returningbrit

We're working with a shipper in the UK to move our household contents from the US to the UK. On the UK side the shipper has told us we have two options with insurance
- if we pack a box ourselves it can only be insured for complete loss
- if the movers on the US side pack a box it can optionally be insured for breakage

The mover on the US side is saying that they are required to open and repack any box that is 'packed by owner' for 'UK customs reasons' saying that they are not allowed to include any packed by owner boxes because they won't be able to include a detailed inventory of what is in the box.

Something is obviously not right here. We're still discussing with both sides to work this out, but has anyone recently shipped a container from the US to UK and can comment on whether they were allowed to self pack or not? Everything we've read online so far indicates that self packing is an option.

Thanks!

PetrifiedExPat

A thought here, how much is it all actually worth? Is there a car in there for example?

If you pack it yourself, why bother with insurance?

Or, if its mostly tat (no offence intended), just sell/donate and rebuy over here?

returningbrit

It is mainly personal items which are irreplaceable, and our concern is not that we want them to be insured against breakage, our concern is that the US mover is saying they need to pack everything themselves for UK customs reasons. As long as an itemized list is provided, there is no UK customs requirement that says an owner is not allowed to pack their own items?

Maybe we're being overly suspicious, but it sounds like the mover is attempting to convince us to pay for additional charges for their guys to wrap and pack everything, whereas for 80% of what we're shipping we're happy to do it ourselves.

Pollyana

Admittedly my move was Australia to the UK, but there was no UK Customs issue with my self-packed boxes, which was the majority of the shipment. The shippers never even queried it. The TOR declaration that you do for Customs has to be done by you anyway, not by the shippers, and its up to you to be honest about whats in the boxes,
Definitely sounds like they are trying to get you to pay more for their services in the US.

ckusa

Admittedly many years ago, we got a container in the US to ship to the UK - doing it all ourselves. We just went with the 'complete loss' insurance which was pretty pitiful (worked out on weight), but since most things were personal they probably wouldn't have an insurance value. I printed off a set of A4/letter sized sheets of paper to attach to each box/item, numbered them and generated an inventory list. No problems with customs. Door-to-door the shipping was only 8 days!

jjmb

Interested in the question as we are moving back next year. Maybe ask the question on returning to the UK forum as they will have experience doing this. I know that the TOR requirements were only introduced in the last 6 yrs as we got caught out by that when we shipped several boxes to our son when he moved to Edinburgh for a couple of years. The shipping company was unaware of this change at the time and caused us considerable problems.

Pulaski

Find a different US mover, and if it was arranged by the UK end of things (which I have to say sounds like an odd way round to arrange an international move ), tell them about the issue, and unless they are willing/ able to override the advice of the US mover, that they need to find a different US mover for you.

PetrifiedExPat

Good point, I misread the OP. Yes, seems ar$e about t1t