Need the help of you lovely people

Over the next few weeks I have to organise the moving of furniture from England to Spain. Removal companies are quoting over £4000. Would you suggest the removal company, the ferry to Santander, or the drive through France. My location in Spain is Albox area, the van I would be driving would be a Luton size van. What paperwork do I need, do I need permits or some sort of licence. Need help please

Seashells

4000 way to much we shipped furniture in excess of a luton for 1500

Shop around

 4000 is way too much.  We shipped the contents of a 3 bed house, less 3 piece suite and white goods but including 3 large wall units, for £1800.  The cost of hiring a van and driving would be that much at least.

Shop around and get some quotes.  Plenty of adverts in the free papers and on line.

I think companies used to work off GBP75 to GBP100 a cubic metre and that included packaging and boxes etc.

As always you need to watch the cowboys who will quote cheap and then measure up on the day claiming there is twice the m3 and double the price on the day!!!!

So get people around for a fixed quote.

Other questions to ask is how many times your goods will be loaded and unloaded?

Do they transport themselves or just bundle and sub out etc.?

Read the small print as to insurance and individual limits - fully insured can mean max GBP50 per box/item!!!

You could try DIY and with so many going back maybe find someone to do the return leg????

We rented a LWB Iveco (17 cu m/3500 kg) for £1000 and made three trips. One through France and two via Santander. Each round trip cost £1k>, so the whole exercise would have cost over £4k. Probably over £5k today considering the hike in diesel in the last 3 years. On the plus side we retained control and enjoyed the driving. But we were pretty shagged out after 3 round trips in just over 3 weeks. If one could arrange a little backload stuff one could offset the cost a bit.

 As Faro mentioned, the one way rentals would probably be the best way to go if you want to do it yourself.  Not much over a hundred quid for a few days plus ferry and fuel.  Ferry to Santander one way for two people with a cabin and van about £400.  Fuel in Spain about €150 with not many toll roads (going through France would be expensive on tolls but you'd save on the ferry fare).  

Of course, you'd need someone at both ends to help you load/unload.  

From my experience if you choose a removal company make sure your goods are sealed in a container that will not be opened again until they reach their final destination. Don't even consider a 'part load' unless you are willing to gamble on what arrives! I would really consider self drive if doing it again and didn't need a vehicle large enough to require an HGV license.

Look for a better price and get the pros to do the job from packing to unpacking. Having tried and end to end and DIY service I would always go for the pack to unpack services.

I've certainly passed the DIY age -- it usually ended up with destroy it yourself for me - but have really appreciated the packing and unpacking service of the suppliers I used.

Make sure that you get several quotes from companies recommended by EoS subscribers and then try to get them to sharpen their pencils a bit -- irs a cometive industry and there are many looking for the work.

David

Thank you everybody who replied with constructive comments, and I would like to take David up on his idea. Could anybody who have moved in the last 12 months, recommend a removal company.

Please help