Moving to France - choosing
a removal firm - continued
In general this situtation should make your forthcoming
move a little easier:
- there’s more choice
- you may find a firm local to you
- pricing will be more competive
But in some other ways you will need to take care:
- firms with little overseas experience may be tempted
to try the market
- a low price may be matched by a poor service
- some times it can be hard to choose (choice is the enemy
of decision!)
If you’re really stretched on your budget and you
don’t have too many things to move you might be tempted
to do a self-drive van hire. There’s nothing wrong
with this and lots of people have moved to France this
way in the past. But do check out the FAQs and Hints and
Tips in our Removals Zone to make sure you are well-prepared.
There’s a lot more to French removals than just packing
up some cardboard boxes and stuffing them in the back
of a van – that’s why many people prefer to
use a firm to do the job for them.
Key questions
So how do you choose a removals firm? Here are some key
questions you should be asking either on the phone before
they visit or when they come to do an estimate for you:
1. How long have they been in business?
2. How long have they been doing removals to France?
3. How many trips do they make to France each month?
4. How many lorries and crews do they have?
5. How new are their lorries and equipment?
6. Are they members of BAR (British Association of Removers)
7. Can they provide recent references?
8. What insurance cover do they provide?
Estimates
As regards estimates, in general the larger firms and
local companies will be willing to send a representative
to your house to discuss your move and take details in
order to give you a quotation. This is an excellent opportunity
not just for the firm to take all your details but also
for you to ask some more important questions (see What
to ask) and to form a general impression about them. At
this point it is worth reminding yourself who you are
dealing with: unless it is a smaller firm it’s unlikely
that the person you are talking to will be around when
the men come in to pack, move and drive your possessions
to France. You may be impressed with the salesman or Managing
Director but you won’t like it if you get an over-worked,
underpaid, grumpy or inexperienced team on the day of
your move!
Some firms may not make an initial visit but will be
willing to give you an estimate after you have completed
a postal questionnaire listing all the items you intend
to move, your destination etc. For a smaller firm, or
one based in a region that’s some distance from you,
this is a sensible economy. They can’t afford to
have people tied up on the road giving personalised estimates,
especially when clients may still be at the stage of getting
“ball-park” figures. There’s nothing wrong
with this approach provided you still ask the questions
above and make sure that if you make a provisional arrangement
to go ahead with the firm in question that they come and
visit your house to do a full-site inspection and to check
the size of the load themselves.
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