Send us the details once. They go to a vetted international moving company that already covers your route, wherever in the world that runs, and that firm looks at the job before ringing you.
Sometimes they can't take it. The week's full, or it's not a route they run. Then it goes to the next firm on the list. What you won't get is six companies holding your number and all of them ringing on the same afternoon.
There's a reason for that beyond the phone going. Quotes for the same house often aren't comparing the same thing. One firm's priced a full pack, the other's assumed you'll do your own boxes. One's looked at your street and spotted that an eighteen tonne lorry can't get near the door, so they've added a smaller van to shuttle it up. The other hasn't looked. Put those two numbers side by side and you're not really comparing anything.
One quote from international movers who've checked the route, the access and what you're actually shifting beats a pile of quotes from firms who haven't.
Routes vary more than people expect. Plenty of moves never leave Europe and go door to door by road inside a fortnight. Others are long haul by sea and take a couple of months with customs at the far end. The paperwork changes with the country, the shipping method changes with the distance, and the price changes with both. That's the whole reason your details go to a firm that already runs your route rather than one that's willing to have a go at it.
We've handled over 850,000 international relocation enquiries since 2010. We're not a removal company. We don't own lorries and we don't employ crews. The firm that takes your job does the packing, the driving, the paperwork and the delivery, and your contract's with them, not with us.
People search for international movers near me, and wanting a firm on your doorstep is sensible. A local firm knows the parking, knows which streets a large vehicle cannot use, and can send someone to look at the job.
We do not have branches, so we cannot claim to be down the road from you. What we can do is send your details to an accredited moving company that already works your postcode. Collection happens at your own address, by a crew based near enough to get there and back in a day.
Being near you matters at the collection end. It matters much less at the far end, where a good destination agent is chosen for knowing the local customs office rather than for being close to your new flat. When a firm tells you it has offices in eleven countries, ask which of them will actually be in the room on delivery day.
Tell us the collection postcode and the delivery country. That pairing decides which international moving companies near you can genuinely take the job.
Volume decides most of it. Most international movers price household goods in cubic metres rather than by bedroom count, which is why two three-bedroom houses can be quoted hundreds of pounds apart. One has a loft and a garage full of things. The other does not. Some routes and some air shipments bring weight into it as well, so ask which basis your quote is built on.
10 to 15 cubic metres
Shared vehicle: £900 to £1,800
Dedicated: £2,200 to £3,500
20 to 25 cubic metres
Shared vehicle: £1,600 to £2,800
Dedicated: £3,200 to £4,800
30 to 35 cubic metres
Shared vehicle: £2,400 to £3,800
Dedicated: £4,500 to £6,500
50 to 60 cubic metres
Shared vehicle: rarely suitable
Dedicated: £7,000 to £11,000
Access at both ends. This is the one people forget, and it is usually the difference between two quotes for the same house. A third floor with no lift, a street too narrow for a large vehicle, a gate the lorry cannot pass: each of those adds a shuttle stage, extra crew hours, or both. Send photographs of the approach, not just the address.
Who packs. Movers and packers charge more for a full pack, and it tends to be worth it for glass, art and electronics, because cover on owner-packed cartons is often reduced or restricted. Nobody from the moving company saw what went in the box. Ask what the policy actually says before you decide who does the wrapping.
The date. May to September is peak across the trade and prices reflect it. A move in February on a flexible week is materially cheaper than the same move on the last Friday in August.
Whether the vehicle is yours alone. Overseas movers call this a shared load, and it waits for other consignments going the same way, which is why it costs less. If your dates are fixed, that waiting is a problem rather than a saving.
Planning bands reviewed August 2026. Next review August 2027. These are indicative market figures for budgeting, not a quotation. The moving company sets the price after checking your route.
Distance and volume settle this between them, and the choice is usually obvious once both are known.
Road freight covers Europe. A vehicle loads at your door and unloads at the other one, with no port stage in between, which is why European moves run one to two weeks rather than one to two months. Shared loads and dedicated vehicles both work on road routes.
