Anyone know the one I’m thinking of?

Want to get a seat from Germany to the UK, it weighs 55kg and the big names are quoting around £150!

This one?

http://www.shiply.com/

I’ve used them a couple of times and they have been very good.

I suppose it depends on which courier you select.

anyvan

I tried shiply last night, surprised that the quotes are only coming in about £15 cheaper than the big names…considering they require it to be on a pallet for handling considerations, and an independent courier would presumably prefer it not on a pallet, it seems expensive. £135 v £150 without the protection of a well known company. I was hoping there would be people doing weekly runs where it would cost in about £60, but I suppose the addresses only need to be an hour off route and the job starts to quickly look like it’s more hassle than profitable.

The Mrs’s used shiply to shift some double glazed windows and a very large frame, cost £35 to get from the sunny south to the grim north.
I think that’s a very good price.

I used AnyVan recently and it was fine. It’s down to who you select though, I chose a quote I though was reasonable from a local company. Some of the cheapest quotes were just too cheap.

I suspect small indies won’t be doing anywhere near as many trips to the continent and hence if they are, more likely to be consolidating so they take full van loads when they do.

Whereas within the UK, there’ll often be spare space and because of the need to meet service requirements they’ll be moving irrespective of waiting for something to fill the space.

^^ that’s the main point of the smaller independent vanners, they’re going somewhere near you need your stuff dropping off, assess the space they have and then give a quote based on the extra miles it takes to get to/from your destination.

I think the Mrs had about 5 quotes, for the initial run, she chose one of the middle quotes as the cheapest was like £10 or something. The bloke came around in a large sprinter, was taking a front wing and bumper off a Porsche Boxster, a crate of something in boxes, something huge at the far end covered in bubblewrap and our two things (which he was meticulous at wrapping/packing)

She used another bloke, off the same site, for shifting a sizeable ex school woodwork bench from deepest Norfolk to Harrogateshire and IIRC that only cost £30 too.

The beauty of shiply is if someone’s got space and they can fit in what you have, they can take it.

You do have to be a bit flexible with delivery dates, IIRC it took 2 days for the first load door to door, then the second was planned for a week or so when the driver could fit it in, then it came overnight.

Shiply are okay – but be very careful about the feedback you give. It quickly become like being hunted by Albanian death squads.
Avoid anyone quoting by the hour.
Audit what they offer carefully – taking stuff to Germany you want a hard sided vehicle not a tarpaulin flat bed….

Thanks…I’m trying anyvan too. Both sites claim quotes within minutes, I’ve had two from Shiply, £135 and £134 in the last 12hrs, hopefully there will be less active users that can do it for a better price.

£35 for large windows is closer to what I was expecting, however I suppose my mileage is probably double.

Double post

Have a friend who is a van owner/driver and quotes for jobs. OP depends what you arenmoving ndnhow easily the driver can do other jobs or is roughly passing anyway. He is on an app based system
I’ll ask which

Both sites claim quotes within minutes,

IME you will get quotes within minutes but for the real bargains take a few days.

Especially if you are flexible on dates.

Remember to get it cheap you need someone who is going there anyway and sees your business as “gravy”.

Last week I did one for towing a boat the length of the country, just trying to decide if I could avoid a 7 – 8 hr tow. First day 2 quotes for about £500, a week later, £378. So if your patient you can get it really cheap.