UK to Europe removals: your questions answered

It depends on how much you move and how far: a one-bedroom home to Belgium, as a part load, costs £1,631 – £2,199 with customs documentation included. Typical prices for every country:

Packing, transit cover, stairs or parking at either end, and collection from beyond our free collection area are priced on top, from your own answers. Places within a country can price differently from the table, so the quote works out yours from your address and your inventory. See how the price is worked out.

A part load shares a vehicle with other customers' goods going the same way, so you pay for the space your things take rather than for the whole vehicle. The fixed costs of the run, such as the driver, fuel, the Channel crossing and tolls, are shared between everyone on board.

The trade-off is time. Moving out of the UK, we collect on a date you choose, but delivery follows the schedule for your country, so it falls within a window rather than on a named day. A vehicle of your own avoids that, usually at a higher price: see how the two compare.

A part load if price matters more than timing; a vehicle of your own if you need both dates fixed or you are moving a lot.

• Part load: you pay for the space you use, and delivery falls within a window rather than on a named day.
• Dedicated vehicle: only your goods are on board, it goes straight from door to door, and you choose both the collection and the delivery date. You pay a flat price for the vehicle, full or not.

For bigger moves the two prices come close, and a vehicle of your own can even work out cheaper. The quote prices both ways and tells you when it does.

Yes. The minimum charge is £630 to £1,220, depending on where you are going, with the customs documentation fee included.

It applies when a load is so small that the rate per cubic metre would come to less, because even a few items need collecting, handling and a place on the run. Packing, stairs or parking at either end, and collection from beyond our free collection area are priced on top if they apply. The quote shows you when the minimum is what you pay.

Yes. A few boxes or pieces of furniture travel as a part load, sharing a vehicle with other customers' goods, and the minimum charge starts at £630 with customs documentation included.

The minimum is higher for places further away, and as with any part load, delivery falls within a window rather than on a named day. Add your items in the quote tool and it tells you your price, and whether the minimum applies.

From your inventory. In the quote tool you add your furniture and boxes room by room, and it works out the volume in cubic metres, with cubic feet alongside, showing the van filling up as you go.

Most people underestimate, so go through the loft, the garage, the shed and the garden too. The survey then checks your list against what is really there, so your price is based on what actually moves. See how volume is measured.

Yes, if your goods travel as a part load: taking a delivery window rather than a named day takes 10% off your price. It lets us fit your goods around the other loads on the run.

The quote calls this a shared load, and takes the saving off for you when you choose it. A dedicated vehicle travels on the dates you pick, so it has no flexible-date saving; here is how to choose between them.

Yes, it can. Your quote is based on what you tell us, and the survey checks it against what is really there. Our terms say when it can still change:

The price excludes customs duties and government fees, and can change if things differ from what we quoted on — such as access, extra goods or work outside normal hours (clause 1).

Clause 1.2 gives the main cases, such as a quote not accepted in writing in time, a move not done within the period it sets, or freight costs changing beyond our control. Telling us about stairs, parking and everything you are moving before the survey is the surest way to keep the price where it is.

There is none to include. International removals to and from Europe are zero-rated for UK VAT. The price shown is the price payable; no VAT is added.

That is UK VAT on our own charges. Import VAT and customs duty on your belongings when they arrive are separate: our customs guide explains transfer of residence relief, and when you pay neither.

Yes, the deposit is 25% of your price, and whether you can get it back depends on whether you pay it before or after your survey.

If you pay it before your survey, this is what happens. Your deposit secures the vehicle and the date. We then survey the move — if that changes the price and you would rather not go ahead, you get the full deposit back. Otherwise our Terms & Conditions set out what we charge if you postpone or cancel.

If you pay it after your survey, the price has already been checked, so that refund does not come into it, and clause 7 of our terms sets what postponing or cancelling costs.

Yes. What it costs depends on how much notice you give. From our terms:

Postponing or cancelling is free with more than 10 working days' notice, up to 30% of the removal charge with 5–10 working days, and up to 60% with less than 5 (clause 7).

Working days are Monday to Friday, not counting public holidays, so tell us as soon as your plans change. If you paid your deposit before your survey and the survey changed the price, the deposit promise applies. The charges are set out in clause 7.

Book 4–6 weeks ahead for most moves. Between June and September allow 6–8 weeks, especially to southern France and Italy, because summer runs fill first.

