Moving Lark

[Drezha]

This moving lark is getting pricey, quickly!

Quotes for transporting my flat contents up North currently range from £1300-£2000 ?

I guess I’m moving a fair distance but at that price, I’m considering hiring a van myself for £250, flogging (or free cycling) my sofa, fridge/freezer and washing and just buy new stuff up in Manchester! It would probably work out cheaper  (and the girlfriend would choose all the new furniture!)

 

Mine, when you consider it’s moving from one flat to another, with no lift and the hours required to drive it and load the van etc etc it sort of makes sense but still, I was a bit shocked. I thought £1000 would have been about the figure. ?

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Richard]

If you do use a removal company check the conditions of their insurance. Normally they will only insure things they have packed and loaded. I do not have any current idea of likely costs, but with loads of stairs at both ends, that could be some hard work for anyone who takes it on. You do have to balance the cost of getting new stuff against the costs of transport. In some cases it may well not be worth the cost and trouble to shift older bulky things that you no longer like. It all comes down to economics in the end. Some companies will quote low to get the business because they are crap and no one likes to use them. Others will quote high because they are already busy and do not really want the hassle. If you do use a mover, make sure you get some recommendations.

Beware some vans are not well kept and can have had nine bells kicked out of them. You do not want wheels falling off in the middle of the motorway with all your wanted stuff on board. Would that hire figure be for a one way hire? A long drag back with an empty van and a repeat trip just to get back to the new home can be a drag.

[Drezha]

The cost was for a one way trip but I’d have to come back down to collect the car – I can’t drive both at once! The hire would be through Enterprise who I hired with almost three years ago to move into the flat and they’ve always been decent with ones I’ve had from there.

Yeah I got the impression with the quote high for work you don’t want etc – it’s a tactic we’ve used at work (and still occasionally won the work we didn’t want!) Also, because it’s a small flat, I’m not sure some of them want to do it.

Not taking insurance with any of the firms because my contents insurance covers it so no point paying another £200+ on top of their quotes for them to insurer it when I’ve already paid £40 for the year!! I note that the clause in the contract for the insurers states that it only covers professional movers, so wouldn’t cover damage by us doing it ourselves!

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Richard]

I think I used Enterprise a while back for a multi-person vehicle to go to a funeral. The things was well presented, was very economical and drove well, (even though it was a Ford). (My wife had an Escort some years ago it needed new automatic gearboxes more often than a service!) Many years back I hired a Hertz rent a wreck 3 litre Capri, (said it was a long time back) old men on pushbikes were faster than that thing. I guess Hertz economised on servicing costs back then.

You appear to have thought and researched it well. I am a bit surprised that the insurance covers your household stuff once it is out of the house, I thought that is only normal with all risks categories.

Richard

[Bob Williams]

If you don’t have a pile of tall stuff to move Chris, I would suggest a SWB Transit Connect, for the economy and cost of rental. If you use one of the bigger companies, it might be possible to hire down in your area and leave it up there at another of their depots.

When my daughter decided to rebuild and sell her house, she moved to her partner’s place and stored tons of stuff in a secure outbuilding. The house being rebuilt is in a rural village, set way back from the road in the middle of farmland and cannot be seen from the road, so it’s safe. If you don’t know it’s location, you would never suspect there was a house there. Her partner (should call him SIL, been together a long time now) hired a Transit Connect and did it all in one.

Good luck with the move. One of the most stressfull times there can be: since 1984-ish I have moved 6 times. Not moving again, had that talk with SWMBO – “You move if you want to, I am staying!” :good:

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Ed P]

Good luck – make sure you label each box with its contents, and first on the van is the last off. i.e. kettle & tea/coffee should be last on!

[Bob Williams]

Ed P wrote:

Good luck – make sure you label each box with its contents, and first on the van is the last off. i.e. kettle & tea/coffee should be last on!

Great advice! :yahoo:  :good:

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Drezha]

Ed P wrote:

Good luck – make sure you label each box with its contents, and first on the van is the last off. i.e. kettle & tea/coffee should be last on!

That’s going in the car with us  :good:

Yeah I looked at Enterprise for that – hiring here and going up there but I’d still have to come back and drive my car back up to Manchester as the other half wouldn’t want to drive it up.

Couple more quotes to come but it looks like she’ll want us to for the professional removers. I suppose the new firm is giving me a relocation allowance for moving up which would cover it, but I’d earmarked that for a new bike to commute to work on daily  :whistle:

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Richard]

I have only moved a few times in this country, a few more than that overseas. Having packers do what is needed and moving the goods is far the easiest and least stressful way to go. I have helped my daughter a couple of times. That was more hard work than going from Japan to here.

[Ed P]

While I agree with Richard, you have to be a lot more organised if others do your packing or you will almost certainly get the wrong stuff in each box. This can be disastrous if you have three shipments (an air ship, a sea ship and store.). Air ship is supposed to be for the stuff you will need within days, and store is for things that remain behind – maybe for the next longer term posting. You can guess what can happen – Murphy rules!!!

[Richard]

In a way we were in an easy situation. Everything went in a container except the clothes, baby clothes prams and a few other basics. We were taking our old home from Japan to our older home in the UK last time we moved and everything had to be packed up. Shipping did not take too long but we had a slight issue with the size of the old house which we bought twenty years earlier as just two people. Now we were four and kids have huge amounts of ‘stuff’. A change of venue slightly complicated the issue so the container had to be stored for a few weeks. but the house was purchased and all came through and that was 25 years back. We are still finding things that were ‘put away in a cupboard’ in the rush to get sorted.

[Drezha]

Thankfully, everything should be able to get in a single van. However, I will ensure that the camp bed and sleeping gear gets added to the car, rather than the van so we’ll leave before the van and get up to Manchester before them I imagine.

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Author]

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