HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR REMOVAL COMPANY...THE QUOTE

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