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Below about two or three cubic metres a parcel courier usually beats any international moving company on both price and speed. Above five or six, a mover on shared space wins comfortably. The awkward middle is where most people are, and where most of them get it wrong.
Nobody in this industry will tell you to use a courier instead, because it is not their business. So here is the honest version, with the thresholds spelled out.
This matters more on Czech moves than most, because the country attracts a lot of single arrivals: people starting a job in Brno, a semester in Olomouc, or a year in Prague with a suitcase and a plan.
| Under 2 to 3 cubic metres | Courier usually cheaper |
|---|---|
| 3 to 5 cubic metres | Genuinely close. Price both |
| 5 cubic metres and up | Mover on shared space |
| Anything fragile or bulky | Mover, at any size |
Volume is abstract until you picture it. Around five cubic metres is broadly a small room: a bed, a chest of drawers, a bookcase, a couple of chairs and something like fifteen to twenty medium boxes.
That is a comfortable amount for one person setting up a flat. It is nowhere near a household, which is why a full three bedroom house commonly sits between 45 and 60 cubic metres. Volume guidance by property size is on the cost of moving page.
Moving companies size these jobs every day and will not mind an approximate list, and removal companies quoting a small load should not need a formal survey to do it.
If you cannot estimate, list your six largest items and roughly how many boxes. A surveyor will do the rest and the figure will be better than your guess.
Every removal company has a floor. Below it the job costs the same whether you send four cubic metres or two, because the collection, the customs entry and the delivery cost what they cost regardless of how empty the space is.
So there is a point past which cutting your load saves you nothing at all. Find out where that point is before you spend a weekend agonising over which books to leave behind.
Household goods shipping is priced by the space something occupies, not by what it is worth. A cheap wardrobe and a good one cost the same to move. That single fact should drive most of your decisions.
Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 allows goods to arrive in several separate consignments within 12 months of you establishing your normal home in the EU. That flexibility is built into the rule. The trap is sending things before you establish residence rather than after. See customs and duty relief.
Nobody sends a small consignment on its own lorry. Your boxes travel as a part load, sharing a vehicle with other shipments heading the same way, which is what makes a small international move affordable at all.
The consequence is a delivery window rather than a delivery date, and possibly a longer wait than a large load would face, because a small consignment is easier for a mover to hold back until the next vehicle. Ask for the window with both ends stated.
Pack well. Small loads sit alongside other people's and get handled more, not less. See packing for a Czech move, and note that boxes you pack yourself are commonly excluded from damage cover.
Below roughly two or three cubic metres, a parcel courier is usually cheaper and faster than any removal service. Above five or six, a mover on shared space normally wins. Between those two the answer depends on what the items are, because couriers price by weight and size per parcel while movers price by space.
Broadly a small room: a bed, a chest of drawers, a bookcase, a couple of chairs and around fifteen to twenty medium boxes. It is more than people expect and less than a full flat. If you are unsure, list your largest six items and let the surveyor work from that.
Frequently, and it is worth doing the sum honestly. Shipping a wardrobe you do not love across a thousand kilometres costs more than the wardrobe. Ship the things that matter, the things that are genuinely good, and the things you cannot replace. Buy the rest locally.
Almost certainly. Every mover has a floor below which the job costs the same regardless of how little you send, because the collection, the paperwork and the delivery cost what they cost. Ask what the minimum is before you spend an afternoon cutting your load down to nothing.
Yes, and duty relief allows goods to arrive in several consignments within 12 months of you establishing your normal home in the EU. The trap is sending them before you establish residence rather than after. Talk the sequence through against your real dates.
Only in scale. A student load is usually books, clothes, bedding, a laptop and a few kitchen items, which sits at the bottom of the range where couriers compete well. The paperwork is the same as any other move, and you still need to think about duty relief if you are staying rather than visiting.
No. We are not a removal company and we do not own lorries. We are a free enquiry service. Your details go to one vetted mover that covers the journey, and that firm contacts you directly. We do not run a price comparison and we do not pass your details to a list of companies.
A rough list of your largest items and roughly how many boxes. One vetted moving company will tell you honestly whether it is worth using a mover at all.
Get your free quoteSee part load removals, the cost of moving and storage for a Czech move. For destination detail start at our Czech Republic removals page.
A trading name of DATACONTEXT (UK) LTD. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07425576, data protection registration ZB022743. Trading since 1 November 2010.
We are a free enquiry service, not a removal company. Your details go to one vetted mover from the AGM Group network. Accreditations held across the network include FIDI FAIM Certified, BAR Overseas, IAM, EUROMOVERS and FEDEMAC. Not every firm holds all five.
Country covered on this page: Czech Republic (CZ).