Shipping your Household Goods

When we decided that we were going to move abroad we arranged for several removal companies to come and give us estimates.  The prices varied greatly and so did the type of service they were offering.  Some companies came in and wrapped all the furniture ready for shipping, they would store your items until you had a date for shipping to your destination.  Others you could wrap yourself but of course companies would not take any responsibility for damages.  When we were looking we could only find companies shipping via containers with a local company delivering and unloading at destination. We couldn't find anyone going overland and were told there was no one.  However, we now that this is not true and there are a few companies offering an overland service.

STORAGE 

If you need to store your belongings before shipping by far the cheapest storage facilities are the self store companies.  There are many of these all over the UK offering various sized lockups.  Opening hours vary.  Most of these places sell boxes, tape, bubble wrap etc. but we found these were cheaper on the internet. 

REMOVAL

There are several methods of shipping household goods:-

• Door to door overland.  We have heard very good reports about Nomad who have offices here in Greece as well as UK.

• Removal company ship using container, local company delivers and unpacks.  Look in your local Yellow pages.

• Self pack and use shipping company to arrange container.  The container can be loaded by yourself or the shipping company can provide labour.  You will have to provide your own labour to unpack the container.  Insurance cover is limited to total loss because if self packed   It still cost us £15 per £1,000. 

• We have heard of a few people who have hired large trucks to move their possessions. There is a limit to the size of truck that can be driven without an HGV licence (unless you have a friend with one). Do not forget to cost for fuel, tolls, ferries, overnight stops, food etc. Also consider security of the vehicle when unattended and insurance of the contents. Look for rules about driving at weekends and travelling through Switzerland.

• Similar to above. We have heard of people who buy a cheap van and dump or sell it, once they arrive. It needs a good engine there are some steep mountains to climb. Probably not legal.

If you are considering professional removal companies do get more than one quote.  Check what is included in the quote for example insurance may not always be included.  The other option is to find a freight company who can provide a container which you can pack yourself.  This was the option we took although we did pay for three men to pack the container as there was a limit to the time the container was on site.  Our experience was frustrating when the container arrived in Greece.  The Greek shipping agent was supposed to inform us of arrival but we had to contact them ourselves and they tried to charge us for storage.  They then told us that the documentation was not correct/incomplete this cost us many phone calls to the UK to sort out.  We also had to sign documents get them authenticated by the police and couriered back to Athens.  When the container was finally released no-one could give us an arrival time in Zakynthos which made it very difficult to arrange local labour to unpack.  After the event we are not sure that we would use this method again. 

SELF PACKING

• Do not put sticky tape on furniture.  Some of our furniture has a paper finish and the sticky tape removed part of the furniture surface. 

• Use small boxes for books, as they are very heavy.

• Insurance limitations if you pack yourself.

  WHAT TO TAKE (OR NOT)

• If bringing a washing machine install shipping brackets.

• Electric wall sockets are different so pack plenty of 4 way adapters on to which you can put local plugs (this will help until you are able to change all your plugs).  These are essential for moulded transformers eg mobile phone chargers and some computer equipment etc.

• TV and video may not work in Greece, check your user manuals for country settings.

• Electric supply is not very reliable on the islands, so consider taking a UPS for the computer.

• Electrical appliances are available on the islands but we have not found very good lounge furniture. Greek sofa's are very hard so consider bringing comfortable lounge furniture with you.

• Any gas appliances may not work as there is no mains gas supply on the island, only LPG.

• Washing machine plumbing is generally only cold water. Most UK machines are hot & cold water supply. Adapters are available in the UK.

Return to top of Page