Students Of Success

CHOOSING THE RIGHT WAY

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.

To steal a catch phrase, as dear old Max Bygraves would say “Let
me tell you a story”… Five years ago I was looking to get my
own house contents moved to the South of France and received
quotes in the region of four to five thousand pounds. It was to
be a simple move. No extras at all. No packing, no disconnecting
of machines, no disassembling, no plants and no piped music for
my furniture whilst “en route”. Just a simple move. Two brother
in laws and the rest of the family were roped in to help and a
7.5 tonne lorry was acquired. With Air Brakes hissing and
“Yorkie” in hand, I promptly banged the rear end of the lorry
leaving the depot! My excuse being that I had never before
driven a 30 foot long vehicle. That should have been my first
clue to see reason, but blinded by the desire to save money I
continued! To cut a very long story short, it took us over 22
hours to drive down to the South of France, and I did save some
money. But that is not the whole story!

I took time off work. My brothers in law also took five days
holidays. If they had been paid, or if I had paid myself for the
hours worked then the story would have been different. Then we
come to the “invisible” costs. The bruised fingers, the aching
backs, the dropped items of furniture, the flaring of tempers,
the boredom of driving at 50 mph on a motorway, and finally
having no one to blame for the damaged items! True I saved money
but at what cost! And it could have been FAR worse, for as I
discovered later, my home contents insurance policy did not
cover the goods in transit to France. One accident and I would
have lost everything. Further, I have a sneaking suspicion that
the vehicle may have been a “tad” overweight. Had I been stopped
the entire load could have been seized! Never again!

But DIY can be an option if you have a small load, plenty of
time and are not worried about some seriously hard work. To hire
a “Luton” size van and move say 15m3 of furniture from
Birmingham to Dordogne will cost you about £1100 all in. This
includes hire charges, diesel, ferry and motorway tolls and
meals, but not any “Tips” for kidnapped family members! To ask a
removal company to do the same job will cost anything from £1300
to £2500, depending on who you ask.

Following on from articles 1 and 2 we have received over 300
calls from people wanting to know who we are and what we do. So
how can a Brokerage help you? In essence the broker does exactly
the same as you, in that he solicits quotes from removal
companies. The difference is that whereas you ask maybe ten or
twenty companies for quotes, he will ask a few thousand, all
over Europe, to quote on your move. Further, the Broker knows
when and where companies are going. He is able to approach them
directly and suggest that they may like to quote on a job to
fill the spare capacity on a vehicle that is passing your front
door! Removal companies, like airlines prefer to travel with
full vehicles rather than ones that are half empty! The trick is
finding them. This is where the broker can help you to save
time, effort and money.

One of the questions that has come up time and again from
clients, relates to size. Contrary to public belief size does
matter, but it can be terribly confusing. In the UK we
traditionally use cubic feet in calculating volume. In Europe
(and more and more in the UK) volume is now measured in cubic
metres. To get the cubic capacity of anything, you take the
height width and depth and multiply the three together. So a
standard fridge of 3ft by 3ft by 4 ft measures 36 cubic feet. In
cubic metres this would be 0.95m*0.95m*1.3m to give 1.1m3.
Simply put 35 cubic feet is roughly equal to one cubic metre! If
you have made your inventory on a spread sheet it is fairly
straightforward to add in a separate column for the dimensions
of each article you intend to move. “Ah” you say “but what of
the table, and all that space underneath”. Measure the table as
a solid! True, items can be packed under the table, and in many
instances items can also be packed inside others (clothes in
drawers being an example), but whereas you may think you only
have 20 or thirty boxes you will find that once everything is
packed you have far far more, and this is where the extra space
under the table will go. Also bear in mind that if you have 34m3
of goods it will not fit in a vehicle with a capacity of 34m3,
as, expert as they are, removal companies can never fill every
cubic metre on a van! (Now there is a challenge to some one) !!

Finally, please remember that when packing yourself, there is a
possibility that the insurance cover offered will not stretch to
“all inclusive”. This is because the insurers themselves cannot
be certain that the goods were not damaged prior to loading and
secondly that they were correctly packed in the first instance.
Though we did have a report of one client who had correctly
packed each room with twenty or so boxes. None too heavy, none
too light. The boxes were all numbered and all sealed. The two
removal men lifted a box each and everything in the boxes simply
slipped out the bottom of the boxes. The client had made up the
boxes, sealed the tops and totally forgotten to seal the bottoms
of every single box! Sometimes you just cant win!