Does anyone know what the average removal costs would be from SE UK to the Alicante area and who are the most reliable and trustworthy company about, ta

Have contact for a very reliable and reasonable person, family and friends have used him, will pm you contact information this afternoon

Ive said it before, and I'll say it again ... theres no such thing as a totally reliable removals company, and I'll tell you for why. Many of them used self employed teams and owner drivers, the competency of which vary. So one person who uses a company gets a good service, and the next with the same company may not.

You can do it yourself, which with a 25 cwt luton box van will cost you less than £1500. Two days there, two days back.

Or if you use a removals company ask them if they the drivers and teams are their own employees, or do they sub contract.

Also, I've put this up before, but heres something I wrote a while back from my experiences in the International Freight Industry:

One of the most difficult experiences in re locating is the actual shipping of your worldly goods and chattels. Not only are there a huge number of companies offering you the opportunity to use their services, but they all tell you that it will be trouble free and that all will arrive at destination in good order. In reality this is often far from the truth. We’ve all read posts from people arriving at destination only to find that their furniture is elsewhere. Whats that old saying? ….. breakfast in London, dinner in New York, luggage in Bombay!

Here are a few hints from someone who spent his life in the ever so stressful shipping industry and is glad to be out of it!

There are so many different destinations worldwide that it’s difficult to be specific so I will generalise as much as possible. If you want specific help then I have contacts in the industry and can point you in the right direction.

Get three quotes from different removal companies. Prices can vary enormously. Many carriers will not honour insurance claims unless they have packed the goods themselves. When you get their quote ask about full marine insurance cover (get a separate quote from them) and check their conditions of carriage carefully. Check to see if they are members of the British Intl Freight Association (http://www.bifa.org/Content/Home.asp )
It doesn’t mean they are perfect but at least they will be an established company.

Gain separate quotes for insurance. Again be careful about the conditions of cover, i.e. do the goods have to be packed by you, do they have to be packed professionally. How extensive is the cover. Check the exclusions and look for clauses about “atmospheric conditions”. If your goods arrive damp (usually deep sea long voyages) you don’t want the insurance company copping out.

If you pack your goods yourself, always make up a detailed packing list in triplicate of what is in each box with a nominal value (I’m assuming the effects are all used and not new). DON’T attach this to the box but number the boxes (and the packing lists) and keep the list separately as it will be required for (a) the shipping line (b) the Revenue & Customs and (c) you. Mark each box with your destination name, destination address and a destination telephone number.

If you are shipping to sea voyage destinations then your effects will probably ship in a steel shipping container. Although these are checked regularly it is not unusual for holes to appear. When you receive your goods you must check them carefully for wet damage as they come off the container. Once you have signed for them it will be more difficult to make a claim.

If you are shipping to Europe then it is more likely that your goods will travel in a box van / truck. The same rules apply when receiving the goods although quite often the effects will have been transhipped at least twice (unless you’ve commissioned a full load) before they get to you. Also remember that if your new home is in a difficult location then the effects may have to be transhipped to a smaller vehicle. Again, count the number of cartons and check for impact / wet damage.

If (in the case of international removals) the cartons have been examined by customs then there will normally be evidence of this. In the UK they are re sealed with security tape. If any cartons look as if they have been tampered with then call it to the attention of the delivery driver and then open to investigate.

Buy decent tri wall boxes to pack your effects in. Most removal specialists will supply them. Try to avoid cardboard boxes that you bought your last supply of baked beans in. They will collapse in transit.

Complaints: http://www.removalsombudsman.org.uk/yourqas.htm

Google: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...ociation&meta=

Marine insurance: http://www.marine-insurance-uk.net/i...=google&kw=all

Ta very much mrs jdr, appreciate your help

Mitzy, thanks. It is a dilema on what to do, until last night I was going to buy a LWB Transit, carry out the move myself and then use the van in Spain for work, but as you can see from my "commercial vehicle" thread registering the vehicle may be impossible, still may do it and worry about getting rid of it when the 6 months are up. Need to weigh up the pro's and cons (excuse the pun) but if there is a company that a few people recomend and is value for money, may take that option.

We just got a quote to move the contents of our house of £3100 from Britannia from Glasgow to Jaen. We thought it was good as we have a hell of a lot of stuff. We chose the option of packing our own stuff in boxes, Britannia bubble wrap the furniture etc.
This quote is for the typical contents of a two bedroom house.

We used GB liners from SE England to storage in Estepona - positive experience. Had a big load, cost around 2-2.5K GBP. This was 3 or 4 years ago.

As menionted elsewhere, check sub-contracting and it's worth getting them to pack.

Also had an awful experience using a Brit costa del sol firm to move back to the UK.

On balance I'd advise using a reputable UK comany on the way out.

Very Good info Mitzy,

Could you estimate how much more than the costs to Spain Mainland , a move to Majorca island would be ??


Also a point which i am very seriously wondering is !!
If it cost say £ 3,000 to pack all your furniture and tv`s , washing machines , 70cc motorbikes etc etc. !! Which may have a value of say £ 2,950 then a very strong argument stands for selling of your old gear taking nothing and buying new in new destination maybe .. And you get it all suited to the heat and room sizes etc..

So a dilemna !! One which i will most definately ponder on for sure ..

Hi all,
Glad you brought the subject of storage rfc. My husband and I intend to rent until we find a suitable place to buy, so whether we use haulage company or move ourselves, we will still need to use storage company until we are sorted. Can anyone give me a rough idea of what storage charges and whether you have found them to be reliable ?

Would appreciate any input.

Take a look at these people, they were recommended by another member on this site on a thread some months back. We will probably be using them....
http://www.freewebs.com/euromovers/thelowprices.htm

Thanks Lionda, just checking it out now

If only it were so simple. It always costs way more to buy stuff new, even in Spain.

Anyway, you'll never find your Peak District favs in the second-hand bookshops on the costas

We used Murray Harper for storage, I think we were paying 80-90 euros a month, sorry but i can't remember the cubic space we needed. They seemed a bit haphazard at first but were fine, perfectly reliable.

I don't know where you will be based, but at Palmones (just west of Gib) is another good option - Coopers International. We had stuff with them for 6 months, no problems.

Hi, we were in the same position and were going to rent a place. We looked at a company in Glasgow but the charge was £90 a month plus insurance and the room for rent was tiny and wouldn't hold much. A slightly larger room was £120 plus insurance and still wouldn't hold all our belongings.
We eventually stored all our furniture and belongings at my partners mother's house, which is large with three empty rooms. Thank god because that was over a year ago and we are eventually moving it to Spain in a couple of months.

Hi all,
We don't know ourselves where we will be based which could be a problem as which could involve 2 removal costs. We had planned on taking all our contents with us, as it has taken us until now to get our things just as we like them. But as we have a 4 bed house, we are dreading getting estimates.
Thanks for the info rfc, they examples are a lot less than the examples I have seen so far on the internet. Will give them a try when the time comes.