurate the gauge is so it’s impossible to do accurately.
I personally much less hassle to take it full and return it full and without the stress of worrying whether I’ve used all the fuel that I bought in advance.
On another sub-topic, yes watch out for the pre-authorisation of a large deposit against your card. We hired a van to take to Ikea and the deposit taken by the van company combined the low monthly spend limit from the bank(regardless of bank balance) meant that we couldn’t use our French Bank Card. Using a GBP bank card incurred about £80 of forex costs that I had to chase down in UK to eventually get refunded.
Thank you all very much for your tips/suggestions/advice.
I will take this discussion document and peruse it with my wife and hopefully we will find something that works and is not TOO expensive.
The last thing I want is for people to come to blows over my query!
Thanks again.
Chris
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Here on the forum… you will see that we act just like any normal family … (normal ?? 
)… sometimes we all get along and sometimes we bicker…
But, no matter, there is a wealth of experiences, both good and bad… and we share them willingly … 
A glass of something delicious is a good idea for the newcomer as he/she peruses the threads…
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David, please do not respond to any of my posts. I was brought up in a different way to you and I despise rudeness. I have mentioned it to admin.
If you go on to the anyvan.com website (no doubt other such sites are available) you can describe your load, location and destination, and see what bids you get from movers keen to do the job. I got a low price and good service from someone near Wiveliscombe whose name I have forgotten, who does regular runs to and from France.
Disagreeing with a statement and rudeness are two completely different things. I’m sorry that I disagree with your assertive statements at times but I do that because I believe that you are wrong. That is not being rude.
Here, here. Why is someone writing anonymously anyway?
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It’s OK Maureen… a long story… coming to an end any moment now…
He has left and his account has been anonymised.
Hi Petra,
I would love to have the name and number as we are moving our stuff from the uk to Brittany in October
Cheers Paul