Any recommendations please...moving Jan 2011 UK to Sydney

Thanks

and generally, when would we need to start talking to removal companies..what notice do they need?

We used Crown and cannot fault - used them again for the move from Sydney to Melbourne and again very good.

We contatced them about 2 months before the move to get quotes, we also sent our stuff a few weeks before we left the UK to give it a head start.

We are moving UK to Sydney Dec 2010, so we are in the same boat. I have Crown and John Mason coming out to do a quote in a couple of weeks. John Mason have a really good virtual website.

I suggest you just start getting quotes etc asap, so you get an idea of what size container you will need.

Regarding shipping your mini cooper, try karman shipping, the website gives you all the details of the paperwork you need in place before shipping and all the hidden costs on arrival to Aus.

Do a search. DB and Crown are very good. I've contributed some posts but can;t be bothered typing it all again

4 weeks should be enough but obviously the earlier the better

Just had a removal done by JA Coles - http://www.colesremovals.co.uk/ Two months is good to book them in but they can do it on a few weeks notice usually.

Coles were good, fast and by far the cheapest. Goods were house to house in 6 weeks. In all cases with all removalists it depends on the quality of the local UK staff and the Australian staff, and despite best intentions of management they can be variable.

Tips- initial and count every box- its not Coles that lose stuff but you are at risk during the mandatory AQIS unpacking and inspection either from AQIS or more likely the local agents Coles use. We lost a couple of boxes somehow.

hi

we used pickfords and got them with all the others to come and quote about a month before leaving ( although i would give it longer i normally fly by the seat of my pants )

got all of our prices in and then started haggling

we went with pickfords and couldnt fault them in any way both over here and back in the u.k

i believe that it is the luck of the draw with removal companies as some people have some real horror stories but i think that if you go with one of the big boys you should be o.k and if you have problems it is just unlucky

also haggle with the insurance as i had pickfords match my cover / price with the cheapest i could find it via the web

Also haggle with the cost of shipping as well as insurance - say one usually matches the price of the other company and you can shave a few hundred pounds off with optimistic prices. You can play one off against the other and you should win!

Tip: before you ask a question, do a search (click on search on the horizontal salmon-coloured bar at the top of the page). You'll probably find more useful threads on the topic than you'll get useful replies to your new thread.

We are just about to sign up with Coles. Also much less expensive than any of their competitors and one of the few which promises to deliver my motorbike to my destination residence along with all my other stuff. The others all said I'd have to collect the motorbike from a depot ...unless I pay an additional fee.

Thanks for the tip. Losing boxes is a bit of a worry. It's near impossible to list everything for insurance so am thinking of listing just the high risk items like my CD collection, computers, glass panelled cabinets, things that I would be gutted if they went missing or were damaged, etc.

I used Anglo Pacific. I have heard good reports and bad. My experience was all good.

Let me add my experiences on Anglo Pacific from today...

I'm moving to Sydney in December and booked with Anglo Pacific - they have been awful.

Took a deposit from me then didn't confirm recipt of it in writing and when delivering boxes to me this morning I got a generic text message saying, and I quote "...boxes have been dropped outside your address". I live in a block of flats on a busy street in North London. Sure enough, I went straight downstairs to the main door and no boxes. Didn't ring the bell, didn't call me, just a text and then no boxes. i called him, no answer. Then I text him asking why he didn't ring the bell or call - no reply.

Put in a complaint by email first thing this morning to their Customer Services and to the guy I spoke to when booking - have heard nothing back. Have asked my bank to refund me the deposit and will leave them to sort these idiots out.

A bunch of cowboys - AVOID!

I had Anglo Pacific, Pickfords, PSS, and Robinsons. I had no follow up calls from Anglo Pacific or PSS. Pickfords i was not convinced by as they were the only ones who said i would never fit evrything in a 20ft container, Robinsons were great and offered so much other info but were the most expensive however have got them to price match and are going with them. Emma

We moved to Sydney ealier this year and moved with Harrow Green, service was excellent from start to finish

Try http://www.lettonpercival.co.uk/insu...or-emigrating/

You can insure for say £20k and then list the most critical items of value. They have a questionaire which goes though everything you need to list.

They cost about 1% of total goods value as apposed to the shipping agents which are typically around 3%.

Thanks S, that's a big money saver!