Sea freight handles most long-haul household moves. Household goods travel in a shared container or a full one, typically four to eight weeks door to door including clearance at the far end. An overseas moving company will usually quote a twenty foot container for a small house and a forty foot for a large one, and the step between those two sizes is where a lot of money sits. It is worth asking whether culling a few cubic metres drops you into the smaller box.
Air freight is for a few boxes you cannot be without, not for a household. It runs in days and costs several times sea freight for the same volume. The usual sensible pattern is a small air shipment of essentials with the rest following by sea.
The Atlantic is the easy part of a move to America. The paperwork is where these jobs go wrong, and it goes wrong in a specific, avoidable way.
Personal effects entering the United States are declared on CBP Form 3299, the Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles, normally alongside a supplemental declaration listing what is actually in the shipment. Used household goods you have owned and used abroad can enter free of duty. Things bought new for the move cannot, and a box still in its shrink wrap reads as a purchase however long ago you ordered it.
Ocean freight carries a second requirement that catches people out. An Importer Security Filing has to reach US Customs and Border Protection no later than 24 hours before the cargo is loaded onto the ship, not before it arrives. Late or incomplete filings can bring delays, holds or penalties at the border, so this is not one to leave to the last week. Responsibility for the ISF sits with the ISF Importer, and on a household move that is usually the international moving company or its customs agent filing on your behalf. Either way they need your details in good time, which is why a move to the USA is worth booking earlier than a move to Spain.
Check the current position with US Customs and Border Protection before your dates are fixed. Rules on alcohol, vehicles, firearms and food are stricter than most people expect and they change.
Among the UK enquiries we see, New York, Florida, California and Texas come up most often, and the port of entry is worth asking about rather than assuming. A shipment routed through a busy East Coast port and trucked inland is a different timeline from one that sails to the West Coast. For a move to Los Angeles or Seattle, ask which it is before you agree a delivery week.
Our page on removals to USA covers the route in detail. Moving the other way, from the United States back to Britain, is a different process again: that one runs on HMRC Transfer of Residence relief and needs approval before the goods arrive.
Anyone can build a website with a lorry on it. Accreditation is one of the few signals where somebody outside the firm has actually looked at how it runs, which is why it is near the top of what we ask international moving companies about.
FIDI FAIM is the one we put most weight on, because it is independently audited. FIDI says the audit is done by independent auditors, currently EY, and that it covers every part of how a firm administers and performs an international move. Certificates carry an expiry date, so it is fair to ask for the certificate and check it is still in date. You can also look a firm up in FIDI's affiliate search. A firm that mentions FIDI without naming the FAIM certification is worth a second question.
BAR Overseas brings a minimum insurance requirement and access to an independent dispute service if something goes wrong and the firm will not put it right. That service is run by the Furniture & Home Improvement Ombudsman, which has handled BAR's alternative dispute resolution since 2018.
IAM, EUROMOVERS and FEDEMAC are trade bodies, and firms hold them in different combinations. Most movers hold two or three rather than the full set. Accreditations belong to individual companies, not to groups or brands, so ask which ones the firm quoting you actually holds and ask for the membership number you can check.
Every moving company in the network is checked before it takes work, and checked again rather than assumed. We also ask what the goods-in-transit cover actually is, because the limit varies a great deal between firms that describe it the same way.
Roughly as many of our relocation enquiries come from people moving to Britain as from people leaving it, and the return leg is not the outbound leg in reverse.
Bringing household goods into Great Britain usually means claiming Transfer of Residence relief from HMRC, and the application is meant to go in before the goods are shipped. Processing takes time. A shipment that turns up without an approved reference number can be held while the position is sorted out, and storage at the port is charged to you.
So the order matters on a return move. HMRC wants the ToR1 application in and the relief granted before your goods are shipped, not while they are on the water, so start the form early and give the mover your reference once you have it. Leaving it until the container is loaded is the expensive mistake on inbound routes. If you are coming back to the UK for a period of full time study, the process is simpler and this form is not needed, which is worth saying at enquiry stage.
Each of these has its own page covering customs, access and what changes the price on that route.
New York, Florida, California, Texas. CBP Form 3299, plus a security filing at least 24 hours before loading.
Removals to Canada reach Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Winter sailings need planning, and settler effects go on form BSF186, which used to be called the B4.