If your date is sooner, ask anyway: there may still be space on a run, or a vehicle free. A quote on its own does not hold a date; paying the deposit does. If your plans then change, clause 7 of our terms sets what moving the date costs.

You can still get your price and have your survey now: choose "Not sure yet" in the quote and give the month you have in mind.

• Your price can change if you do not accept the quote in writing in time, or the move is not done within the period clause 1.2.1 sets, so for a move further off, ask us for an updated price nearer the time.
• If your sale and purchase dates do not line up, we can store your things at either end until you are ready.
• Pay the deposit once your date is firm. After that, clause 7 of our terms sets what moving it costs.

Get your price online, then pay a deposit of 25% of it to secure your date.

• Add your belongings in the quote tool and choose a part load or a vehicle of your own.
• Book your survey. You can pay the deposit before it or after it.
• Pay online, from your quote or from the link we email you. You are asked to accept our Terms & Conditions when you pay.
• Your deposit secures the vehicle and the date; we confirm the collection details once everything is checked, and your move portal then holds your customs documents, inventory and dates.

Usually, yes: your online price is an estimate from your own list, and a free survey lets us see the move for ourselves before you rely on it. Choose whichever suits you:

• a video call of about 30 minutes, walking us round on your phone, weekdays 12pm to 9:30pm UK time;
• a home visit, if you are within 15 miles of one of our depots and a surveyor is free to come;
• photos or a short video sent on WhatsApp, if you would rather not be surveyed at all.

Once you have your quote, pick a time in your move portal or ask your coordinator, and we confirm it by email. A survey costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Show us everything: walk us through every room, cupboard and outbuilding on your phone, opening doors as you go. Before the call:

• be somewhere with a decent signal, as you will be walking around;
• open the loft, garage, shed and any cupboards you are emptying;
• have a rough idea of what is not coming with you;
• point out anything that needs special care, such as a piano, artwork or antiques.

The call takes about 30 minutes. Something missed on the day is the most common reason a price is revised later, so it is worth the extra few minutes. If the time stops suiting you, move it from your portal.

It depends on the country, and on whether your goods share a vehicle. These are the usual door-to-door transit times, and how often we run to each country:

A part load also waits for its scheduled run, so allow for that on top; a vehicle of your own travels direct, on your dates. Ferry disruption, weather and customs checks can add to any of these. How it works explains the choice between the two.

Yes, if you take a vehicle of your own or our Gold service; a part load is delivered within a window instead.

• A dedicated vehicle travels direct, so the collection and delivery dates are yours to choose.
• Gold includes a fixed, named delivery date.
• On a part load you choose the collection day, we give you a delivery window, and we confirm the day itself once your goods have cleared customs.

A named date is still a plan made around ferries, roads and customs checks, and the clause on delays in transit in our terms says where you stand if a delivery runs late.

Yes, you or someone you trust needs to be at both ends: our terms ask that you are present or represented at collection and at delivery (clause 3.1.3).

• At collection, they show the crew what goes and what stays, and sign the inventory.
• At delivery, they say where each thing goes, note anything visibly damaged, and sign to say the goods have arrived.

If nobody is there to take delivery, our terms let us put your goods into store, and storing and redelivering them is then at your cost. If you cannot be there yourself, tell your coordinator who will be there instead.

Through your move portal: its Dates & crew page shows your collection date, your delivery window, and whether your goods are booked, on the road or delivered.

The office updates it as the move goes along rather than showing a live map, because a position that turns out to be wrong causes more worry than it settles. We also email you when your dates are set or change, when your goods are on the road and when they are delivered. For anything else, message your coordinator in the portal or call 020 8044 4474.

Keep anything you cannot manage without until delivery, and anything we do not carry, in a bag that travels with you rather than on the vehicle. That means:

• passports, travel documents, and the originals of any papers you have sent us copies of;
• medicines, glasses, chargers and the keys to both homes;
• jewellery, cash and small valuables, which we carry only by written agreement;
• clothes, toiletries and bedding to last until your goods arrive.

Fridges and freezers need to be empty, defrosted and clean before we load (clause 3.1.8). What we won't carry has the full list.

Either: we can pack everything, just the fragile items or nothing at all, and your quote prices whichever you choose.

Transit cover is priced at 3% of the value you declare, whoever packs. But other than through our negligence or breach of contract, our terms exclude anything in a box, and any china, glass or other fragile item, that we did not both pack and unpack (the exclusions). So even if you pack most things yourself, it is worth letting us pack the breakables.

