Advice please on shipping house contents ...
 

from UK (specifically NI) to NZ? We have no idea where to start!! If anyone has any advice or suggestions on this topic we'd be very grateful. I'm sure there are many pitfalls and potential problems to look out for ... and can anyone give us a ball park figure of what to expect in terms of cost? Any and all contributions welcomed :)

Thanks in anticipation,

Cathy

Re: Advice please on shipping house contents ...
 

Hey RedSails,

We were in NI and were planning a move to NZ, but then an opportunity for a 2 year stint in Singapore presented itself and we grabbed that. So we'll be moving to NZ in a few years time.

With regards to shipping from NI, you can contact

McGimpsey Brothers http://www.mcgimpseys.com/

or Baxter International Removals
http://www.baxtersmoving.com/

for quotations.

We used Baxter to ship our house contents to Singapore, word of caution though, keep an eye on their packing, the guys used 1 sheet of paper to wrap glasses, plates and other kitchen glassware, before boxing them. The result was a whole lot of smashed glass upon arrival in Singapore. Apart from this, their service was really good.

I think cost-wise it will probably be slightly more expensive than shipping from the mainland as they seem to load it all into a container and then take a ferry to the mainland and then down to whichever port they sail from.

Hope this helps and good luck with the move!

Re: Advice please on shipping house contents ...
 

Hi, we took all our belonging, contents of a 3 bedhouse and garage. First of all ring around and get quotes for at least 4 companies, we used Allied Movers (from the mov****.co.uk site) we got a discount and they were really good. Also look up, Whites, PSS, Pickfords (can't remember other off top of my head). We didn't take out marine insurance with the companies, but found our own through Letton & Percival, much much cheaper. A 20ft container cost us approx £3,500. you can hire a 40ft container you can also put your car in the container and pack your stuff around, there are rules on taking a car, which you will have to check out. Our belongings took 8 weeks, and nothing was broken when it arrived. There are certain things that you can't take and everything that has been in contact with the earth will have to be disinfectant with Jeyes fluid (it's all quite sstraightforward).

Hope this helps

Re: Advice please on shipping house contents ...
 

Can't be specific to NI I'm afraid but follow the advice above. Companies such as Crown, Allied Pickfords (who we used) have offices in NZ which makes communication easier. Pickfords were also able to match Letton Percival's insurance quote (we didn't need it - nothing broken or lost). Another popular company, and slightly cheaper is PSS, but they subcontract the NZ side.

Companies should come out to you, add up the volume of all your stuff and give you a quote based on that. We were then sent an inventory to check over and ammend if needed.

Definitely haggle. We had a quote from PSS for £3500 for a 20ft container but they couldn't guarantee we could fit everything in and told us we'd have to prioritise on the day and we didn't want that hassle. Crown did the same but quoted us £7000. We went with Pickfords in the end as they told us we wouldn't be able to fit everything in a 20ft but we could use as much as we needed of a 40ft which seemed like a good compromise, costing £4005. Crown dropped their price when we told them they were out of the running and Pickfords dropped their insurance and also guaranteed delivery to up to 40 miles rather than the 30 on their documentation as we knew we would be slightly out and didn't want to have to pay more. Packing up took 2.5 days, 7 weeks to ship, one week to get MAF to inspect and our boxes were delivered, wrapping removed and beds built for us 3 days later!

As said above, clean everything that's been outside in Jayes fluid and get it shiny! MAF inspected 22 of our boxes incl Christmas decs and can charge what they like to clean things if they want so it's worth the effort cleaning everything. We didn't bring our car (it has no value over here).

Re: Advice please on shipping house contents ...
 

thank you so much for this ... it has helped us to focus and it's good to know local, familiar companies can do this scale of a move ... enjoy Singapore and lucky you with NZ to look forward to :o)

Re: Advice please on shipping house contents ...
 

Hey,

We live in Bangor and had 3 companies come out on Friday and have got quotes.

3 bed house - taking everything but apparently we don't have that much so still space in the 20ft

McGimpsey's
Really liked them - very professional visit, but really friendly - it was one of the brothers and one of the others sent the quote
20ft - me pack boxes and they pack furniture = £2850
20ft - they do all = £3195
40ft (thinking of taking car) = £4800

Pickfords
Again very professional - slight sales element
20ft -2900
40ft £4500

Also had All route shipping out - they mess me about with appointment time and then where late and quote for 20ft was £3880.

Hope this help

Figures will give you an idea but you need a visit (they all looked round everywhere) and then you pick your insurance value (i.e. what everything worth) and it is 2.75% with McG and 3% with Pickford

Would love to chat more about your plans - nice to see someone local on here

PM me

Louisa:)

Re: Advice please on shipping house contents ...
 

MaF HATE rust, dirt and ought biological. You MUST not take anything of the flower, seed, shell, bone, teeth variety...basically anything that WAS alive except the treated wood that is your furniture. You also need to be careful re old toys..are they stuffed with straw....feather pillows and duvets can be an issue..check out the score on them. I had a victorian gazelle's head..needed a licence to take that!!!!! Did not take it in the end. CLEAN everything..fines are dished out if you are inspected and any muck found. They hate rust as it harbours spore et al. Clean, clean clean!!!

Re: Advice please on shipping house contents ...
 

We brought feather pillows & duvets with no problems at all. MAF didn't bother with them. More interested in our Chrismas decorations (looking for pinecones).

Re: Advice please on shipping house contents ...
 

Does anyone know whether you have to pay additional tax costs when shipping a car out?

Re: Advice please on shipping house contents ...
 

Regarding the car import...send a PM to robclubley..thats his avatar. He bought over a car. Dont think there is any tax on 2nd hand cars. Just lots of paperwork and tests that cost money. Cars are cheap as over here. You really need to work out what its value is in the UK..all the shipping costs and associated costs then look at what you get (probably for much less) over here. Look at www.trademe.co.nz under the motoring section..that's our ebay.

Re: Advice please on shipping house contents ...
 

Many thanks indeed Genesis ... I really appreciate your help and that of the others who took the time to respond :)

Re: Advice please on shipping house contents ...
 

thanks Genesis,
Will check the links and cheers for your advice

Re: Advice please on shipping house contents ...
 

Hi there

I would recommend that you ask does the company sub contract it's work. We used Anglo Pacific who appeared to be great. What we didn't know was that they sub contracted to a smaller company & they weren't part of the glossy brochure !
I would also recommend that when they load the van that you put on all your priority stuff first , sounds like common sense but it wasn't for us. We were assured throughout the packing that everything would fit onto the container then youv'e guessed - it didn't so- they asked us what we wanted to leave !! It was like a scene from national Lampoons holiday - The packing took 2 days & a dfferent crew on both days so ask do you have same people as this will help.
They also packed ALL my OH's shoes which we had asked them to leave so he had to unpack all the boxes they had packed until he found them. It is soooo funny now ( well to be honest it was funny for me at the time as well:rofl:) but the point is anything you dont want packed leave in a friends house !!
Good luck

Re: Advice please on shipping house contents ...
 

OOOOhhh forgot to mention - check the insurance - we had quite a few damaged goods, not surprising seeing the man jump on top of stuff trying to squeeze it in !! but as with most insurance claims you have to do a bit of running around which isn't easy when you can't get quotes etc .

By the way the removal men this side doing the unpacking were FANTASTIC :)