# International moving company recommendations from California to France



## isabelle2022

Hello,
My family and I are moving to France from California in a few months.
We plan to pack our items ourselves. (We are very experienced packers & in particular with Covid, prefer minimal handling of personal items.)

We are looking for moving company recommendations, in particular companies who allow for self packing and offer lump sum insurance, where we could purchase coverage akin to full replacement value. Most of the companies I've spoken to only cover total loss or offer pittance basic liability insurance, unless a one utilizes professional packing.
I would welcome any international moving company recommendations, esp if partial packing was an option for specific items one wanted insured?

Also does anyone have any experience with UPakWeShip/EuroUSA? 
That was our preferred option, however they only offer the most basic liability that barely covers anything in the case of damage.

Thank you in advance,
Isabelle


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## Bevdeforges

Have moved you over to the France section. I think some of our "regulars" there may have suggestions about shipping household goods from California. I know when I made the big move, the moving companies all seemed to have the policy requiring you to let them pack your goods if you wanted to take the insurance - which kind of makes sense from their point of view if you think about it. But we have had some enthusiastic recommendations in the past for UPakWeShip, so perhaps someone can clarify their policy on insurance.


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## Billknits

isabelle2022 said:


> Also does anyone have any experience with UPakWeShip/EuroUSA?
> That was our preferred option, however they only offer the most basic liability that barely covers anything in the case of damage.


Hi,
We used UPakWeShip from Atlanta to Carcassonne and were happy with the service. We don't remember all the specifics as that was 2016 but we did know that if the total shipment was lost then we would be compensated fully. Breakage of individulal items was not covered. We shipped crystal, china, a knitting machine and 100's of pounds of yarn. We did use the 100 pack and strapping taped all the boxes together so it was one solid unit before we put the final exterior coverings. Not one item of ours was damaged. <snip>

Bill Richardson


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## Traveler12B

isabelle2022 said:


> Also does anyone have any experience with UPakWeShip/EuroUSA?
> That was our preferred option, however they only offer the most basic liability that barely covers anything in the case of damage.


We used UPakWeShip from the US to France using their 100 square foot container. The total shipping cost was $3000 of which $600 was for full replacement value insurance if the entire container were lost. Details are on our blog (see signature box below) if you click on the tag "Shipping" in the right hand column on our home page you should see the 5 posts.


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## isabelle2022

Bevdeforges said:


> Have moved you over to the France section. I think some of our "regulars" there may have suggestions about shipping household goods from California. I know when I made the big move, the moving companies all seemed to have the policy requiring you to let them pack your goods if you wanted to take the insurance - which kind of makes sense from their point of view if you think about it. But we have had some enthusiastic recommendations in the past for UPakWeShip, so perhaps someone can clarify their policy on insurance.


thank you so much!
I spoke with someone at UPakWeShip who said they recently stopped offering packing services so only offer the most basic catastrophic total loss liability.


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## isabelle2022

Billknits said:


> Hi,
> We used UPakWeShip from Atlanta to Carcassonne and were happy with the service. We don't remember all the specifics as that was 2016 but we did know that if the total shipment was lost then we would be compensated fully. Breakage of individulal items was not covered. We shipped crystal, china, a knitting machine and 100's of pounds of yarn. We did use the 100 pack and strapping taped all the boxes together so it was one solid unit before we put the final exterior coverings. Not one item of ours was damaged. <snip>
> 
> Bill Richardson


That's very reassuring to hear. Thank you!


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## duxsi

Sorry to bother you, but I am in a similar situation.
Do you recall who you used as a freight forwarder in France and would you recommend them?
Thank you


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## jdh12

Billknits said:


> Hi,
> We used UPakWeShip from Atlanta to Carcassonne and were happy with the service. We don't remember all the specifics as that was 2016 but we did know that if the total shipment was lost then we would be compensated fully. Breakage of individulal items was not covered. We shipped crystal, china, a knitting machine and 100's of pounds of yarn. We did use the 100 pack and strapping taped all the boxes together so it was one solid unit before we put the final exterior coverings. Not one item of ours was damaged. <snip>
> 
> Bill Richardson


Your 100 pack and strapping boxes together with UPakWeShip sounds like a great idea. How can I learn more about the mechanics of it? Thanks.
jdh12


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## Billknits

jdh12 said:


> Your 100 pack and strapping boxes together with UPakWeShip sounds like a great idea. How can I learn more about the mechanics of it? Thanks.
> jdh12


<snip> We started out trying to only use the 50 pack but moved up to the 100 pack. We went a step further in the assembly of the the Pack by strap taping all the boxes together so they were a solid unit before we put the exterior packing over and straping that together. That meant we did have to have a sharp box cutter available at the delivery end to be able to quickly get the packaging apart and into the house.

Bill


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## Peasant

I can highly recommend UPakWeShip International Shipping Company | International Moving Rates.
We used them almost five years ago to move to France and they did an excellent job. Decent price, accurate pick up/delivery times, good instructions on how to pack and what forms to fill out and how.
My daughter used them a little over a year ago to move to London with the same results.
I've recommended them to people and have heard nothing but good things about the moves.

As we moved without having a fixed rental I had everything delivered to a local self-storage unit (Shurgard Self-Storage Europe) near a Metro stop and once we'd found a place we took about a month to bring the small stuff over bit-by-bit and rented a van for a weekend to bring the big stuff.


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## bhamham

I used Berger Allied to ship my household stuff. I believe they have an outlet in Fullerton. This was a few months ago in March. They came to the house and packed everything - I didn't have to do a thing. I just received the shipment Saturday and nothing was broken. I am very pleased. I did have to pay demurrage fees of 110 euros b/c the customs guys are backed up, but getting it in 3-1/2 months is not too bad.

I compared U-pak-we-ship at the time and Berger Allied was cheaper plus I didn't have to pack anything. They'll come out to your house and do a free estimate.


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## jdh12

Billknits said:


> <snip> We started out trying to only use the 50 pack but moved up to the 100 pack. We went a step further in the assembly of the the Pack by strap taping all the boxes together so they were a solid unit before we put the exterior packing over and straping that together. That meant we did have to have a sharp box cutter available at the delivery end to be able to quickly get the packaging apart and into the house.
> 
> Bill


Thanks. Bill. We will try this as it makes sense to me.


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