Moving Tips

The following information has been provided to help individuals make the right moving choices.

Tip 1 Start by making a budget of what you can reasonably afford to move your household effects to your new destination country. Estimate the true value of your belongings and the cost of replacement in your new country. Moving overseas is not something the average person does everyday, therefore you might over or under estimate the cost of moving. A budget will keep you focused and help you reach your cost objectives during the evaluation process.

Tip 2 Ask yourself the following. (How will I feel if my effects arrive broken?) Knowing the answer to this question will help you make some sound decisions when choosing what service or services you will require. What is more important the safety of my belongings or the price I pay for the moving service. Keep in mind, price does play a role in quality.

Tip 4 Volume, Volume, Volume this is where over 50% of the problems start for people moving overseas. The only person at the end of the day you can trust is yourself. If a company wants your move it is easy for them to give you a lower price by quoting on a lower volume.

The common practice is to hold peoples effects until they pay a higher price based on a new volume once your effects are in the care of the moving company. TIMN has created the volume calculator to help individuals become expert move estimators. Use this program to help you protect yourself against changes in price due to volume.

Tip 5 Does packing my things myself save me money? When moving overseas there is a good portion of the price is made up of origin services. Please note that Packing is only part of the origin costs. Origin costs can be broken down into packing of boxes, dismantling of furniture where needed, wrapping of furniture, loading of the shipment into a container or a truck, transport of the shipment to export terminal and documentation for insurance and customs regulations. Many people believe that if they pack their own boxes there are no costs to the moving company at origin. This is clearly False. Packing of boxes requires the material and the labor. If you pack the boxes you save on the cost of labor, but you give up the right for all risk insurance coverage on the items. Under stand how much you really save before you start packing.

Tip 6 Items moving overseas are subject to much rougher conditions than any move being serviced by a truck. Ocean transportation is bumpy on the best of days. Most people have no idea what conditions container ships face on the oceans. If things are not packed correctly they have a higher chance of being damaged in the transportation. Experienced packing crews help reduce damage. It is that simple. All risk insurance covering damages when the items where packed by professional packing crews and the items where also witnessed by a third party to be in good condition. All items packed professionally will have a condition report on the packing inventory.

Tip 7 Understanding the time it takes for an overseas move to take place is very important. Keep in mind that each element takes time. The elements are: Packing, loading, transport to export terminal, export customs clearance, loading of the vessel, ocean freight, destination off loading, customs clearance and delivery to the new residence. All transit times are estimated and your shipment can be delayed for one or many of these reasons above.