My Shipping Company quotes and Experience

[cronemeister]

Hi All

I am now officially unemployed (as of 31st May) and we have our Visa approval back so it's full steam ahead now.

I've replied to a number of different threads on here about my shipping company experience thus far, so have decided to start a thread of my own instead of keep replying to more than one thread....so here goes.

We are moving from Newcastle UK to Bairnsdale in Victoria (approx 300km from Melbourne). We live in an end terraced 3 bedroom house and are shipping pretty much everything that would rattle around if you tipped our house upside down and shook it !

So, having read through a number of these threads we decided to shortlist 5 shipping companies to come out and quote us for shipping our goods.

This is the story so far.

John Masons have quoted us £4700 to ship 947cu ft. This quote does not include insurance which they estimate at about 3% of the cost of our goods. I would hazard a guess at £30,000 which comes out at £900.
I got a really good impression from this company and the guy that came out. They've sent a lot of good information through with my quote, and the guy that came out told us basically everything we needed to know and was able to answer every question I put to him. He also gave us a good idea of do's and don't's in terms of what to take and what not to take, what to clean and how things work with quarantine etc.

Doree Bonner have quoted £4750. They haven't stated the cu/ft they've quoted for which has annoyed me !
The guy that came out was very nice as well. The company are very local to me and offered a really good service (including 30 days free storage here in the UK) and seemed very genuine and accommodating for us. He said is we put our things in storage here in the UK that they will happily come and pick up any additional items and pack them for us - should we purchase something else we want to take in between our house being emptied and our goods being packed, so that was quite appealing. He also told me to let him know the other quotes that I get and they'll happily discuss these with me and see if they can move on their price - which they generally always seem to do from what I've read on here.

PSS have quoted £3602 to send 603cu/ft groupage, or £4272 for sole use of 20ft container.
Didn't really get a good feeling from the guy that came today. He was a nice enough chap but seemed very nervous. Wouldn't sit down to go through things with us and generally didn't offer up any information to us other than a couple of little info packs. We asked a good few questions though...the same as we have with the other 2 that have been, but overall I just didn't get a good feeling from this guy. How much difference that makes I don't know.

Crown have quoted £5399, again they have not specified the cu/ft, however I asked the estimator when she was finished and it came in around 980cu/ft

Robinsons have quoted £4595 for 801cu/ft

So in summary I have two quotes back that are 947 and 980 cu/ft, one quote based on 630 cu/ft and one based on 810 cu ft.

The only company that have included the AQIS charge ($440 approx) was Crown, so if you take that off their quote it comes in at around £4900.

Having read through all the documentation and having spoken to them all, the only one that has made it crystal clear that the price I'm quoted is the price I will have to pay with no nasty surprises at the other end is Robinsons. I'm not sure if this applies to the other companies or not, but I'm going back to them anyway to show them the quotes I've been given from all of their competitors to see who will move on price and how much.

I'm also getting Anglo Pacific and Whites and Co to come out also to give me quotes as well.

[calNgary]

Good post ,thank you ..

I think sometimes there is quite a big difference in price as some companys included charges from this end, others dont and you get a bill once you arrive and your stuff is ready for delivery. Definately worth checking EXACTLY what fees and charges are inculded in the quotes.

Good Luck with your move

Cal x

[walkerfamily123]

hey man try white and company aswell.
We are just down the road in hartlepool (near Middlesbrough). They worked out the best for us......fight them off eachother and try to get around £4 per cubic foot.
Insurance wise dont use the company you ship with because 3% is a lot. http://www.lettonpercival.co.uk/ <--- they charge around 1.25% of the value of your belongings (i.e. if you value them are £20000 then cost would be £250).

drop me a message if i can be of any further help
bagage allowance, flights, etc as we have just gone through all of this :)

Regards and good luck
Phil

[cronemeister]

hey man try white and company aswell.
We are just down the road in hartlepool (near Middlesbrough). They worked out the best for us......fight them off eachother and try to get around £4 per cubic foot.
Insurance wise dont use the company you ship with because 3% is a lot. http://www.lettonpercival.co.uk/ <--- they charge around 1.25% of the value of your belongings (i.e. if you value them are £20000 then cost would be £250).

drop me a message if i can be of any further help
bagage allowance, flights, etc as we have just gone through all of this :)

Regards and good luck
Phil

Cheers Phil.

