UK to US removals

[James&Christy 0]

Hi,

Anyone got any particular recommendations for international removals firms between the UK and the US?

I have also contacted one airline who say I can take up to five pieces of luggage in total. Each piece can be 22kg for $110, or 32kg for $135. Calculating that, surely i can fit my life into 160kg? That said, it would be cheaper than the first quote I've had for international removals!

Any advice?

Edited January 29, 2006 by James&Christy

[Lou Lou 1]

First thing I would say is to take this opportunity to have a 'life laundry' moment and get rid of a lot of the things you don't really need. Anything you haven't used or enjoyed in the past year is something you probably shouldn't consider paying to ship over. Books are a biggy. Anyone who ships endless paperbacks over here must be crazy. The amount you must be paying for the weight of them, you'd probably be able to buy them all again.

It entirely depends on what you're bringing. I brought books (professional ones), CDs, clothes, personal stuff etc. and used UPS along with taking extra baggage when I came over. I also slowly moved stuff with each trip I made over which helped a lot.

If you're not moving any furniture or large items I would definietly go with the extra baggage idea. It's so much easier and less hassle than packing up for shippers and not seeing your stuff for months. UPS or FedEx or any of those other big shippers are pretty reliable and quick.

[Jaylen Brit 0]

I will ask here as I had no luck int he UK old forum - how do you guesstimate the WEIGHT of stuff?

I cant be using my bathroom scales for things - its just not practical - I have a lot f books - and yes Ive gotten rid of literally HUNDREDS so the ones left are my 'must haves'; I'll have DVDs, a couple of large objects, couple pictures in frames, photo albums (several years worth of world travel, gotta keep those! lol) kids toys, a keyboard(music), clothing and shoes.

The clothes and shoes and prolly the DVDs I'm gonna take on the flight - and pay for excess if needs be - the other stuff I'm thinking myabe the company excessbaggage.com - but I still need to know roughly the WEIGHT cos thats what they ALL base their pricing on.

Help! lol

[James&Christy 0]

Jaylen you probably can use the bathroom scales. Providing they're reasonably accurate, just put the box on the scales and try to see the dial

That's what I'm gonna do.

Or get a set that speaks the weight

Edited January 29, 2006 by James&Christy

[Yorkie 0]

I will ask here as I had no luck int he UK old forum - how do you guesstimate the WEIGHT of stuff?

Yeah I always use my bathroom scales - it is a bit awkward seeing the actual weight but better than nothing.

I am flying with BMI. They have no limit on the quantity of cases you can take. They allow 2 cases weighing 32kg each, and then it costs approx £40 per additional case (32kg). I think I am going to be taking 7 cases, (2 full of books and 5 for everything else). I found that Wilkinsons sells big cases for £16 each which is not too bad.

I did look at using shipping companies such as excessbaggage but they are way overpriced. Probably ok for stuff that won’t fit into a case but that's it. FYI they quoted me £540.

Now how do I get them to the airport

Yorkie

[munchkins 0]

it is difficult to know the best/cheapest way but if you hve limited items then if you can do "cargo" on the same flight and also excess baggage I think that would be a good way.

We are using an international removals company because we will be moving some furniture, but just for an example we have been quoted £1,985 and that is for 2 double beds, 1 three seater and 1 two seater sofa, 2 large box coffee tables, rugs, 3 chests of drawers (two of them are long ones) and 16 boxes plus (if I decide to take it because it is lovely) my garden furniture which is all hand made and consists of a round table and four really big armchairs plus my chimera, so I do not think that is too bad at all.

I did check excessbaggage as a comparison for the above and they were more expensive. All this is packed for me and is door to door.

We are also shipping our two rotteweillers as cargo so I will also check out how much I will be able to send some boxes as cargo on the same flight and will also take some excess baggage. I would rather get all my clothes out asap rather than wait 6 weeks!

[TracyTN 237]

www.excessbaggage.com

[Lou Lou 1]

Yep, I used bathroom scales. If individual things are big or bulky, hold them and get on the scales yourself to work out the weight. The weight was a guesstimate, and UPS said they would weigh them, but as it turned out, they took my estimate and never weighed them as the final weight remained the same. I can't imagine I would have been that accurate with it.

[kc456 0]

Is "removals" a British term? Never heard of this word used to indicate "moving stuff."

[allynella 0]

I will ask here as I had no luck int he UK old forum - how do you guesstimate the WEIGHT of stuff?

Stand on bathroom scale with bag in hand, then subtract your weight from the total. That has helped me a lot in the past.

[Fandango 1,439]

there is something called shipping scales...the platform is the scale, and there's a little countertop readout that's not attached to it.

I got it in costco here in fl...granted, I know I'm talking in the us, but I know there's costco in the Uk as well.

This thing has been a lifesaver!

[Miranda&James 8]

BUMP

I am now looking for a method of moving items from UK to USA. Most importantly, my Apple Mac computer.

Can y'all please post links to places you can recommend or have heard of.

Thanks!

~James

[Rebster 0]

it is difficult to know the best/cheapest way but if you hve limited items then if you can do "cargo" on the same flight and also excess baggage I think that would be a good way.

We are using an international removals company because we will be moving some furniture, but just for an example we have been quoted £1,985 and that is for 2 double beds, 1 three seater and 1 two seater sofa, 2 large box coffee tables, rugs, 3 chests of drawers (two of them are long ones) and 16 boxes plus (if I decide to take it because it is lovely) my garden furniture which is all hand made and consists of a round table and four really big armchairs plus my chimera, so I do not think that is too bad at all.

I did check excessbaggage as a comparison for the above and they were more expensive. All this is packed for me and is door to door.

We are also shipping our two rotteweillers as cargo so I will also check out how much I will be able to send some boxes as cargo on the same flight and will also take some excess baggage. I would rather get all my clothes out asap rather than wait 6 weeks!

If you don't mind me asking, who did you get the quote from? We had a quote from Robinsons of £1985 for 300 cubic feet and £1355 for 200 cubic feet. We do not plan on taking any furniture but will be taking a lot of books and personal belongings (my china set, etc.) - too much to take on as carry-on, and we're in no hurry so cargo ship will be much better than UPS or FedEx. That was also a door-to-door quote which included packing. We thought that sounded pretty reasonable, but I would like to get a few more quotes before we commit. So if anyone has any other removal companies they would like to recommend, I'm all ears!!

[Jaylen Brit 0]

From another immigration forum i got a recomendation for this firm 'White's' based In birmingham but see no reason why they wouldn't go elsewhere in the UK.

Here's their link - http://www.whitesremovals.co.uk/

The person that recommended them said she had 8 18x18 inch boxes, it cost around 350 - £400 and took 6 weeks to arrive and was door to door service.

I'm gonna get a quote off them msyelf in a couple weeks