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HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR REMOVAL COMPANY...THE QUOTE

Peter Driscoll of European Transport Brokers (www.etbrokers-removals.com) takes you through some of the trials and tribulations associated with moving to Europe and explains away some of the mystery associated with moving. In this article he will go on to some of the pitfalls that can trap the unwary as well as providing a sometimes amusing view of an industry still trying to drag itself into the 21st century.

'Hello I am moving to France can you give me a quote to ship my furniture please?'

A simple phrase that can often lead to clumps of hair being pulled from the roots, cardiac arrests (on getting the quotes) and sleepless nights worrying about scratches on the dining room table. After Death and Divorce, moving house is recognised as one of the most trying and stressful times that anyone can endure, yet we all do it and often approach this potential minefield with Ostrich like abandon. Yet does it have to be like this?

Today there are over one million people a year moving between EU member states, and most of them take their home contents with them. All that appears to have changed over the past two hundred years is the number of people moving and the distance they travel. BUT furniture is still carried down flights of stairs and still placed on various forms of transport and moved from A to B. Why then has it all got so complicated and by extension, so expensive, especially for European moves?

So you have bought your house in the sun and decide to contact a removal company. Ten calls later you are wondering why half the companies you call don't do Europe and why the other half have completely misunderstood your enquiry and are giving you quotes that would enable you to buy a third home in Romania. Not only do the quotes seem large but the one low quote you have got seems so low that now you are worried that there is something wrong with the company!

But why do you ask are there such differences in the quotes you do get? In April this year we acted for a family moving from South Wales to near Bergerac. The family themselves had obtained quotes to have their thee bedroom house contents moved to their new home in France. The cheapest quote they had come across was £2500. We acted on their behalf and received 47 quotes from companies all over Europe to do the move. We found the family a firm to do the move for an all inclusive price of £1558. A saving to them of just under one thousand pounds.

The point here is that there is NO fixed price and the unwary can end up paying well over the odds for a service that should just not cost that much. But it must be remembered that not all removal companies have the same fixed costs to cover, not all provide identical service and not all work on the same profit margins.

So is there a REAL difference in the service offered by the expensive companies and the cheaper ones? Well there is one story going around which reads like this:

'With the cheaper companies, they throw all the stuff in the back of a van and when it gets to the other end its all matchwood. With the more expensive companies they wait until you are not looking and...' Here I would ask you to consider what is, in reality, happening. Your furniture is being carried out of a house, placed in a vehicle and is eventually unloaded and placed in the new house. Rocket science it is not!!!

Lets face it what everyone wants is a reliable, efficient, friendly service. A company that will turn up when they say, not break all your china, be courteous, and deliver your worldly possessions at the time agreed and in one piece. Surprisingly the smaller, cheaper family run firms provide just this type of service, and after all, when it comes down to it, will your washing machine feel any happier in an expensive removal van?

The problem is 'How to choose your removal Company'. To some extent, that depends on your budget and what you desire. Some companies offer complete dismantling services, cleaning services, pet transfer services and more still. These services you will pay for! If though, you just want to move house and do not want a gold plated delivery van outside your front door, the options are almost limitless! Or rather they can be! So before you even start to look for a company, decide what level of service you actually need. Once that is done your search can begin.

Magazine and newspaper adverts and the yellow pages are all good starting points. If you are computer literate any good search engine such as Google, will provide you with lists of companies that work within Europe. Once this has been done you can begin your whittling down process. Price will obviously help here, as will the attitude of the person who takes your call! Personal recommendations are the best, but failing that there are a number of Internet forums where you can ask others on line for their moving experiences. These forums can be very illuminating with frank comments on various companies abounding!

Research is the key here. I have yet to find a single company that states 'we will be late and break your goods!' All claim an excellent service and the truth of the matter is that 90% of removal companies DO provide an excellent service. The only question is how much should I pay? But nothing is ever simple and all too often what looked initially like a good deal turns sour l