I was thinking about maybe getting another couple of companies to come and quote like, but the missus thought 5 was more than enough. A lot of people on here went with 3 but I didn't think that was enough as has proven the case. Might try Pickfords and White and Co.

I've read about the insurance thing as well and I've been asking everyone who came and they all come out at about 3% like you said. I had a guy from PSS on the phone who said to get back in touch with him regarding insurance and he'll try and get the cost down if we went with them. I told him about Letton Percival and he told me to check about what % they load onto any claims, as he thinks they may well offer the attractive 1.25% or 1.5% to get the business but that they will load anywhere between 1% and 3% onto any claim. Whilst this may well be true, or a load of bull it would probably still pay to go with LP insurance as the initial overall cost of cover is significantly lower.

For example :-

£50,000 of cover @ 1.25% = £625 with Letton Percival
£50,000 of cover @ 3% = £1500 with shipping company (acting as broker presumably).

So I would be nearly a grand better off. So even if I did need to make a claim and LP loaded 2% onto my claim for arguments sake, then it would have to be a claim for the full £50k of goods which would be £1000 which would then put me out of pocket....unlikely, unless the ship goes down or a massive 20ft container mysteriously goes missing !

I'd be interested in any info you can give me regarding flights etc. I'm quite keen to get 30kg if not 40kg (only Singapore I've heard of will do this if you're migrating) for the 4 of us when we fly out. This will give us the opportunity to pack clothes as well as some key household things that we may need when we land until our stuff arrives. I've also got a set of golf clubs to take, which ideally I would like on the flight with me if I can get them on for free (Emirates are currently offering this) rather than put them in the container.

When you off, and whereabouts in Oz you heading for ?

Cheers.

Paul.

[milliem]

Great post

Very informative. Thanks for all the info

Millie x

[JoandJon]

Go with your gut – and if you’re close to a full container go that way rather than groupage if you can afford it. It makes the timeline MUCH more predictable!
Also with you moving to Bairnsdale, make SURE the delivery at the Oz end is NOT restricted to 100km from their base J make sure it includes to your proposed location!
I think the ‘electronic vs paper’ = more/less cubic feet is a load of baldocks myself J
For insurance I think they’re just spinning you a line about loading – speak to LP or IYM and ask them specifically about it to be sure.
Good luck J

[spenner]

Just wondering, when working out the amount of insurance required do you base it on the price you paid in the UK or on the replacement cost in Oz? Also, how exact does the valuation have to be? I reckon it would take for ever to get an exact amount.

Spenner

[IYM]

I am a Director of Insure-Your-Move.com

Whilst Letton Percival are a competitor of ours we can confirm, like ourselves, they are do not make a charge on any claim you submit. I think it is important to clear up this particular point.

Both LP and IYM are regulated by the Financial Service Authority and at the quote stage you are give a clear 'Statement of Cost' which sets out all the upfront costs, charges and the rate/premium you are being charged.

[JoandJon]

Base it on replacement costs in Australia – online shopping sites can be useful to estimate. Fingers crossed it won’t be as complex as our load was. (guitar amps and one-of-a-kind, irreplacable guitars are a little tricky to estimate!!)

[cronemeister]

I am a Director of Insure-Your-Move.com

Whilst Letton Percival are a competitor of ours we can confirm, like ourselves, they are do not make a charge on any claim you submit. I think it is important to clear up this particular point.

Both LP and IYM are regulated by the Financial Service Authority and at the quote stage you are give a clear 'Statement of Cost' which sets out all the upfront costs, charges and the rate/premium you are being charged.

Thank you for clarifying that for me, much appreciated. I kinda figured it would be more a case of shipping companies trying sway you into going with them.