OT: Suggestions on cheap removal method from Spain to Bulgaria?

A mate, his partner (and cat) currently lives in Seville in Spain, and is planning in October on moving house to Bulgaria. I'm helping out with some of the driving effort, as indeed I did when he moved out to Spain from the UK.

The current plan, failing help from a excellent worldwide removal company complete with helicoptors, transporter beams and a jackpot of cash, is for me to buy a cheap (but expertly checked roadworthy) 3.5 ton van here in the UK - drive it out to Seville over the ferry, pick up their stuff and share driving it with them about 2000-3000 miles or whatever to their destination in Bulgaria. Then leave the van there.

Or is there a cheaper way involving some coordinated service that looks at lorry trips that normally return empty? Anything on the web that does this?

Organising this from Spain (or even buying a van there) is difficult at the moment for my friend (other issues than the language including unfortunately a tendancy for getting ripped off as a non-Spaniard), so trying via organisations based here.

Reply to
Adrian C
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Good plan. Sell the van there as well. Years ago a mate of mine did the same to relocate from Cambridge o Bristol, and actually it cost him nothing: the van sold more more than he boiught it plus the petrol used..

..however be aware of the route. There are some distinctly dodgy places to drive through with UK plates..expect the odd 'toll charge' at gunpoint..albania and bulgaria both a little bit known for that.

Its in many way BETTER to have UK plates.. as any license or insurance irregularities can get overlooked, as well as parking fines ;-)

RHD is a pain though. See if you cant find a cheap LHD Transit Luton or similar.

Fuel may end up costing as much as the vehicle. Try and get a diesel..they tend to nt break engines under high mileage the way petrol does..

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

How many 3.5T vans are there with a petrol engine this side of the pond?

Reply to
Clive George

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Mate of mine (with a family) had to move everything he had to New Zealand. He decided he could get everything in one container and dealt directly with container shipping companies and did the whole lot for a small fraction of what removal companies quoted him. However his neighbours weren't too pleased when an artic with a 40 foot container turned up in his quiet cul-de-sac.

Z
Reply to
Zimmy

I've heard people do the same and knew someone who drove for a company providing this service. Just make sure you have good access at both ends where the container can be left on private property or the police will create havoc. Also there are more likely to be custom issues.

BTW you can't normally get much in a 3.5T van!! If your license copes with it a 7.5Tonne would be more sensible. Though check up with Tackos! You don't need them here for private use, but not sure about abroad.

Reply to
Fredxx

Reply to
STEPHEN

Reply to
Conor

Just the one - my Sprinter 314. Still going strong at 212k.

Reply to
AstraVanMann

Depends how much s**te you've got, and (related to that) how big the house is that you're emptying. But yes, something like a LWB Sprinter would help, but be far from the be all and end all of doing a proper removal. Having said that, for a modest house (2-3 bedrooms) it could well happily take everything bar furniture if you're careful with packing/loading the van. Two big luton vans would maybe do, do 7.5 Tonners would be more ideal.

Reply to
AstraVanMann

Moved my brothers entire 3 bedroom house in one single hit using a 7.5 tonner with tail-lift from van hire company. Its all about how much s**te you chuck out that you don't use, instead of moving it with you just to still not get used, and how well you pack and load it.

Reply to
Conor

Did something like this, moving a house from the UK to Spain. Gotta 3.5T LDV (diesel) for £1800. Saw lots of vans cheaper, but none of them passed muster. (It's suprising how many were shamelessly clocked - some so much so that they chimed the hour :-( Chose this as it was the biggest I could drive on a normal UK licence. Ferry return to Santander was £750, used 2 tanks for each leg, due to load - roughly 1800 miles round trip. Found out that you can't register a RHD commercial vehicle in Spain, as they won't pass it through the "ITV" (MoT) due to limited visibilty and a need to preserve the local market in c/v's. Check if you can register in Bulgaria - unless you're just planning to dump it. Sold van on, a couple of years later for £1700 - not too bad.

If you're (or your mate) is planning to buy any kind of secondhand vehicle in Spain, be aware that they are _much_ more expensive than s/h vehicles in the UK. Basically people tend to hang on to them, rather than change them every few years - so they're not as common. Don't know if it would be worth buying one in France, then driving to Seville to save money. Though you'd probably have difficulty insuring it (which is also more expensive in Spain) if you tried this, you might need to have residency to buy / insure a vehicle - dunno.

Alternatively, look in the ex-pat forums. There are a fair few man+van operations and the forum members will have recommendations and be able to give you contact details. Typical man+van rates Uk -> Spain are about £100 per cubic metre.

Reply to
pete

I moved everything in a 1.5 cu meter shipping crate.

All the books and clothes went INSIDE the loudpeakers and they were INSIDE most of the furniture ..all the glassware and porcelain was inside the clothes..

etc etc.

Judgements about what to leave behind and replacement value versus shipping costs should be made.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Indeed. Taken to its logical conclusion, to cheapest way to move might be by eBay, i.e. sell everything you *have* on eBay, move yourself, then buy everything you *need* on eBay once you get there. Most people would probably make a tidy profit. :-)

Z
Reply to
Zimmy

I past my test sometime before 1997, and have an 'A' entitlement - which I'm reading (on google though, nothing on DVLA site) as allowed up to 7.5T.

It's definately a diesel van I'll be driving if we get to do this.

Reply to
Adrian C

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Reply to
Homer

Adrian C gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

AKA "tachos" - tachographs. The dial that records speed against time, part of the speedo on most larger wagons - it's a legal necessity for fitment and use on anything >3.5t for business use, so there'll be one on almost anything you buy or hire. You might have some persuading to do to local plods if you're not using it, so it might be wise to figure it out (and stick to the legal HGV driving hours...) even if you don't actually need to.

Yup, if you passed your car test pre-97, you're legally OK up to a

7.5tonner. You should be legal across the EU on that, too - although you might have a bit of persuading to do of plods across most countries, too, because we were a chunk out of step. 3.5t was the largest on a car licence in most countries, AIUI.
Reply to
Adrian

Last move I did, just up the hill, I used a hosed-out wheeliebin as a barrow. It was easier to do a binload at a time than pack everything up in one go and use a van, which I did for the few big/heavy things.

Took about 3 weeks though :-(

Owain

Reply to
Owain

Thanks for that, but seems to be limited in that either end of the journey must be in the UK. Maybe I could probably work around that with planning two legs joining here? Hmmm....

Reply to
Adrian C

?

2.5cu m to move me back from bandung

I had a friend who shipped his contents back in a land cruiser

all pretty useless to the OP though

Reply to
geoff

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