Rosie Lee

We've had a return shipping quote from Allied, for a complete pack to the UK from Vancouver for $15500 CAD, based on the sole use of a 40ft container with 1600 sq ft. If we go Groupage they can drop a further 1500-2500 off.
This is a bit more than we expected considering Allied/Pickfords moved us here for £5500 for 1300 sq ft!
Is this just a "everything is more expensive in Canada" thing? Or are they trying to pull one, not expecting us to get quotes elsewhere! Has anyone else got some suggestion for movers back to UK. I'm waiting on a qoute back from Europack.

kirstyp

I think it's most likely a case of things being more expensive in Canada, you get the same with flights I think as well.

You should always get 3 quotes, just to make sure there are no anomalies making one really far out.... check the FIDI website for a list of certified movers in your area. It might be worth getting quotes from UK companies as well as those based in Canada to do a comparison? A Canadian mover will use a UK company to deliver, whereas a UK company will deliver itself but arrange a Canadian mover to collect. Might be worth a try?

Sally Redux

How long ago did you move over? Is it exactly the same stuff?

You should get some more quotes anyway.

Immi-Grants

In 2006 it cost us approx 5000 GBP for a full moving/shipping service from Scotland to Calgary, based on a 20ft container. In 2014 we're doing the reverse journey, same 20ft container and being quoted $12,500 - $14,000.

Rosie Lee

Thanks very much guys, good idea to ask UK companies to see if their costs are lower than Canadian ones, but considering what Immi-Grants was quoted, it doesn't seem too bad!

jaysangha

We looked at Canadian movers and they are more expensive than the UK. So we went with the guys that moved us to Canada in the first place (Excess Baggage) and they quoted in Sterling for only a tad more than what we paid when we came here 6 yrs ago. Moving next year. Excess use an affiliate (FIDI approved) in Toronto who would do the full service at this end. Good luck

feelbritish

We are also going to be using the movers who shipped our stuff here and get them to quote in Sterling. They seemed cheaper than the Canadian companies. I would say that yes, Canadian companies can charge more and will rip you off if they can! Same with most services here!

Vadio

Have you considered arranging your own container? Obviously you pack, load, unload etc. but if money is an issue, that's definitely the way to go.

We've done it 3 times now - US to UK to US to UK.

Tirytory

Vadio...how about insurance on you doing it yourselves? How does that work? What does the container work out to be?

Vadio

Our last container was 3 years ago, and door-ro-door on the transport was around $3500 US; another poster here recently got one from VA (he was near the port at Norfolk VA) for around $3K US to the UK, with additional road transport payable on that side (they wouldn't fix that price as the $/£ rate was going haywire).

We insured via the container company for move #2, but last time we didn't bother. Basically the insurance only covers damage if they drop the container or some other crazy thing happens. If pirates get the container vessel, you are SOL; pretty much the same if the ship runs aground somewhere and the 'salvage hunters' come in. Having said that, the insurance was pretty cheap.

The biggest cost can be the land transport if you aren't near a container port, but that's still likely to be cheaper than a moving company. DH had sent other containers with non-household goods all over the universe so had a lot of loading experience. You need some strong bodies and you need to plan your load so your weight is evenly distributed. That may sound difficult, but it's really not.

Hope this helps!