Moving and storage companies in the UK and Spain

I understand that anyone looking to either move to Spain or back to the UK or even further a field is looking for the best deal, with falling bouse prices, the strength of the euro and the ever rising cost of living governing what they can spend or what they think they can spend.

This is a word, actually, many words of warning................

If it´s too cheap there must be something i am missing......

If you have ever driven back to the UK from spain you will now how much tolls, fuel and ferries cost, how long it takes and generally the delays that can occur on the way, remember you are most likely the owner of a car and i dont mean a Hummer, I mean a family car that probably does about 40mpg and can cruise down the motorway at 120km an hour, legally, most of us ctend to creep over this now and then.

lets use a 7.5 tonne truck as a guide here, lets say an IVECO Eurocargo Euro 1 does 15-20mpg of diesel, tolls are double those of cars for commercial vehicles and you have to abide to the tachograph laws, and , i almost forgot, you cannot go over 90kmh

Ferry charges arent quite the same for trucks as they are for cars, so lets say that tincuding wages for a qualifed and legal driver, another porter, 3 nights out, fuel, tolls and ferry costs you are probably looking at around 1800 euros to get from alicante to Kent, for example.

Here no packing materiañls, no time allowed for loading, no insurance, no operational costs, emails, phone calls, survey costs, nothing just the actual cost of fuel and the men. If the aformentioned truck can carry 25m3, without going over weight this mweans that the direct costs are 72 euros per m3 + VAT, remember, no packing, loading, unloading , insurance, nothing

So if you get a really low offer from a "Bloke you Know" or from the classifieds in the local paper, Please be careful. You are effectively givig a man you dont know, cash and your belongings and praying that they arrive and all to save a few hundred Euros

Remember: if the truck that collects from you is Spanish plated it must have an SP license, they must have liability insurance and there staff must be contracted, not casual labour.

If an English company: check that they are BAR members, look at their website, call them and ask them questions, where is their depot, go and see their depot, this is always a good way of seeing how they treat their clients goods. Check that they have an International O licence. and remeber if you self drive van or la luton van back to the UK think about weight, a luton Van (empty) weighs about 1900 to 2200 kilos, weight limit is 3500 kilos, meaning if you fully load or load anything over 8-10m3 you will be overweight, if stopeed in Spain and weighed you will be fined and wuill have to unload the extra weight before you can continue, fines are VERY VERY HIGH and can reach 3100 euros for a luton van.

So When maoving spend a few quid more and use a bonifoied removal company, which offers insurance, uniformed porters and packers, inventories and the peace of mind that knowing your stuff will arrive