richie penn

thanks guys, i will have a look.

h2oskineil

I fairly sure you will NOT be covered by insurance for breakages etc if you self-load..... that is what I was told when we moved out 6 years ago.

Think about it, the 'professionals' know the correct way to pack items, make boxes and packages to transport large objects etc etc. I was amazed at the amount of packing material they used to pack our house, no expense was spared on the quantity of packing material.

The packers certify for the insurance everything has been packed correctly and detail the packing numbers on the manifest for customs at the other end. If there is an item the customs want to view, they have to be able to locate it correctly and I would suggest that extra costs would be incurred this end if they couldn't locate it easily. They wanted to view our BBQ, dining chairs and few other bits and pieces from memory.

chris955

We have done the self packing thing a couple of times and it saved us literally 1000's. We have suffered very few breakages and even then they were not important things. Packing stuff is easy if a bit time consuming. It would cost us more than $2000 extra for the company we are using to pack everything. You can only insure for total loss which for us has never been an issue. Its a no brainer IMO, do it yourself.

Shaz&Dee

When our container arrived in Perth we had a few broken bits and pieces and missing feet from furniture etc, and we had grief from customs involving horse riding equipment, lawnmower, & xmas decorations....they delivered the items to our address, then told us to find them in the boxes so they could take them away to be treated, even though they'd already been in our house! Customs wanted a few hundred $$ for cleaning decorations so told them to keep them!
This didn't put us off though when shipping our belongings back home, it was the price! A couple of hours work and you can save loads. We had practically everything sitting in our front room ready to just put onto the container...Gift! Nothing was broken either!

Pombat

Did you self load the container as well or did you pay for help with that? I'm sure we could pack everything by ourselves, but loading the container might be another matter!

Shaz&Dee

My and the hubby packed our container ourselves and it was fine, as long as things are well packed in together and furniture is wedged with old pillows, blankets, duvets etc. As I said earlier in a thread about this, have a look at 'you tube' self load containers and it gives you an idea of how to do it yourself. Its pretty straight forward and I would definately do it again!

rdashmore

I am an international freight forwarder (air/ocean/etc) that deals mainly with commercial shipping worldwide but dabbles in personal effects from time to time and between certain countries, if you have questions about self shipping your personal belongings I'd be happy to provide information and advice.

You can also get insurance for self packed moves, it costs around $1.00~1.50per 100 value of coverage (ie. 1.00-1.50%), with a $300.00 deductible for claims. An example calculation is $25,000 in value + freight cost + 10% additional = value for coverage. Divide this value by 100 and multiply by 1.25 and you have your average cargo insurance cost for a move. Just in case some offers you a really low rate, commercial cargo insurance is about 2~3x less than self packed personal effects insurance and is not proper coverage. The person above is correct, coverage is not for bumps and bruises, ONLY A TOTAL LOSS COVERAGE (ie. ship sinks), and you must ofcourse sign a couple obligatory forms and document the packing list.

Be prepared to take the risk for savings, most importantly for full containers moves - secure your items to the floor as much as possible (heavier items low and lighter on top, use blankets and any other packing materials available to provide blocking and bracing for fragile items. For groupage / LCL freight, be wary that another persons items or commercial freight could be stacked around yours inside a shared container potential causing damage.

As a rule of thumb, anything less than 200~300kgs or (440 lbs~660 lbs) in chargeable weight is usually best to go AIRFREIGHT. Volume weight is calculated as follows, l x w x h (in inches) = X cubic inches / 366 = volume weight. If using cms, then divide by 6000 to obtain volume weight. The chargeable weight is the greater of the actual vs volume.

Could keep babbling . . . message me . . .

rdashmore

As a freight forwarder, I can tell you that the quote you have received is fair and reasonable market value. It is being based on your volume 5x5x1.5ft = 1.06 cbm. Depending on the shipping port pairing your w/m ratio is likely 1 cbm/1000kgs (whichever is greater), your weight is only 300kgs, which basically means you could add some weight within the same amount of space and pay the same cost for ocean freight. However, your pickup and delivery cost by truck may change slightly.

Just replied to your 2010 post, chances are you've sold the tools and are living on a beach somewhere sipping a cold one.

Mummy3

Ok, I know have mentioned this before, based on recent experience, I need 3 companies to quote, any recommendations?

Butterfly Bokeh

Okay. we've recently been doing this.

First thing i'd say is we've heard good and bad things about ALL the shipping companies, not everyone is going to be 100% happy, that may fal on the side of the company or indeed the person whose possessions are being moved.

A friend used Robinsons the first time they moved, and they used them to come back to the UK. An said generally very good but they themselves needed to be more organised as the guys come in and are racing to box things up if you leave your diary near a book shelf it could get boxed - theirs did with useful info so box had to be unpacked again.

We had Robinsons come out to do an evaluation a few weeks ago and we both found him quite rude, very pushy and I actually ended up blocking his number on my mobile as he would ring to pester several times a week!
I rang and got a rough guide quote over the phone for the 20 and 40ft containers from Crown and WOW they were double nearly all the other quotes we'd asked for.
Pickfords I rang up and someone was supposed to call me back last Friday but still haven't heard from them!!
We had John Mason come round yesterday and were very impressed with the guy who came round, he wasn't pushy at all, very knowledgeable about the ins and outs and answered ALL the questions we had there and then, and gave us some very useful information.
We should be receiving an email tomorrow to give us the detailed pricing so I will let you know more tomorrow but unless there's a big difference in price from the rough quote we were given I think we will be going with John Mason.

I did read something on here about going to an independent company for the insurance but can't find the thread/ post now?

Bermudashorts

Just pick any three and then go with cheapest (even if it is not you paying why pay more than you have to). There really is nothing in it, there will be people with good and bad experiences of them all. I have never see anything on BE to suggest there is a stand out or one to avoid at all costs.

elice_in_oz

Indeed, it all sounds like it's down to the individual reps and staff more than the companies themselves.

ROMFT_WO2RN

Letton Percival http://www.lettonpercival.co.uk/, am doing the same research now Have 3 providing quotes, did try PSS but they couldn't quite fathom that we might be working and therefore be unable to sit around on a weekday

Mummy3

Can you pm me who the others are?

Butterfly Bokeh

Thanks for that .

It is a bit annoying isn't it when companies seem to think you have nothing else to do - hope you get some good quotes and find a co. your happy with xx