Yes, in the UK before you leave or at your destination after you arrive. It is charged at £6 per cubic metre a week, about £0.17 per cubic foot, on the volume in your quote.

It is the usual answer when the sale of one home and the keys to the next do not line up, or when your moving date is not settled yet. Tell us roughly how long you need it and it appears on your quote as its own line. Our terms set out how storage charges are reviewed.

Yes: pianos, safes, pool tables and crated artwork are all moved, but each needs planning, so add them from the quote tool's Specialist list.

We then look at them properly at the survey: the weight, the stairs and doorways at both ends, and whether the item needs extra hands, a crate or lifting equipment. If it needs lifting equipment, or the access turns out tighter than we were told, the price can change (clause 1.2.7).

Yes, but not through the online quote: a car or motorbike is priced separately, so call us to talk it through.

A vehicle is its own customs entry, separate from your household goods, and needs its own paperwork: the V5C logbook, the original purchase invoice, and a letter from the lender if it is financed. A car you have owned and used for long enough can usually come in under the same relief as your household goods; duty relief explains the conditions.

Some items cannot go on the vehicle unless we agree in writing — including gas bottles, aerosols, paints, jewellery, money, plants, perishables and animals (clause 5).

The same list includes firearms and ammunition, and anything that needs a licence or government permission to export or import. In practice:

• keep jewellery, money and important papers with you;
• empty, defrost and clean fridges and freezers before we arrive;
• ask us before packing anything you are unsure about.

If an excluded item is packed without our knowledge, the terms let us make it available for you to collect and charge you any costs it causes us. Clause 5 of our terms has the full list.

Only if something will not go up the stairs: a sofa on a winding staircase, a wardrobe past a tight landing, a canal house that is entered through the window.

Tick "a furniture hoist is needed" for that end and the quote prices it as its own line: an external lift with its operator for a half day, hired in where the address is, with our margin on top — £540 at the British end, £324 in France, £338 in the Netherlands. The survey confirms whether one is needed.

Where the street needs a permit for the hoist to stand, that is the parking suspension line, and our city guides, such as Amsterdam, say who grants it.

Make a claim in writing, and do it quickly. Our terms say:

Tell us in writing about any loss or damage within 7 days of delivery, and note anything visible at the time of delivery (clause 12).

Email us your booking reference, a list of what is damaged or missing, and photos. Keep the items and their packaging until we have seen them, as we may want to inspect them or have them assessed for repair. What we pay is limited by our terms and the value you declared. See how to make a claim.

Usually not: transfer of residence relief lets household goods into an EU country free of duty and import VAT, if you qualify. The conditions are set by Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 for duty and Council Directive 2009/132/EC for VAT:

• your normal residence has been outside the EU for at least the last 12 months;
• you have owned and used the goods there for at least six months;
• they are for the same use in your new home;
• they arrive within 12 months of you moving in;
• you do not sell, lend, hire out or pledge them for 12 months without telling customs.

Alcohol, tobacco and commercial vehicles never qualify, and you must claim relief. Switzerland has its own rules.

A move of your main home needs these six documents:

• Passport photo page
• Itemised valued inventory
• Proof of your home in the UK
• Proof of your new address
• Authorisation for our destination agent
• Ownership and use declaration

Each country then adds its own, such as Cerfa 10070 for France or Form 18.44 for Switzerland; a vehicle or inherited goods add more, and a second home changes the list. Some of these we prepare for you from the inventory you build for your quote; the rest you upload in your move portal. Customs can ask for more if something is unclear, so send what you have early rather than all at once at the end.

It is a list of everything you are shipping, room by room, with a rough replacement value against each line. Customs use it to see what you are bringing in and to value anything that does not qualify for relief.

French customs want it detailed, dated and signed, in two copies. Swiss customs accept boxes grouped by what is in them, but want furniture, valuables and anything restricted, such as alcohol, listed one by one. We build it from the inventory you entered for your quote; you add a value against each item in your portal and sign it.

Switzerland is outside the EU, so it has its own customs rules and more paperwork, and our customs documentation fee is £140 more than for an EU country. The main differences:

• relief is claimed on Form 18.44, for household effects you have used for six months and will keep using;
• the form goes to customs in duplicate, each copy signed by you in ink, so we post it to you: a scan will not do;
• as a UK citizen you need your Swiss residence permit, or other proof you are moving there;
• clearance is at a customs office for commercial goods, in its opening hours.

