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Households in small places tend to start planning overseas removals expecting them to be harder and dearer than they turn out to be. Some of that caution is well founded and some of it costs money by pushing people into the wrong choices. Here are the seven assumptions that come up most, each tested against what actually happens.
Mitcheldean is a small village in the north east of the Forest of Dean, on the A4136 between Gloucester and Ross-on-Wye. Its twentieth century growth came from the Rank Xerox photocopier factory, and although that industry largely went, the site itself did not: it is now Vantage Point Business Village, occupied by smaller manufacturing and distribution firms.
No international removals company charges a rural surcharge as such. What exists is crew travel time, charged as hours, and it is modest here because Mitcheldean is twenty minutes from Gloucester on a reasonable A road. Villages deep in the forest with no through route cost more. This one does not.
Partly true and worth checking rather than assuming. The older core around the church and the main street is tight, but much of the surrounding housing takes a full sized vehicle without difficulty. The answer is specific to your street, not to the village.
On busy routes to Australia, Spain or the United States, groupage containers fill quickly and the wait is weeks rather than months. On thin routes it genuinely can be long. Ask how often that specific service departs before you rule groupage out on principle.
Standard home contents cover ends when your goods leave the property, and most policies exclude items in transit or in commercial storage entirely. Assuming otherwise is the single most costly mistake on this list, because it only becomes apparent after something is broken.
International moving cover is normally written on a declared value basis. You list what things are worth, the premium follows from the total, and a claim is settled against your own declaration. Underdeclare to save on the premium and a payout is reduced in proportion.
Three details decide whether a policy is any good: whether it is all risks or limited to named perils, whether pairs and sets are covered as a set rather than individually, and whether the excess applies per item or once per shipment. Ask those three before comparing rates.
Sometimes right, often wrong, and it depends entirely on the destination rather than on the car. Age limits, emissions standards and left or right hand drive rules vary enormously, and several countries charge import duty calculated on value in a way that erases the saving.
Shipping the vehicle inside the household container is usually cheaper than a separate movement, so if you are taking it, say so before the container is planned rather than afterwards. The decision needs making early either way.
Rarely necessary. Most international moving companies store at the origin end as part of the same contract, which keeps one company responsible for your goods from collection to delivery rather than creating a handover where responsibility can be argued about.
Storage at the destination is also possible and sometimes cheaper, but it means clearing customs before you have an address there, which some countries make awkward. Ask which side makes sense for your particular country.
The opposite of what people assume. Booking eight to twelve weeks ahead gives you the pick of sailing dates, the option of groupage as well as a sole use container, and time to do the cleaning and paperwork properly. Booking at four weeks removes most of that.
Nothing about an early booking commits you to a date that cannot move. Collection dates are routinely adjusted. What early booking buys is the existence of alternatives when something changes, which is exactly when you need them.
Between June and September this matters more, because capacity across the industry is tight and a late enquiry may simply have no groupage option on your route at all.
Send the destination, a rough volume and your target month. One international removal company from the network answers all seven for your particular situation, rather than you gathering opinions from a spread of international moving companies. No charge and no obligation.
Yes, and it is a shorter journey than most people assume. A search for international removal companies near me from a GL17 postcode returns firms in Gloucester, Hereford and across the Severn, all within comfortable reach. Village size does not limit which international removal company will quote.
Yes, along with Abenhall, Lea, Westbury-on-Severn and the villages towards Ross-on-Wye. Anything in GL17 and the neighbouring parishes is collected as a Mitcheldean job. Cinderford and Coleford have pages of their own.
Yes, and with the units at Vantage Point it comes up locally. Commercial moves involve asset registers, different insurance and sometimes equipment that needs specialist crating. Say it is a business move at the enquiry rather than describing it as a house move.
For books, linen and clothes, yes. For china, glass, pictures and anything fragile it usually voids that part of your cover, because most policies require professional export packing on breakables. A split where the crew does the fragile items works well.
Village and former factory site history from published local records of the Rank Xerox works and its successor, Vantage Point Business Village. Forest of Dean district population from the 2021 Census as published by Gloucestershire County Council and the Office for National Statistics. Checked August 2026, next review August 2027. Insurance terms, vehicle import rules and sailing frequencies change, so the matched moving company confirms the current position before booking. Read our Google reviews.
Destination country, rough volume and target month. An accredited international moving company tells you which of the seven actually applies to you.
Send your move detailsInternational Removals Companies puts your village collection in front of one accredited moving company from the AGM Group network with the right vehicle for your street. Nothing to pay for the introduction, and we own no lorries.
Nearby town pages: Cinderford, Newent, Coleford, Gloucester.