My Wife and I are going through a house purchase that will see us take ownership in Mid December.
We now need to pan our exit from the UK and move our goods over. Can anyone advise the simplest and inexpensive route to getting our furniture and belongings over to Civray in Vienne? Quite a few of the shipping companies are looking for huge amounts of money.
Any guidance would be welcome.
Thank you.
Alan
Definitely recommend Whites. We used them this year to move to the Aveyron from Rutland. Professional and honest. You may need to be prepared to help load and unload though, so worth asking that.
Having moved 13 times in about 25 years I have experienced a number of removals companies. In general the big companies might cost more but they are professional and the service they provide is worth every penny. The worst I experienced was a France/Kent based ‘family’ company who turned out to be no more than white van man with a trailer. It was an experience best forgotten!
William, thanks for the advice. The quotes I have received so far have been very mixed and when you ask for
details on the insurance they tend to stammer and look the other way.
I will be using a professional organisation such as Whites. It will cost me more but at least my goods will be safe.
Hi Alan
Be very careful if you use anyvan, we have had some items recently brought over and the guy that did it lied about how much he could carry therefore he only brought part of the goods, then when he finally got here the items in the trailer were soaking wet and damaged as he didn’t have a proper waterproof cover.
So be very careful when you get quotes from them.
Bill
Thanks Julian, I have been on their site and requested quotes, I will see what turns up. Also thanks again to White's as recommended by Judi Williams.
I didn't think anyvan.com was particularly good value - I have tried them a couple of times.
Thank you for the recommendation, they have been very quick to respond.
We were doing work to a large part of our new home and we had three drops. We had items in storage for some time and all told with three drops it was half the price we were originally quoted.
We now live in Southern Burgundy, which is not as well covered as the South west of France and it really saved us money.
"Adventure" is a good word! Thanks to a massive traffic jam I missed the Hull-Zebrugge ferry. They put me on the next one out which went to Rotterdam! That added an extra country to the journey! :-)
We did pretty much the same, i doubt there will be much change from £3K who ever is used for removals but doing it yourself is cheaper but more work but all part of the adventure
I moved from the Tyne Valley to Pyrenees Atlantiques with Anglo French removals of Kent.
This company was superb, the men on the ground so helpful, and not even one broken glass.
They do full or part loads.
I would highly recommend them.
We rented a 7.5 ton truck from K2 vehicle rental in Knutsford and moved ourselves.
There are agents (as Jane has said) who are in touch with removal firms who look for return loads (French or English in either direction). When you get a quote, it sometimes means the firm is quoting for a full load out and empty lorry(s) back. Search on Google for an agent or look at websites like Rightmove.
I got some very high quotes (moving from France back to England) and told them they were ridiculous and one immediately halved his price! The removal firms themselves hand work around and the firm I eventually used, sent a different company altogether.
It all depends on what you define as expensive. We are moving across next week and had quotes ranging from £3300 to about £4000. It also depends on such things as which channel crossing they use. judging from the other comments up to about £4000 is normal.
We moved over from North Yorkshire 3 months ago and used a company that we have used a few times called North West Removals (previously known as Hambletons) in Ramsbottom, Bury. Very reasonable cost and a first class service.
Many thanks for all the constructive responses. I found Whites and they are responding very quickly.
Hi Vivien
It is a company called Smart Moves in Lytham Sr Anne’s. I moved from Stockport. Steve, the owner is a lovely man. Good luck.
I will be moving to France from North West England eventually. Can you message me the name of the company? Thanks
We used Whites, pretty good and not too expensive.