Swiss customs (BAZG) explain the procedure (opens in a new tab).

Yes, but in an EU country you will normally pay import VAT, and any duty due, on everything you send. Transfer of residence relief is only for a move of your main home, and EU law has no relief for a second home: French customs, for one, tax the whole move on the value of your list and invoices.

Switzerland is different. Household goods for a Swiss home you buy or rent long-term can come in duty-free on Form 18.44, if:

• you have used them yourself for at least six months;
• you will keep using them there;
• they are imported close to when you buy or sign the lease.

Vehicles and animals are excluded. Swiss customs (BAZG) explain the rule (opens in a new tab).

Yes, usually: relief depends on where your normal residence has been, not on what you own. Customs judge that by where your life is centred: family, work, children's school, home and finances. If it has been outside the EU (the UK counts) for at least the last 12 months, goods you have owned and used there for six months qualify on the usual conditions. The paperwork changes:

• tell us it is now your main home, so we declare a transfer of residence, not a second-home move;
• be ready to show you now live there, with a residence card or registration certificate.

Switzerland asks only that you move your home there and have used the goods for six months.

They are the forms you claim relief on, Cerfa 10070 in France and Form 18.44 in Switzerland, and we fill both in for you from your inventory. You check them and sign.

• Cerfa 10070 is the French customs declaration for bringing your belongings into France free of duty and VAT from outside the EU. It goes in with your signed inventory, in two copies, and proof of your old and new homes.
• Form 18.44 is the Swiss customs declaration for household effects. It must carry your own ink signature and go to customs in duplicate, so we post it to you and you post it back.

French customs explain what Cerfa 10070 needs (opens in a new tab).

They do not qualify for relief, so expect to pay import VAT, and any duty due, on them. Relief is only for things you have owned and used for at least six months before you leave your old home, and something still boxed and never used does not count. So:

• list recent purchases on your inventory with what you paid;
• keep the receipts: customs use them to value those goods, and to check when you bought everything else;
• customs can make exceptions in special cases, but do not plan on one.

Switzerland is the same: anything used for less than six months goes at the foot of the Form 18.44 list, with its value, to be taxed.

Yes to both, within limits. In an EU country your goods can come in several loads, as long as each arrives within 12 months of you taking up residence; French customs want later loads listed on the first inventory. Sending goods before you move is allowed under Article 9 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009, if:

• you undertake to take up residence within six months;
• customs hold a security, in a form and amount they set, until you do.

Our customs agent arranges both. The six months' use then runs to the day they arrive. Switzerland has its own rule: declare later loads on a separate list at the first clearance, and bring them within 2 years of your move.

Not always, but customs need proof you are moving your home there, which for a UK citizen usually means a visa, a residence permit or proof you have applied. What each country asks for:

• French customs want documents showing you are settling in France, such as a residence card;
• German customs give most weight to a registration certificate, tenancy agreement or employment contract;
• Swiss customs ask for the Swiss residence permit, but can accept other proof you are moving there.

If your permit is not ready when your goods arrive, EU rules let them in before you take up residence against an undertaking and a security, and Swiss customs can clear them provisionally against a security.

Customs can open and examine any consignment, and hold it until the paperwork is complete, so a missing or wrong document is the usual reason for a hold. Goods that can never be released can even be confiscated. If it happens:

• our customs agent deals with the officers and tells you what they need from you;
• inspection charges and any duty are yours to pay, as our price does not include them (clause 1.1);
• our terms do not make us liable for goods customs seize or damage unless we have been negligent or in breach of contract (clause 9.3.2).

Sending every document before collection is the best way to avoid a hold.

Yes, usually: relief depends on where you have lived, not on your passport. If your normal residence has been outside the EU, such as in the UK, for at least the last 12 months, you claim it on the same conditions as anyone else:

• you have owned and used the goods in your UK home for at least six months;
• they are for the same use in your new home;
• they arrive within 12 months of you moving back;
• you do not sell, lend, hire out or pledge them for 12 months after import without telling customs first.

Keep evidence of your UK address for the whole period, such as council tax or utility bills.

It is your own private page for your move, from your first quote to delivery. Sign in with the email address on your quote and we send you a link; there is no password to remember. In it you can:

• see where your move has got to, and your dates;
• book or move your survey;
• upload your customs documents and see which are still needed;
• check your inventory and add a value to each item;
• make payments and message your coordinator.

You can also give a partner, a helper or an employer paying for the move their own access, limited to what they need to see.