Mainland road freight through France. Balearics need ferry planning, Canaries need separate clearance.
Paris, Lyon, Nice. The shortest road route from the UK and often the quickest to book.
Inside Schengen, outside the EU customs union. Goods clear at the Swiss frontier on form 18.44.
Berlin, Munich, Hamburg. Road freight throughout, with Anmeldung to arrange at the far end.
Sydney, Melbourne, Perth. Quarantine inspection is the step that decides the timeline.
Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah. Sea or air. Residence visa usually needed before goods clear.
Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban. Sea freight, with a P1.160 declaration on arrival.
Rome, Milan, Florence. Road freight, with historic centres that large vehicles cannot enter.
Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague. Three to five days by road. Canal houses need a hoist.
Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent. Short road route and a common first leg for onward European moves.
Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense. No passenger ferry from the UK, so road or freight ferry.
Road to an Italian port, then a short sea leg. Island routing changes the timeline.
We do not have branches, so the honest answer is that the mover near you is whichever accredited firm in the network already works your postcode. Collection is arranged from your own address. Tell us the collection postcode and the delivery country and the enquiry goes to a company covering both ends.
Volume decides most of it. A studio or one bedroom flat at 10 to 15 cubic metres runs from about £900 to £3,500 depending on whether you share a vehicle or take one to yourself. A three bedroom house at 30 to 35 cubic metres runs from about £2,400 to £6,500. Destination, access and date move the figure from there.
Because five quotes for the same job are rarely comparable. One firm includes packing and another does not. One has allowed for a shuttle and another has not seen the street. Your details go to one accredited firm at a time, so if that company cannot take the job the enquiry moves on to the next rather than being broadcast to all of them at once.
Personal effects entering the United States are declared on CBP Form 3299, the Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles, usually with a supplemental declaration listing what is in the shipment. Ocean freight also needs an Importer Security Filing, which CBP asks for no later than 24 hours before the cargo is loaded onto the ship. The ISF Importer is responsible for it, and on a household move that is normally handled by the moving company or its customs agent acting for you. Check the current position with US Customs and Border Protection.
European road moves usually run one to two weeks door to door. Sea freight to North America, Australia or the Gulf usually runs four to eight weeks including clearance. Air freight cuts that to days but costs several times more, so it suits a few boxes rather than a household.
No. We own no lorries and employ no crews. We are an enquiry service. The accredited moving company you are put in touch with does the packing, the driving, the paperwork and the delivery, and your contract is with that firm.
You can, and plenty of people do to keep the cost down. The catch is that cover for owner-packed cartons is often reduced or restricted, because nobody from the moving company saw what went in the box or how it was wrapped. Read what the policy says about it before you decide. Packing the sturdy things yourself and leaving the glass and the electronics to the crew is the usual compromise.
FIDI FAIM is the accreditation in this trade with an independent audit behind it. FIDI says the audit is carried out by independent auditors, currently EY, and that it covers every part of how a firm administers and performs an international move. Certificates run to an expiry date, so ask for the certificate and check it is currently valid rather than taking a logo on a website at face value. FIDI publishes a search of its affiliates you can check a firm against.
Eight to twelve weeks is comfortable for sea freight, and four to six is usually enough for a road move inside Europe. Two things push that earlier. May to September is peak across the trade, so the good crews go first. And if you are moving to the USA, or claiming Transfer of Residence relief coming back to the UK, the paperwork carries its own deadlines that sit well before the loading date.
Not automatically. Goods-in-transit cover is arranged separately, and the limits vary a great deal between firms that describe it in the same words. Ask what the cover actually pays out on, whether it is replacement value or a figure per kilo, and what it says about cartons you packed yourself. Get that answer in writing before you agree the quote.
Collection address, delivery address, rough inventory and the week you want to go. That is enough for a firm to check the route and come back to you with a real number.
Send your move detailsInternational Removals Companies is operated by DATACONTEXT (UK) LTD, company number 07425576, ICO registration ZB022743, registered at Norman House, Saint Saviours Estate, Abbey Street, London SE1 3DH. Running since 2010. We work with accredited moving companies in the AGM Group network.
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