Hello again,
I last posted in April last year, in a bit of a morose way about whether we'd ever get back to the UK from the LA area - UPDATE: We're moving back this July Very excited - loads to do of course...

Anyway, just had first moving quote -are you ready...gulp...$13,000...door to door with Allied...that is for a 40ft container...reeling with shock, but perhaps I'm naive...any thoughts?

I must say that the allied agent we worked with was excellent, very professional and really on top of his game (30 yrs in the business). Awaiting a quote from Suddath.

Have given up on Atlas, rubbish customer service so far...

Thanks for all your help on this forum, it is a lifesaver..!

Will have more questions soon...

Holy cow thats expensive!
For that I'd sell everything but the necessities and buy new/used when I got back to UK.

That sounds insanely expensive..... does that include first class flights back to the UK aswell??

That include dismantling of stuff, the packaging, storage, customs and all that guff in reverse?

Folks heading to the US seem to be getting ranges of 3-7.5K in squid, so it would be in the realm, if some what on the high end.

Better off selling everything though and using the cash to restart, unless you've got very highend gear and then just crate up use a courier service for the household goods and other bits and pieces, or going with half a container.

Hi there,

We moved in August last from LA to London, and we paid Schumacher's around $3, 000, they came and packed everything and we received all our things in early Nov. Had absolutely no problems with them. Will check with hubby on how container size, but we packed up a 2 bed flat (minimal furniture though, we just sent the mattress, bedside table, dressing table, a coffee table and some other smallish furniture items.

Good luck with the move back.

For a full 40 ft container with full packing/unpacking door to door service that doesn't sound bad. 2-3 years ago it cost 19k Cdn to ship our stuff back from Alberta in a packed to the seams 40ft constainer

I agree with Posidrive in that if you talking about filling a 40 ft container with packing and delivery to your new home in England, it´s not at all expensive. Although it may not be relevant, I used Allied 13 years ago to move a full household in a 55ft container from Houston to Chile, and in those days it cost US$20K. The packing service was really professional, as was everything from start to finish, and it wasn´t the first time that I have used that company. You get what you pay for

leighgirl
It cost us C$11K 6 year ago to moved back from Ontario. We decided to move everything back to the UK. I worked out we shipped about C$50K worth on houses hold items/tools/DIY/garden equipment etc back. When we moved to Canada we sold most of our household goods for a few hundred pounds and spend thousands of dollars replacing them. We decided to bring everything back to the UK apart from large electrical items.

Hudd

I have been quoted $6,500 from here to Lincolnshire by Fox Removals, who moved me out here 3 years ago.

That includes packing and customs, door to door, etc. however is for space in a group container. It does include a fair amount of furniture and boxes.

I shipped everything out with me but am taking less back.

If it is cheap to replace and bulky, (like plastic laundry baskets) it is not going back

If I brought anything out here and did not use it, it is not going back to the UK

If I have anything and do not like it, I am not taking it back

If it is in poor condition and almost on the point of replacement, it is not going back

If there is no room for it, it is not going back.

With regard to electricals, I am going to take back serger, sewing machine, Bose ipod dock and clock radio to see if they will work on transformers.

No one wants second hand electricals and if you do sell them you get peanuts. I brought out my Onkyo CD player purely I could not sell it in England and it is still working on a transformer ... I now wish I had kept my sewing machine and tried that on a transformer also.

These are my thoughts with regard to shipping.

Thanks everyone!
We got the Suddath quote today, $11K - getting another quote as well.

Yes, I suppose we are taking a lot back so that we don't have to shell out too much when we get there, my hubby is quite hung up on the pounds vs. dollars thing. He's definitely taking a nice new BBQ back, based on the price of them back home!

Also, one thing that we like about Allied is that the move is their operation door to door using Pickfords in the UK. We had a bad experience when we moved from France to LA 12 yrs ago so want low stress this time. It may well be that we can negotiate the rate with Allied a bit - we'll see what the third quote brings back as well.

Our house goes on the market next week

Thanks again, will let you know what happens!

Is it a gas grill? Might be a hassle and/or expensive to convert it if it runs on propane as it's butane in the UK and the pressure as well as the valves are different.

Might be able to get stuff to convert it from the manufacturers, but you might also have to replace the burners too.

Thanks, Bob! Hubby is researching that stuff, I think the move would be called off if he had to be parted from his BBQ!

Thanks Nyz, I just looked at Schumacher, I like their website, lots of useful info - have emailed for a quote. Hope you are enjoying life back in the UK. Needless to say, I'll miss CA like mad once I'm back, but it's been 14 years and we need to give some time to our families now, I'm excited for the change.