I cant give any info, just a comment.

I left the furniture in the UK and brought the marida,

with hindsight it would have been easier to bring the furniture and leave the marida in the UK

Hi
I Used Britannia
I have mixed feelings about it. They have a service (under a different name) where they can deliver you a trailer to fill up yourself and store for a while until you're ready to have it shipped. This was very useful for us as I was moving my business etc and I had lots of IKea furniture that I could dismantle.
It took us 3 truckloads though and even so I left behind my favourite sofas and now wish I hadn't.
I paid around 3,000 pounds. But I'd say it was well worth it to bring more stuff rather than less and yes, I brought all my white goods etc. Remember to bring UK extensions and a few fuses though. You can change the plugs later.
HOWEVER Some of my items went missing and some were damaged. But the goods did actually arrive in a smaller white van. Apparently they have a depot in Malaga area and they offload and reload to take to the final destination. The guys who arrived finally were pissed off because of our space saving tactic of taking apart the Ikea furniture and packing the drawers real tight!. They said they were paid too little for the job. Not my problem of course but it didn't make them particularly happy or careful, especially as they were offloading onto a building site in the first day of what seemed like a winter of endless rainfall.
Given how expensive white goods are and how frankly S*** Spanish sofas and much Spanish furniture is, I'd recommend bringing more rather than less. Unless you're going for Ikea style, it's very difficult to find good furniture at a reasonable price here. Also, as the £ is now much lower against the euro, furniture here is comparatively much more expensive.

Well .... the only way you can be completely sure that your goods will arrive untouched and safe would be to ensure that they are not transhipped at any point. That involves a dedicated vehicle that is sealed. Not a trailer, has to be a box van or container. Thats an expensive option.

The moment you use a shared service, the chances are that it will be offloaded into a depot somewhere, and then transhipped into another vehicle. The possibility of damages or thefts are increased greatly. I know, I've seen goods being transhipped in warehouses.

This explains, as I said before, why I felt it was worthwhile hiring a van and doing it myself. Firstly, it's cheaper ... and secondly you are in complete control of your valued effects

When I move within Spain that is how I am moving, I will not use moving companies. If I ever move out of Spain I would do the same.

Thanks a lot for your comments, they are very helpful. We might consider hiring a truck and do it ourselves...

- DOMINO: Please let me know your experience when you move, the website looks quite serious. Good luck!!!

- MITZYBOY: If we do our own moving as you did: what papers, insurance, etc are needed? Can they stop the truck even within the EU? It would take 3-4 days driving. We'll be going to Valencia city. Even living here I used to work in some small villages, but that is not a problem if they are well connected by train and transport is so cheap here, or just the car. In England we live in zone 6 and just getting to work to London is almost 200 per month for the same distance. And that was for never finding a seat and always fighting for space and air with all the other commuters... not to mention all the times when there were delays or even cancellations.
What I do criticize in Valencia is the stupid decision of only providing normal bus services till 10:30pm. That is ridiculous in Spain and especially in a place like Valencia. When I asked about this they said that it is done to avoid paying extra hours, which is totally B*PEEEEP*S: they simply have to change the contract system to avoid using changing turns and fix the working hours paying a bit more to the later ones. BUT: as in everywhere transport unions have the people's hanging decorations well grabbed and know how and when to squeeze them.

- ANGIESCARR: In Valencia there is a long tradition of making furniture... precisely that is the reason why Ikea has not been able to open a branch in Valencia yet. But I'm with you, some of the furniture I bought when living here was total C*PEEEEP*P. Some was not, but in the UK you normally know the quality by simply looking at the price and that is not always true in Spain. Again, when something deserves to be criticized one has to leave patriotism apart.

I think we will bring our telly, computers and whites and simply put adaptors or just change the plugs as you recommend. Money will be going fast and we'd better keep that in mind.

Did any of you experience problems at customs or something like that? I mean, moving between EU members.

Thanks!

You dont need paperwork. Insurance, I didnt bother because I was with the truck all the time. We were stupid. We did it in one hit .... 24 hours straight through with 2 driving. It is theoretically possible for your truck to be stopped, just as it could be in the UK. But unlikely. The route we took was motorway toll all the way through. The price I told you includes all the tolls. If you go to an insurance company I am sure they will be able to provide removals insurance

From Calais to Valencia is 2 days driving. You will be able to find a hotel with secure parking. Depending on the route you take, I know one in Valences that has a fenced locked car park. Also you would need a tail lift box van with padlock facilities to put your mind at rest

If you qwant more details on route and organising it, then please ask and I will be happy to help

When we moved we used a company based in Fuengirola (can't even remember the name, but it wouldn't be of much use to you for Valencia anyway!). We weren't bringing furniture or white goods as we already had a fully furnished house here, although with hindsight, as others have said I wish I had bought new sofas in the UK and had them brought over at the same time as the choice and price is much better there, IMO). We thought we wouldn't have much to move, but ended up with 63 boxes anyway. Some of it was fragile stuff like my 2 collector's dolls houses and all the furniture, high end hi fi equipment, etc. and we had no breakages at all.

We packed all the things ourselves, numbered all the boxes and labelled them with our name and Spanish address, and I made a typed list of all the box numbers and what was in them so I would know which room the boxes needed to go in when they arrived. As the movers brought each box into the house I ticked it off on the list so I could be sure nothing was missing.

The only (slight) glitch was that the guy arrived a day early to pick up our stuff in the UK - not a mistake, he just arrived earlier than he had planned so rang us to see if he could do the pick-up that day. He had to wait a few hours so we could finish packing and labelling the last few boxes!

If it is electrical, i.e. plugs in, anything, bring it !

We moved 4 years ago from the far North West of Scotland to Catalonia. We used Pickfords.

We bought all our furniture, washing machine etc etc as well as all our personal stuff. Pickfords did all the packing - very professionally I thought and locked everything into a sealed container which was stored in Inverness. We were given an inventory of all its contents.

When our house in Spain was ready we gave them a couple of weeks notice ans everything got shipped out here. I had expected the same sealed container but in fact the driver had a load which contained 3 customers possessions. All our stuff was there except for long ladder which had not fitted in the original container. The ladder was on the inventory and we had taken out their insurance. We told them how much a replacement would cost here in Spain and they paid up immediately with no problem.

I've moved house within the UK lots of times and this move was no different, just further. I would happily use them again if we ever go back to the UK.

Movers must like ladders. That's one of the things which went missing from our load!

That is the best information posted on this forum this year.

The problem is, we are all looking for cheap and unfortunately this cheap end is where all the cowboys hang out. A Reputable company is what you need, and will probably end up being cheaper when all has gone well too.

If you could post some idea how much this cost? I think there are times when paying more gets you more. Not always, obviously, and to fend off errors I should say there will always be exceptions & blunders in every outfit! But if, for example, Joe Bloggs is charging €2,500 and Pickfords is charging €3,000 then the 500 would be worth it. If the variation is very different, well... you literally pays your money and takes your choice.

I had good experiences with el Trallero, I know the name is hideous but they made a great job moving our stuff across Europe!

The op seems a bit concerned over being stopped. Why? Are you going to be bringing something over that you maybe shouldn't be?

We moved over years ago and brought most of our stuff in a big box trailer. Taking the trailer back to the Uk and we were stopped at customs. They wanted to see inside the trailer - claimed they were searching for illegal immigrants and that maybe some had stowed away inside our trailer.

We used a haulage company for most of our heavy boxes. Never again though. Some boxes missing, and we even had a call from someone in a part of Spain we'd never heard of saying they had one of our boxes included in their stuff.