Shipping personal items across Europe

16POSTS

13 years ago

Hello!

Within a few months I聮m planning to move from the Netherlands to Hungary. I will need to pack and send personal things from Amsterdam to Budapest so I聮m looking for a decent and reliable transport company to do this. I don聮t have too much to move, just quite a few big boxes of things that will amount to maybe a few hundred kilograms, mainly things like clothes, lots of electronic equipment and other personal/household things. So no furniture or really big/heavy items. Can someone recommend good moving companies for this? As long as it all gets there safely within about a week I聮m happy

Of course I could use a company like DHL but I wonder if there are any better suggestions.

Many thanks!

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EuropaExpat Member

16POSTS

13 years ago

Thanks! I'm planning on the central Pest side, district 5 or 6.

fireroller Serial expat

204POSTS

13 years ago

EuropaExpat wrote:
Hello!
I don聮t have too much to move, just quite a few big boxes of things that will amount to maybe a few hundred kilograms, mainly things like clothes, lots of electronic equipment and other personal/household things.

I had a very similar situation when I moved my stuff from Berlin to Bp. I tried putting up an 'auction' on this website.

It is one of those ebay-like sies where you put up a request, and get offers. I don't know if it has an English surface(try viewing it via translate.google.com) Apparently, this site is mainly being watched by smaller companies with one or few minivans. I assume so, as the lowest offer I got was around 350 EUR which is probably the price of gasoline for a two-way ride, and no-one offered me joining a large transport (truck or something).

(I ended up getting it done for half that price by an acquittance whose regular car is a VW bus for professional reasons.)

I d also check out slightly smaller companies, perhaps they have a better deal, like this one:

however, not all consumers were happy:

Or a few competitors in germany ('Spedition' 'Umz眉ge' are relevant keywords)

EuropaExpat Member

16POSTS

13 years ago

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately I聮m not in Germany though

I聮ll have a look around if there聮s some other similar sites in Holland for this. Or perhaps there聮s an international ride-sharing/car-pooling type of website for people doing long distance trips. Maybe I could share a ride all the way there with my boxes of stuff. Don聮t suppose you can recommend anything like that?

Cheers

fluffy2560 Hungary Expert

14725POSTS

13 years ago

EuropaExpat wrote:
Hello!

Within a few months I聮m planning to move from the Netherlands to Hungary.....

I few years ago, I moved a load of stuff from Amsterdam to near Vienna, Austria and I did this by hiring a vehicle on a special weekend rate with unlimited km/miles.

One thing which I discovered was that it was cheaper to hire a minibus with quickly removable seats than hire a commercial vehicle like a van. So, Mrs Fluffy and I hired a Transit minibus and removed the seats, then filled it with out stuff, then drove to Austria. It took 13h each direction (Budapest would be another 2-3h). Each person drove for 2h, then rested while the other one drove the next 2h.

It is possible to do the whole thing in one weekend and using unlimited mileage. If you have 3 people driving, you could easily do it non-stop with 4h rest periods for non-drivers.

We easily managed to get back to Amsterdam and put the seats back ready to deliver the minbus back to the rental company by Monday. They seemed surprised we'd done about 2500km but we didn't have to pay more so no problem!

EuropaExpat Member

16POSTS

13 years ago

Haha! 2 and a half thousand km in a weekend

That would be possible, but at the same time I don聮t have *that* much to move. Now that I think about it, it's probably only around 150kg. Just a few bits of really expensive electronic and sports gear, and other personal stuff. I could even do it in a car, but when I take into account the car rental cost, and more importantly the fuel cost for that trip in both directions and then I聮d still need a flight back to Budapest anyway, it聮s probably cheaper and easier to do one way shipping and I聮ll meet the shipment there. Also it doesn聮t seem like most Dutch rental companies like the idea of driving into Hungary. Most don聮t 聯allow聰 it. Of course you could still do it anyway, but you聮re taking a risk.

Thanks for the suggestion though, if I had enough to fill a van I聮d probably do that.

fluffy2560 Hungary Expert

14725POSTS

13 years ago

EuropaExpat wrote:
...Now that I think about it, it's probably only around 150kg. Just a few bits of really expensive electronic and sports gear, and other personal stuff. I could even do it in a car, ......

If you can speak German or another language, you could try here:
(translates as "co-driver opportunity").

Maybe you can advertise you want to "mitfahren" (drive with someone) from NL to HU.

fireroller Serial expat

204POSTS

13 years ago

1. I of course considered the 'driving back and forth' path (pun intended...I think) even with a vehicle borrowed from a friend, but as you, I also arrived at the conclusion that it is too expensive AND tiring AND risky just for a few personal items.

2. The first link comes close to what you know, it is Hungarian and has nothing to do with germany (if you manage to post in English you will some offers). I think most german companies will do shippings from holland to hungary, Holland is nearly not-foreign for many germans, but of course I didnt really check. You may check if their rates are better than dutch companies's rates.(Many (east)german regions may be considered as low-cost compared to holland)

3. Mitfahrtgelegenheit (you may have this in Holland) seems to me like a good idea, just be sure to communicate with the driver that you will not be a hop-on-hop-off ride:) I.e. get someone who is not in a hurry. It also has the advantage that you will travel with your stuff!