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Moving Company Recommendations

3K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  kadee austin 
#1 ·
Hi everyone!

Can anyone suggest a moving company to use to move from the US to the UK? I have been working on getting quotes from some companies but they seem confused by my request. (Maybe because I am only moving at most 10 medium sized boxes and no furniture?) I am trying to find the most cost effective way to move some of my stuff. Any suggestions or advice is helpful!

Thank you :)
 
#2 ·
I've dealt with The M Group in the past. When I moved from the Cayman Islands to Vancouver, Canada they were the Canadian freight forwarders/connection to the (useless) moving company my w*rk went through in the Caribbean.

They have 2 offices in California and an office in Kent, England.
 
#3 ·
Try asking freight companies.

The expensive part of moving is the furniture. I am moving from Germany to Scotland next week and I just packed my 48 boxes onto wooden pallets, which were then stretched in for shipping.

It costs me about half than all the moving companies were quoting because they calculate furniture and un-boxable things in.

Good luck with the move!
 
#4 ·
I, too, tried to get general estimates. Only two companies would do that or give me their guidelines, all the others wanted to "send someone out to have a closer look at what needs to be shipped". I can tell them it is two chests and about 10 boxes then it gets dicey, we don't plan on anything else, but haven't gotten the visa yet - so aren't exactly packing up yet.

We will probably go with one of the two who answered the questions I asked.

Good luck on you move.

M
 
#5 ·
I might be doing the same thing in a few months - East Coast to London and am also trying to decide on a company.

I've used excessbaggage company twice - Chester to the East Coast. The first time it was about 10 boxes which I packed myself.

They seem to have good, available customer service, but one of the downside in a US to UK move is that they don't provide you boxes and packing material.

I would love to know who you end up using and what your experience is since I need to find someone too. This time it will be about 10 large boxes, two dressers, two lounge chairs which I hope to box, and a mattress I can roll, but is v. heavy. My concern with using excess baggage is for the furniture. Many of my things were damaged in my UK to US move with furniture which they packed including a vintage sofa which price had skyrocketed for and I couldn't afford to replace because I under insured it. Your better off packing your own things IMO. They'll provide you with a list of what you can't include in your boxes.
 
#7 ·
For us, we simply went on to the BBB website, and looked at local companies with good ratings. We contacted them to ensure they did international moves, and asked for the names of their UK partners so we could research them also.

They came over and gave us an estimate. They then packed the lot for us and moved it in to their warehouse. A couple of weeks later they put it on a ship.

Ours has just arrived in the UK, and is clearing customs as we speak.

We moved our 2 bedroom apartment (which only came to about 3500lbs in weight, we left a lot) for just over $5000, door to door.
 
#8 ·
Thanks again to everyone !

Has anyone used White Glove Express? They seem to of been able to provide the most cost effective options for me. They have decent yelp reviews but not a lot of them. I am just a little hesitant to go with them because I used a company with a very similar name to move across the US from NY to CA and they destroyed tons of my things and lost a few boxes. It was a very, very unpleasant experience to say the least. I guess that is a gamble you take with any move.. but since this is moving to a completely different country I am more concerned! With all the other worries of an international move, this is really something I wish I wouldn't have to fret about!
 
#9 ·
Most of the companies will be putting your stuff into spare space in shipping containers. Because of this, they generate their fees by cubic feet. If you can total up the cubic footage of your ten boxes, that will probably help you get the most accurate quotes.

The places I was looking at from SoCal wanted somewhere in the neighborhood of $1500-$2000 per 100 cubic feet. We were about 180 cubic feet for 28 boxes from a two bedroom apartment with no furniture or kitchen items shipped.
 
#11 ·
I am just starting the search to move my family of 4 from California to Perth, Australia.
One site I came across is FIDI Global Alliance which it sounds like is an international BBB specifically for moving companies. Supposedly it is a stringently vetted process, which I hope is true. When I spoke to someone from Crown Worldwide we discussed that one of the cheapest ways to go is to take your items directly to the port and pick them up from the port on the other end (don't get sucked into paying movers to pack the house) If you only have 10 boxes, posting them yourself may be the best way to go.

If anyone has used movers to Australia, please post about good/bad experiences. Thanks!
 
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