Spain Bound

Could anyone tell me of a removals company they have used from UK to Spain that gave a good price and did what they promised.
We have just been quoted over £4000 to move us (2 people living in a detached house) to Torrevieja from Chester. We are not taking ANY white goods NOR any wardrobes, dressing tables or bedside tables. They would provide packing and would pack for us.
Insurance would be extra.
For all I know this may be a decent price but to me it sounds way over the top! I know its difficult to tell without seeing our stuff but what do you think, in ball park terms? I will be getting more quotes of course.... just wondered what you think.

pix

Seems cheap to me,try and get some other quotes.

muttymutt

We used a company called Britannia International/Bradshaws. They were very good. We brought most of our house with us and the removal price was good (not too cheap) but the best one we had. I think they are in the Yellow pages. If not then my sister-in-law used a company called Hadley and Ottaway who were very professional. Are you being quoted just for your items to be shipped over? Our stuff ended up coming over as a part load, in other words once they had 2/3 loads they put our stuff on board. We were told that they wuld give us three dates that they would be able to deliver and then if we refused all three then our stuff would be sent over on its own, which obviosly costs more. In the end we asked for our stuff to be sent over in the first week of may and it turned up on the 5th of May so they were very good.
Hope the essay helps!!!!

Spain Bound

Pix you think it's cheap at over £4k. Ok and thanks for your reply. I assume then that you think about £5k would be reasonable? I'm finding this kind of money hard to accept but I'm obviously way out of touch!
Muttymutt thank you too - you don't actually say what you paid or what you think of the price - in reply to your question I was told it would be a part load, about a third of the lorry's capacity apparently. And thanks for the names of some firms.
I must say that given there are no white goods at all, and no bedroom furniture, at that price you have to wonder whether it's worth selling the rest of the furniture and just trying to take your Pc, tv, valuables and photos etc in a (big) car. We're going by car anyway, when we do go.

muttymutt

If I remember rightly we paid approx. £3500, but this was for our ENTIRE house (normal 3 bed 2 bath) more or less. All our white goods, but no wardrobes.Sofas, 3 beds,tools,patio set etc. So I think your quote is quite high. I think our price included the insurance and like i said they were very professional.It took them 7 hours to load our stuff, oh yeh we did actually pack our own stuff which keeps the price down. try not to buy boxes from the removal company itself as they charge a fortune!hope this helps a bit more.

Mercedes

Try some of the smaller removal companies opposed to the larger ones, you might find them cheaper. A friend of mine brought a jetski down to Malaga with trailer for £300 and another paid over £1000. Sometimes your local "No Name Brands" are often more competitive than the big boys.

Best of luck

jdr

Buy yourself a van, fill it up, drive down, unload, sell van...

http://www.surinenglish.com/index.php Or see ads in here.

Spain Bound

Thank you one and all for your advice. It does seem that the price is a bit OTT then. I will try some smaller ones and also Muttymutts. I'll also get my own packing materials and pack myself. Thanks again.

Mercedes

The other alternative also which Jdr mentioned was get your own van, if you don't want the expense to buy one you could possibly hire one, get a friend to give you a hand and advertise in a English speaking paper that you have an empty load going back for anyone who wants to return to England etc. This may also help with covering the cost.

Just a thought.

Dolphingirl

More fun just to sell the old stuff and buy new furniture to suit the med lifestyle. Some places come with furniture whether you are buying or selling. Another option

zel

I'm not sure if it's the same with trucks but when we hire a car we drop it off at the companies local office, ie if Hertz hired trucks you'd hire one localy in the UK and drop it off localy in Spain.

I'm sure it would half the price if not more.

ironporer

I was going to ask the same - are there not companies such as Budget, Hertz or Penske (or similar) where one can rent a moving truck, and car dolly (if needed) and do the move yourself?

Here in the US, my last move was done like this, all for under $1000- for 18' truck (brand new) and car tow dolly.

Karen Gayne

Hi
I am new here. I have shipped my house contents to Almeria with Whites removals , I believe they have branches in several places in UK . They were very professional and packed most of the more expensive items so we would be covered on the insurance,we were shipped as a part load with 2 others. They took the items into storage for 4 weeks until our house was complete and then shipped , they did not charge for the storage 4 weeks is included in the quote.We paid just over £2500 including insurance last August for quite a substantial amount . I think it was the best thing as we had items I did not want to sell . Also, they supplied all of the packaging boxes etc for stuff we packed ourselves.

Karen

Spain Bound

I've checked Hertz and other big names and they don't even allow drop offs (one way) for vans, well not going abroad anyway. My original quoters have adjusted that quote of £4100 to £3500, and with my wife deciding to get rid of "some" clothes the latest quote is £3290! (+ insurance.) However I will try Whites now, so thank you for that.
I'm sure self drive etc is another good way to do it but in my case it's not an option.
And yes we could sell the lot and start again but weighing up the costs I don't know if that's the way to go.
Thanks to all for the input.

Gordon & Jackie

Hi,
We have just received our qoute from BISHOP'S MOVE this morning and out of three was the middle one, they want £3,290 inc VAT and plus insce a further £75, they will pack all and dismantle anything that needs doing and put back together at the other end, does not include white goods..........from Scotland to Torrevieja two bedroom house...

Without furniture, except one leather chair and a two seater couch but all the other goods the quote was £1,997 inc VAT plus insce again will pack all......they have branches all over the country and come out to the house to assess which is better then fillinf in a form........

We have had a qoute for £2,600 and £3,393 full load....

Hope this also helps....