badlydrawnmegan

My husband is UKC and our I-130 got approved two months after we sent it out. So we're trying to sort some things out well in advance. We're thinking about moving costs for him to come here.

He doesn't have a lot of stuff to bring. It's literally just a one room size of cargo. No furniture, maybe a 30" TV if it would be useful here. Just boxes of clothes, lots of DVDs and books, about 7 guitars. Just personal effects, really. His laptop and other suitcases he can bring on the plane, obviously.

So I was thinking instead of hiring international movers, he should just manually ship these things to me before he's set to move here. I know the things like guitars will be kind of pricey. I can't find good quotes on shipping for international movers since I don't know all of our details yet, but I would assume at least $2,000, but I could be way off... I just don't know.

Any advice? I'm thinking having just some postal carrier come and take it from his house and ship it like that through DHL or FedEx or something. Sound like a better, cheaper option to you guys? Thanks!

Noorah101

I moved your post to the USA forum, where more people talk about moving in general. Read through some of the posts here regarding moving to the USA, to see if anyone else has some experience.

Rene
Moderator

traceym

I sent 10 boxes, weight 23 stone last year via Fedex, 550 GBP. I paid for the 5 day service but the guy who collected them was going to the airport so they went on the next flight and arrived the next day. The shipping companies quotes were a lot more and that was for sea freight.

To get a quote, pack the boxes, make a detailed inventory, weigh each one and measure the box size, call Fedex and they will give you a quote, if it's ok they will e mail you the customs forms to complete and the invoice detailing all the stuff.

badlydrawnmegan

Thanks, that helps a lot!

Ozzidoc

My experience here:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...light=fastlane

joto

Leave the TV as it won't work or work well in US, and you can get them easily and reasonably cheaply here.. I don't know about the guitars, but you may be able to get some sort of voltage adapter.

badlydrawnmegan

Thanks, you guys! We'll check it out.

TimNiceBut

Do the guitars have cases? BTW, you don't need a voltage adaptor for them, at least not the (electric) ones I've come across...

As already said, ditch the TV, won't work in the US anyway (PAL vs NTSC).

helwardman

Electric guitars don't need any kind of adapter. An amplifier that you plug the guitar into may need a transformer though.

I sold my guitars in UK and bought a new one when I got over here. I didn't fancy trusting my expensive instrument to a shipping company.

badlydrawnmegan

He's got a few cases, but not all of them.


That's what insurance is for =P. A few of them are rare, as well. Only a few thousand made or something like that.

TimNiceBut

I'd get cases for all of them, just in, err, case.


Yebbut, that doesn't bring the guitars back...

I'll probably carry my "UK" guitar with me as checked in luggage, but that one has a decent case with it anyway. For the rarer stuff, that might be an option but I don't know what the insurance is like if you carry them.

Bill_S

I think someone here has a horror story about shipping a guitar... meauxna perhaps?

Bob

Sell or chuck the tele...the dvd's etc can be boxed and shipped to the US via the slow boat for cheap....takes about 12 weeks though.

You don't have that option from US to UK though, which is odd.

Guitars are probably worth getting someone to ship for you, FedEx at the least, and with decent insurance on top.

meauxna

I was just going to say...
(it was sending thru as checked luggage, hard case, headstock was snapped off from being put back into the case incorrectly during a TSA security search out of sight. Never did get compensated back for it.)

megan, if they are special guitars, he'll want to ship them special. DH's clients often make custom boxes, or the rock stars have those special cases (the silver ones).

Or, if it all goes pooey, drop me a message and I'll hook you up for a repair.

The insurance doesn't pay anything like what it takes to repair a vintage or special guitar, trust me.
DH found that many guitars here were far more affordable & has amassed most of his collection here.
Regarding insurance, you may find that the guitars need to be 'scheduled'.. ours have to be individually identified & photographed etc.

I think this one is from the '30s.