CDM

Having relocated several times previously, I'm not enthusiastic about removal companies taking good care of our possessions during packing, loading, unloading and unpacking.

I'm hoping to arrange a container and the packing/unpacking myself as opposed to hiring a removal company. I just had a quote for total-loss insurance (container overboard, fire, theft - in other words, total loss of consignment) for 0.25% of the total value of the container contents. That's £125 for a total consignment value of £50,000.

The only thing that the total-loss insurance would not cover is if the container were to fall onto the dock whilst being moved about, for example. In other words, provided the whole container arrived, there would be no coverage for any breakages. It is bout 6 to 12 times cheaper this way (removal insurance comes in at anywhere from 1.6% - 3% of total consignment value).

Has anyone else done this or is thinking of doing this?

- CDM

tiredwithtwins

an old poster debbiemc did this about 3 years or so ago, and she said she would pay the removal co next time - the cost of packaging materials was high, and the stress of making sure it was all done correctly and itemised and labelled etc, she said was very stressful. plus the removal co do it in quick time, whereas it took them ages ...
pay to get it done properly - you dont save that much by diy!!!!

CDM

I already have the packing materials. I've bought heavy-duty, re-usable plastic totes - admittedly not the cheapest way to go but these boxes are indestructible and we can re-use on the other end. Much of our stuff is already safely packed and itemised. With some shopping around on the internet, I've found that I've been able to get packing material extremely cheaply compared to what a lot of plpaces advertise. I'm confident we will safe LOTS of money in the long run.

There's a good reason removal companies do it very quickly - they tend to do very shoddy jobs. At each of the removals we've had (4 major moves so far), we've found that you had to be literally watching over the removers to stand any chance of getting anything packed correctly.

I'm absolutely certain that doing it on our own will be better for us in the long run. What I'm interested in is to hear about other people's experiences doing it alone.

- CDM

JCSUPERMOTO

Hi chris
Fair play to ya mister!!
Any money saved goes in ya australia pocket dude
So,you actually pack it up and load it in to container outside house?
So any idea of process to door to door it please?
Bullets would be nice
And the main thing,costs and linkk to products and companies

If you gonna save a few dollars,at least share it with me

jase

Irish Gal

We packed, loaded and shipped our own stuff too. Having said that, we ended up having to get Crown to deal with the shipment once we reached Australia. You have to get a licensed body - who has all the credentials from Customs and Excise - to do it. We weren't aware of that so it was very stressful. Something that could be organised though I suppose.
Irish Gal

CDM

I don't have all the details yet, hence the question being posed. I've seen a few posts here in the past where someone has come on to advertise the fact that you can book a container to your door for around £1,500. You apparently get a few hours to load it and it's then taken away for delivery to Australia.

When the time comes, I'll get more detailed information but for now I'm just interested in how others have managed it. I really don't fancy paying £4,000-£6,000 to someone else to pack, transport and unpack the container at the other end.

- CDM