K(5)D

Hi, am new to this forum. I have just successfully gained my Aus visa and we are going through the process of trying to decide what to ship, etc. We have had several shipping companies in to measure and quote us and we seem to be stuck trying to choose between two - Allied Pickfords and Britannia Castles. We were wondering if anyone could give us some advice which will tip our decision in either direction? Allied Pickfords' quote was (on approx 220 cu ft going groupage) £1,300 plus 3% insurance plus IPT and Britannia's was £1,297 plus 3.675% insurance including IPT. Both companies have been very professional in dealing with us so far and we're having hard time choosing. HELP!

Also, a question on insurance...any advice on whether it is better to use the shipping company's insurance or is it better to outsource it separately ourselves?


Ken & Leah Chynoweth-Tidy

framac

No visa yet but welcome. I see people saying Pickfords are good and getting other insurance, J Wason if I remember

Suni&Jay

Welcome to the mad house.

Do a search for removals/Shipping, there are lots of post regarding this.

stubbyholder

re insurance ......... http://www.lettonpercival.co.uk/. I think their rate is 1.5%(try a search)
S

ladywithatorch

I'm in the same position - -have had a load of quotes but can't decide.

John Mason's and PSS I'm stuck between. A word of warning on Letton Percival.....apparently they are much cheaper but no-one can afford to claim from them as anyones excess is %3 of the total cost of the whole quote(please tell me if this is wrong) as opposed to just the one or two items claimed upon.

This is just what I have been told. We have decided to give our stuff a value of what we would like if the worst was to happen......for example...... £300 at 3% will give us £10,000 if the ship were to sink and we lost everything.

Can't be ars*d to value every single item when alot of it we wouldn't be bothered about if we lost it - - -but to replace it would cost more than taking it.

Hope that makes sense - - it doesn't to me and I know how it was meant to sound

xRachx

coffeebean

We have used Excess International they have been fantastic - their communication is sooperb - The rep who came intitially was very professional and helpful and in no way pushy.
( We had 2 other companies round and felt they were by far the best - one company took a week to replyh to my initial phone enq which made me wonder how they would deal with my call should there be a problem at a later date)
The lady at the office has replied swiftly to my emails and the lads who came to pack were fantastic - professionals.
The whole thing has been a lot less stressful than i imagined.

Regarding price make sure you compare and advise the other companies of your better quote as they all will come back with a reduction.

Insurance we chose Letton Percival they are half the price of the shippers own and i beleive some shippers use the same policy. It is very easy to arrange and again the people at their office seem to know what they are doing.

Hope this helps - good luck

stubbyholder

Oh....Is that so? -didn't relise that their excess was 3% of the total value.

How does that compare with the shipper's insurance deal , I wonder? Anybody know? or had any problems with LP?
S

coffeebean

we have insured with letton and it cost £68 to insure £4300 - if we need to claim excess is £100

framac

Hi Ken and Leah,
Welcome and hope the info helps. Question: What is 220 cu ?. Just roughly

Luma

"1.53% if goods are professionally packed. the policy is subject to an excess of £100 or 1% of the total value of the consignment excess whichever is greatest"

Sue from Manchester

John Masons were very good. Friend used PSS and they got charged for cleaning the outside of the container! We have had a couple of items damaged and so we'll see what their insurance is like.

vb2

hi we used Independent freight and there were fabulous, all in all cost us about 300 quid!!! we shipped 3 large boxes containing personal items, eg. photos, shoes, dvd, cds etc. and for the same price we could have had more!! but we didnt want to bring everything over, the company we used goes on the size of the boxes and not the weight which was great, therefore we could have had 10 boxes provided they didnt go over the height and length restriction!!
as for insurance we arranged our own also cost us about 26 quid!!
nothing was broken or even cracked which we didnt expect therefore it was money well spent
pm me if you want any further details
regards
vb2

K(5)D

Hi Framac

200 cu ft is around 6m3 ( very roughly) so it's only a small load

Ken

Centurion

PSS very good for us. Had no problems except with the port of Brisbane holding up everyones container at the time. Recommend them.