Any recommendations of shippers from Spain to Australia

[Linda Brown]

I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations for shipping our belongings from Spain to Australia. We don't know whether to use a UK mover or try a Spanish mover. Any tips would be useful. 

 

Thanks.

[Marisawright]

2 hours ago, Linda Brown said:

I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations for shipping our belongings from Spain to Australia. We don't know whether to use a UK mover or try a Spanish mover. Any tips would be useful. 

If you use a UK mover, they will just sub-contract it to a Spanish mover, and then if there's a problem, you'll have to speak to the UK mover who then has to speak to the Spanish mover and then come back to you...sounds like a recipe for frustration.  If you have some grasp of Spanish then I would do it direct with a Spanish mover.

Are you living in Spain currently or in the UK?   Are you aware that if you're living in Spain, then you won't be covered by reciprocal Medicare when you arrive?   Shouldn't be a problem as you'll be eligible for full Medicare with the visa, but worth making sure you have health insurance until you get that sorted.

[Linda Brown]

Thanks Marisawright for your reply. It's food for thought. 

We live in Spain permanently so no reciprocal health agreement in place. Will sign onto Medicare as soon as we arrive in Australia and look at top ups. 

We don't speak fluent Spanish even though we've been here for ten years so could be difficult if there was a problem although the website of some shippers are in English so I would imagine they can speak some English. 

Thank you for your help, needs some thought putting into it I think. 

[Marisawright]

33 minutes ago, Linda Brown said:

We don't speak fluent Spanish even though we've been here for ten years so could be difficult if there was a problem although the website of some shippers are in English so I would imagine they can speak some English. 

Ask for some quotes, then you'll find out whether the management speak English or not.  That's what matters.  On the day of the move, you'll get a local crew no matter who you go with,.

[bridgie]

Hi Linda,

We did all this three years ago. In the end it worked out better for us to have a UK company pick up in Spain, take back to the UK and then ship to Oz. We speak more than conversation Spanish and that wasn’t the problem. The problem was shipping routes from Spain to Oz.

Bridgie.

[Linda Brown]

Thanks Bridgie, I think we were thinking of going down this route but were wondering if anyone had had any experience of moving from here.

Linda.

[Bilby47]

Hi Linda,

    We moved from France to Oz in 2017 and had the panic of our mover dropping out about three weeks before the agreed date, fortunately we got Pickfords to replace them.  They were brilliant and used their French associates.  Everything went smoothly and not a single item was damaged.  Most of the organisation was done via phone calls and emails to the UK.

Jack

[Linda Brown]

38 minutes ago, Bilby47 said:

Hi Linda,

    We moved from France to Oz in 2017 and had the panic of our mover dropping out about three weeks before the agreed date, fortunately we got Pickfords to replace them.  They were brilliant and used their French associates.  Everything went smoothly and not a single item was damaged.  Most of the organisation was done via phone calls and emails to the UK.

Jack

Thanks Jack, they're very well known aren't they will get a quote from them I think. I'm veering towards using a UK company I think. Probably a bit more expensive as the things have to be shipped to the UK first, but getting the visa was expensive so what's a little bit more expense !

Thanks,

 

Linda