I hit several snags on a 20' self pack from Florida to Nelson, delivery to Marlborough. The $6k quote ended up cost $Us 9k and took more than three months. Worst problem came when US customs decided to do an export inspection...at my cost. Further changes in port at Nelson. Make sure to read the fine print. Also, if you are good with second hand / antique furniture, there are good buys to be made in NZ. Don't listen to people who say everything is so expensive. I would never again ship a dining room set or bureau...or sofa...to NZ.
If there isn't anything in particular you want to say, you can add one-word posts on this thread to boost you up to the five.![]()
Ta - think I'm nearly there. Actually I managed to copy paste the spreadsheet from thew thread ok, and now repopulating it with quotes I am gathering. I really agree that it is so hard to compare quotes due to so many variables, but I am getting a feel now for the various options.
... and now post number 5. One of the big questions is self-pack or shipper-pack. The advantages of the latter being insurance and (maybe) easier customs checks, but given we are not taking everything, effectively we are going to have to handle pretty much every item before any packers come... so time saving won't be all that much.
Hi, sorry I haven't checked in for awhile since I've been on the road! I'm glad you found a way to import the data yourself :-)
I would definitely consider self-pack if I thought we were physically capable. Any money we saved would probably be spent on physical therapy, lol...just moving out of the house and into storage was a crazy ordeal, even with professional movers involved. There is always more work than you think.
What I can't decide is whether full replacement value insurance is even worth it. The shippers need to do hours and hours of inventory (which costs a bundle for their time), checking the condition of all the pieces of furniture, and many places insist on packing it themselves if you want full insurance - so add even more $$$$. And then if you actually do need to do a claim, my instincts just tell me all the documentation and phone calls that would require would destroy my will to live. I dealt with something like that on a LOCAL move and it was hell. On the other hand, it feels kind of weird to only get the "in case it all falls off the boat" insurance. Ugh.
@sandgrubber - oh man, what a nightmare! 50% increase after all that effort...buying secondhand does sound like it could make a lot of sense. I personally can't face all the shopping it would involve, after all the fun we've had simply getting rid of the dead weight!I'll probably regret it, heh...but I am so done with yard sales/goodwill/craigslist for awhile!
Very useful info, thanks for posting!