Different shippers say different size containers

[Jacqi B]

Has anyone else had this?
So far I've had four shippers come to quote (Pickfords, Robinsons, PSS and Abel) and had three different sizes of containers suggested.

We're taking the contents of a small 3-bed house which is being used as one bed, one home office (for a techie with way too many computers), and one study (with about 1000 books). We're also taking a 1968 Beetle car and a Yamaha motorbike.

Pickfords (who physically measured everything except the car, which wasn't here) tell me that it wont all fit in a standard 40ft container and we'd need a 40ft 'high cube' container.

Robinsons (measured only the bike) say that the household goods themselves would be slightly more than a 20ft container and so, with the car and biek we'd need a standard 40ft container and it would not be quite full.

PSS (measured nothing but want bike & car measurements) said that the household contents PLUS the bike should be slightly more than a 20ft container so we could have a 40ft or have a 20ft (if we were able to reduce the contents very slightly) and send the car separately as it might be cheaper.

Abels (measured nothing, want bike measurements) say a 40ft container will be adequate for it all. They were the only ones (so far) to say that they didn't need the car measurements as they could look it up.

I've have Crown and Sterling still to see, and have just realised that I didn't arrange for Anglo Pacific to quote (thought I had).

So were Pickfords being over cautious? Are the others wrong? I'm sure I've read on here that people have got rid of stuff and then found that there was room in the container after all, or that stuff didn't get into container.

Has anyone used Abels? I thought I must have heard of them on here but can't find any mention of them. Now see that they were one of the five I contacted online via www.intlmovers.com
One of the others - Movecorp - emailed an estimate without bothering to come out and the others Removal Group, The Euro Group and F + N Worldwide Moving didn't bother to get back to me at all.

[mylesdw]

I'm pretty sure that the standard 40' container would be the one. We moved two cars and all our stuff in one although we didn't take that much furniture. The problem is that the area around and above the car is pretty wasted unless you do what I did which was to build an 'upstairs' in the container with the car under and storage over.

[dusk]

the household contents we moved sound about the same as yours (although we did not take a sofa) and was less than a 20ft container (we did dismantle the beds and bookshelves to save space though)

so unless a car and bike take up more then a 20ft container by themselves I would have thought a 40ft would be easily enough - but then I don't estimate these things for a living either...

[TonnyTessa]

I had a similar selection of guys come and 'not' measure my things and the one pickfords bloke with his tape measurer. Similar range of sizes (I had much less stuff, so it ranged from 250 cu. ft to 460 cu. ft). In the end I choose Pickfords (mostly because then the boss would pay them directly, rather then me reclaiming later). I have to say that Mr Pickfords with his tape measurer was spot on, 315 cubic feet he said and 315 cu ft it was.

No idea if that means anything about the accuracy of measuring your shipment, but I was impressed. I noticed that some of the agents had little handheld gadgets that assume certain standard sizes for certain items. I personally wouldn't trust those too much, most things aren't standard size.

[jo1966]

Hi, we are taking the contents of a 3 bedroomed terraced house -( 2 adults 2 kids, not going in the container but to give you an idea about possessions) - and 2 drum kits! Plus our Toyota Avensis car. We are using Robinsons and they said a standard 40 foot container as did Crown and the others (I can't remember who they were as it was in May).
Hope this helps.
Jo

[collinssteve]

Hi,

I had 4 quotes - one from Abels who I'd never heard of either but we'd got a family recommendation for them. Abels were *way* more expensive than the others (Pickfords, Anglo Pacific and John Masons) so we've decided to go with Pickfords.

The amount of stuff you're taking sounds very similar to us. All 4 companies measured the stuff at about 1400sqft plus the car (a 1963 Mini). Some said we'd be fine with a standard 40ft, some recommended a high cube.

The difference seemed to be how they were intending to pack the car. Some (eg Pickfords) were going to build a proper box around it so that stuff can be packed on top. Others were just going to "wall" the car in, thus wasting all the space above it and causing us to need to high-cube.

Hope this helps a bit!
Steve