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No two Switzerland quotes match, and both of them can still be honest.
Two households of the same size, leaving the same town in the same week, can be quoted very differently, and both quotes can be fair. Seven things decide the number. One of them is entirely in your hands, and it is the one with the biggest effect.
That is the finding worth carrying into any conversation with a mover. Published figures further down this page come from three UK international movers, and the gap between the cheapest and the dearest description of the same three bedroom household is wider than the gap between a part load and a full house. There is no such thing as the price of moving to Switzerland. Two families with the same amount of stuff, leaving the same British town in the same week, can be quoted very differently, and both quotes can be entirely fair. What separates them is a handful of things nobody thinks to ask about until the estimate arrives.
Published figures follow further down, taken from three UK international movers. They are deliberately shown as ranges rather than single numbers, because a range narrow enough to look precise would be misleading. Alongside them is the list of things that actually move the number, so you can work out where your own move sits and read a quote properly.
The headline: quotes are built from cubic metres and the route, not from weight and not from bedroom count. Everything below is a variation on those two.
Ask two people with three bedroom houses what they own and you can easily get a two to one difference. One has lived there four years and rents furnished. The other has been there twenty two years with a full loft, a garage and a shed. Both say three bedrooms.
So a serious quote starts with an itemised list. A surveyor from the moving company walks the house, or you walk it on a video call with the phone held up, and every piece is logged against a standard volume. Half an hour, and the resulting figure is the thing your price hangs off.
Movers will tell you that skipping the survey to save time is the commonest cause of a quote changing later. The volume was a guess, and the loft was not in it.
Of the seven things on the list, this is the only one entirely in your hands, and it is the one with the biggest effect. Shipping is priced on the space something occupies rather than its value, which produces some counterintuitive maths.
Do the culling before the survey, not after the quote. A quote based on what you actually intend to take is the only one that will still be right in six weeks.
None of these is a sharp practice. They become unfair surprises only when nobody asked the question that would have found them at survey stage.
The total at the bottom is the least useful number on a quote. Put two side by side and check these instead.
Removals demand is not spread evenly and the price follows it. Summer is busiest, because of school years and lease cycles. The end of the month is busier than the middle everywhere, because that is when tenancies turn over. Friday is busier than Tuesday.
Move mid month, mid week and outside the summer and you are asking for a vehicle at a time when one is easier to find. That is a genuine saving rather than a haggling trick.
The usual advice to move off season needs one adjustment here. Switzerland is mountainous, and a delivery high in the Alps in midwinter carries a weather risk that a lowland delivery does not. Motorway routes and road tunnels are dependable. High passes and small valley roads are less so.
If your Swiss address is at altitude, take the off season saving on the collection end and build some slack into the delivery end. Do not book a tight chain of dates through a mountain valley in January.
Two things outside the mover's control can also move your dates. Swiss clearance happens at a customs office during its opening hours, and permit and registration rules are set by your canton and your commune rather than nationally, so a German speaking canton and a French speaking one can ask you for different things. The Federal Office for Customs and Border Security will pre check a relocation file emailed two working days ahead, which costs nothing and is worth doing. Checked 5 August 2026.
See also how sharing a lorry works, which is the single largest saving available on most smaller moves.
Most removal sites refuse to put a number anywhere near a Switzerland page. That is unhelpful, so here is what three UK international movers actually publish for this route, with the arithmetic shown. Read it as market information, because that is what it is. It is not a quote and it is not our price, for the simple reason that we do not set the price. The vetted moving company matched to your enquiry does.
Where in the UK you are collecting from also moves the number, by more than most people expect. That is set out on our UK to Switzerland route page.
| Size of move | Published range | Where the figures come from |
|---|---|---|
| Small consignment A few dozen boxes, no furniture |
from around £800 | Lowest published starting figure of the three |
| Part load Around 5 cubic metres, a room or a studio |
from around £1,050 | Published for London to Zurich at 5 cubic metres |
| Full household Three bedrooms, 15 cubic metres and up |
about £2,300 to £4,300 | Average of the three published lower figures (£2,200, £2,500, £2,279) and of the two published upper figures (£3,100, £5,500) |
Averaged from published figures by three UK international movers, checked 5 August 2026. Individual sources ranged from £2,200 to £5,500 for a household move, which is itself the most useful thing on this table: the spread between movers is wider than the spread between move sizes.
A starting price is a starting price. The things most often outside it are the same things that decide whether a delivery day runs to two hours or seven.
Customs charges are a separate matter from the removal price entirely. Household goods that qualify for relief on transfer of domicile are not charged duty or import tax. Goods that do not qualify are treated as ordinary imports and charged accordingly, at the rates in force on the day.
We do not publish those rates here, because they change and a stale tax figure is worse than none. The requirements and the current position are set out by the Swiss authority itself, and our Swiss customs page links straight to it.
Because a number given before anybody knows your volume, your access or your destination is a guess, and a guess that turns out low is worse than no answer at all. Two identical inventories can price very differently depending on where in Switzerland they land and what the street is like. A proper survey, in person or by video, takes half an hour and gives you something you can rely on.
In cubic metres, from an itemised list, not from your number of bedrooms. A surveyor walks the property, or you walk it on a video call, and every piece is logged against a standard volume. Bedroom counts are unreliable because two people with the same house can be twice as far apart on contents.
Yes, and by more than people expect. Basel and Geneva sit close to the frontier. Chur, Sion and the Grisons valleys are a long way further in, on slower roads. Ticino is usually reached from Italy rather than driven over from Zurich, which is a different journey altogether rather than a longer version of the same one.
Often, because summer and the end of the month are when everybody moves and vehicles are scarcest. The trade off in Switzerland is that mountain routes can be affected by weather, so a January delivery high in the Alps carries a timing risk a July one does not. Mid month and out of season is usually the sweet spot.
Long carries where the vehicle cannot park near the door, a shuttle vehicle where a full sized lorry cannot reach, an external hoist where the lift is too small, waiting time at either end, storage if the dates do not line up, and the final stage into a car free village. None of these are unfair charges. They become unfair surprises when nobody asked the questions that would have found them.
Line them up on what is included rather than on the total. Check the volume each is based on, whether it is a shared or dedicated vehicle, who packs, what the insurance covers and what it excludes, whether Swiss clearance is included, and what happens if your dates slip. A cheaper quote built on a smaller volume estimate is not cheaper, it is just wrong earlier.
It depends who is invoicing and from where. Ask which currency the quote is in, which currency you will actually pay in, and when the rate is fixed. Currency exchange is available through our partners as part of the service. We do not give exchange rate advice, so confirm the terms yourself before you commit.
Because we will not publish a number we cannot stand behind. A range honest enough to cover every Switzerland move would be so wide it would tell you nothing, and a tighter one would be misleading for most people reading it. The seven factors above will get you closer to your own number than any table would.
Send your inventory, both addresses and your date range. One vetted moving company from our network surveys the job properly and gives you a figure that will still be right on moving day. Planning the other direction? See the return leg to the UK.
Send your move details07551 855 064 | WhatsApp: +44 7551 855 064
All Switzerland removals | Sharing a lorry | Furniture removals | From the UK
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 vetted moving companies in the AGM Group network.
Page reviewed and Swiss information checked on 5 August 2026 against the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security. General information, not advice on your own position.
Written by Darren Benjamin, founder of International Removals Companies, who has run the business since 2010. Last checked 5 August 2026.