Best quote was from Clarke & Rose, offices in Aberdeen, Stirling and London. Other, very similar, was from Anglo Pacific - they also have offices in the south.

By the way, those quotes were without the insurance, which was to be 3% of the declared value. Hope this helps.

Thanks guys, a few more companies for me to try there. Interesting to see how the Calgary ones differ from the Eastern ones... The company I had round this morning said they don't use the Panama Canal anymore, everything goes via Montréal whether it's headed for the West or not. Weird! I guess we're in limboland in the middle anyhow but I just don't see why the road haulage charge should be so huge given the Canadian quotes I've seen and the price of gas there. Bah.

Biiiiink

Have you ever driven from Montreal to Winnipeg?! :scared:

I'd charge £4000 for just sheer bordom fee, never mind the gas! - trees, trees, rock, trees, roadkill, trees, trees, trees, small town, trees, trees, lake, rock, trees, trees, rock, trees, small town, trees, World's Largest Mallard Duck, trees, trees, trees, roadkill, rock, trees, trees, trees, rock, trees, small town, trees...

I kid...I actually love the drive but really, it's a looong trip, probably 2 days (? not sure how that compares with a trucker carrying a container). It's not surprising, to me, that it's costing as much as it is. Sorry

The price different would be about right, from what I've seen on the quotes.

From Canada to UK I've seen about $1,000 between the 20' and the 40' prices. Other than maybe space on the ship there's probabky not a lot of difference between the other charges. I.e you still need to transport to and from the ship, you still have the port fees to pay etc.

So we went for the 40', just because we would have had to do some significant 'trimming' to fit everything into the 20'. The difference in price was more than covered by the things we ould have had to leave behind and then replace.

Hi there

We've had 2 quotes this week. Bishops Move want approx £4,500 including insurance for a 20ft container although we've only got about 700 cubic ft of stuff..............this is from UK to Vancouver Island by the way ....................Robinsons agreed with Bishops on the cubic feet but said that they could fit everything into about 2/3rds of a container and if we would be interested in groupage (sharing) the cost would be approx £3,000-£3,300 and it would take about 8 weeks instead of 6.
Both of these offered 4 weeks free storage in the UK.

just out of curiousity, (not spelt right, I know!) looking at the prices the companies charge for shipping furniture, added to the value of the goods you're shipping, isn't it cheaper to sell your furniture in the UK, and buy new when you get to Canada? this must work out more cost effective

That very much depends on what you have in the UK. If its low end high street stuff then it could be worth it to sell (probably easier to give it away though). You may have a problem with the styles of furniture in Canada - think 70s or 80s and you would be in the right area. We are very glad we brought our sitting room furniture with us. Before I get blasted - its my opinion only - feel free to disagree.

Check my earlier post on the cost vs. value logic.

Mrs G

This wouldn't really have worked too well for me as a lot of the furniture I brought from the uk was family stuff that had been handed on - a pine dresser made by my great uncle for my great grandma and grandfather, my great aunt's sideboard, china from the 30's etc. I don't think my family would ever have forgiven me if I had binned it or sold it on...

The only other bits I brought were my UK bedroom furniture and a sofa and chair from my lounge in the UK. These had sentimental value for me too *shrug*

Our Ikea stuff has been ditched (it's seen better days anyway) and it's only antique pieces, minimal clothing and books that are going. And our big bed. I really can't charity shop/ebay/freecycle any more than we already have.

Banana, that's quite a price difference. We've had Bishops around, don't know Robinsons, not sure if they operate up here but I'll look into it.

Despite what HWPeas says, I still don't get why it should be £1,500 cheaper to Victoria (or any of the Ontario quotes) than Winnipeg, it's only 950 miles from TO to there for example. The company round this afternoon said they just shove it on a train. I'd love to know the cost price of that part of the journey. I'm sure someone's making a little more than a healthy profit

Anyhow, thanks again for all the quotes. Wish we could book it from the Canada end - seems to be half the price and double the space!

Biiiiink

It depends on how much stuff you're shipping.
I didn't have a great deal, so I just used FedEx to ship my clothes, CD's, photos and stuff like that.
Should have cost me about 800GBP, but I ended up paying 400 quid due to delays and incompetance!
Get quotes from FedEx, TNT and UPS first. That'll give you an idea what you should be paying.
Proper removal companies seem to be much more expensive as they charge for packing etc.

Bear in mind, it might be cheaper to sell all your furniture and buy new over here. That's what I did. Certainly there's no point shipping electrical stuff as it won't work in Canada anyway. Sell it.

I know I moved to Australia not Canada but had all the usual suspects round for quotes. I've heard lot's of bad things about Pickfords in the UK, both from people moving overseas and in the UK. As someone else mentioned they were totally disinterested in providing a decent level of service right from the off.

I ended up using John Mason, they impressed me from the start, prompt to reply, the estimator who came to the house was the only one who explained everything thoroughly. Also they assign you a move manager who is a single point of contact for the whole move.

It cost me just over £4000 with packing and insurance for a 20ft container. Their packing team were extremely good, very quick and efficient, the whole thing was over in a day and a half.

Took 12 weeks for the container to get to me with xmas in the way and the company used this end were also very good. There were a couple of very minor breakages but John Mason handled the claim very quickly and it was paid out in full.

Regarding the cost of moving I didn't think it was so bad, Picfords charged some friends of mine £3k+ to move from Sussex to Scotland so another £1500 for going halfway round the world didn't seem much

Have a quote for shipping our household goods from Hereford to Vancouver - 1 x 40 - foot container £3,650. Company is Caswell Forwarding Ltd in Mitcheldean, Glos. Our goods are already packed and in storage and so far, really excellent service.

This company was reccomended by a friend who used them to move his goods to Florida.

Tried many of the other 'major removers / shippers' but felt that we were just another client - needed to make up the weekly target.

Good luck

Three quotes so far from PSS, AlliedPickfords and AngloPacific - all for a 40' container ranging from £4937 to £5673. This is UK to Halifax,NS and EXCLUDES insurance which is 2.5% (PSS) or 3% (others) of the total value of your goods.
Think we're going with PSS. Also had BishopsMove to quote but we're still waiting for that one....
As for selling - tough one that. Problem is the second hand market for furniture etc in the UK is appalling (probably thanks to the likes of IKEA!). Keeping it all will also help the settling-in process especially for the children.
HTH

dkvl

Vancouver 600 cubic feet including indemnity for goods at 3% = £3500
One month free storage UK included
Shipping, customs clearance, paperwork, pack-wrap-stack-and-sort, uload to desination, unpack, place, remove debris.

Cheers,

Rich.

Hi I used Anglo pacific
Just over 500 cubic feet from uk to Huntsville in Ontario was £2700. They were great to deal with, not sure how the prices compare as its obviously not as far, but it may be worth getting a quote
Good Luck