International Removals from Sussex: What Actually Sets the Price

Quotes for international removals arrive looking wildly different from each other, and it is almost never because one firm is greedy. It is because the whole price is built on a single number that each surveyor estimates by eye: the volume of your belongings.

Priced by volume: cubic metres or cubic feet, not weight. That figure decides everything downstream.

The crossover: a standard 20ft container holds roughly 33 cubic metres, a 40ft about 67. Below a container-load you share one, which is cheaper and slower.

Accreditation to look for: the BAR Overseas Group (annual inspection against BS 8564, Advance Payment Guarantee) and FIDI FAIM (independent audit every three years against 200+ requirements).

If you are moving back to the UK: apply for Transfer of Residence relief on form ToR1 before the goods arrive. You need 12 months abroad, six months' ownership, and arrival within 12 months of your move.

Stacked shipping containers, gantry cranes and a container yard at a port terminal
A container terminal. Household goods on an overseas move travel either as a shared load inside one of these or in a container of your own. Photo: Eimskip container terminal at Port of Reykjavík by Quintin Soloviev (CC BY 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.

Sussex is unusually well placed for this. Newhaven runs a direct ferry to Dieppe, Portsmouth and Dover are inside two hours for road freight into Europe, Southampton handles deep-sea container traffic, and Gatwick is on the doorstep for the small amount most people send by air. None of that changes the price much, but it does shorten the road leg, and the road leg is where damage happens.

The three ways your things can travel

Groupage, or shared container space

Your goods are loaded into a container alongside other consignments and you pay for the space you occupy. It is the right answer for a flat, a part-load, or anything under about 15 cubic metres. The trade is time: the container leaves when it is full, and at the other end it is unpacked into a warehouse and your portion delivered separately. Sailings to major destinations may be weekly; to a smaller port they may be monthly.

A sole-use container

You take a whole 20ft or 40ft container. It is loaded at your door, sealed, and not opened again until it reaches the destination address or the customs authority asks. That is fewer hands on your furniture and a much tighter schedule, and for a family house it is often not much more expensive per cubic metre than groupage once you fill it.

Air freight

Priced on chargeable weight rather than volume and expensive for anything heavy, which rules out furniture for almost everybody. Where it earns its keep is a small "first six weeks" consignment: bedding, kitchen basics, work equipment, the children's things, sent ahead so you are not living out of suitcases while the sea shipment crosses. Plenty of movers will quote a hybrid of air and sea for exactly this reason.

What actually sets the quote

  • Volume. Everything else scales off it. This is the strongest argument for a serious declutter before the survey, not after it.
  • Access at both ends. A narrow Sussex lane that will not take an articulated vehicle means a shuttle with a smaller van, and a shuttle is a separate crew and a separate charge. So is a fifth-floor apartment with no lift at the other end.
  • Packing. Most destinations expect a professionally packed and itemised load, and some customs regimes are markedly less patient with owner-packed boxes. Our guide to packing fragile items covers what good packing looks like if you are doing part of it.
  • Destination charges. Port fees, terminal handling, customs clearance, quarantine inspection and delivery. Ask whether the quote is door to door or port to door, because the gap between the two is real money.
  • Storage. A gap between leaving and arriving is normal on an overseas move, and it is usually cheaper to store in the UK than at destination. See storage when moving house.

Choosing the firm: the two things worth checking

The British Association of Removers runs a dedicated Overseas Group of more than 50 international specialists. Membership is not a logo you can buy: those members are inspected annually against the British Standard BS 8564 for overseas moving, they carry an Advance Payment Guarantee so that if the firm stops trading after you have paid, another member completes the move at no extra cost, and unresolved complaints go to a free independent dispute resolution service.

The international equivalent is FIDI's FAIM certification. A FAIM company has been audited by an independent third-party auditor against more than 200 requirements covering operational procedure, staff training, warehouse and vehicle condition, data protection and supply chain, and it is re-audited every three years. FIDI's alliance runs to more than 600 certified affiliates, which is how a Sussex firm arranges the delivery end in a country it has never visited.

Whichever you use, get the quote as a written scope: volume, service level, what is packed by whom, what is included at destination, and what is not. Our page on questions to ask a removal company transfers almost entirely to an overseas move.

Customs, in both directions

Going out, the UK side is an export and there is nothing to pay here. The rules that bite are the destination country's, and they vary more than people expect. Common threads: used household effects usually qualify for some form of relief, you usually have to have owned them for a set period, a valued inventory is almost always required, and a few categories get inspected on arrival rather than waved through. Australia inspects wooden items, garden tools, footwear and anything that has been outdoors for biosecurity risk, and charges for the inspection. Plan for it rather than being surprised by it.

Coming back to the UK, the relief has a name and a form. Transfer of Residence relief covers household furniture and effects, vehicles, pets and portable professional tools, and excludes alcohol, tobacco and commercial vehicles. It is for living people moving their normal home, not for a holiday house. Most applicants need prior approval, which means submitting form ToR1 and getting a unique reference number to quote on the customs declaration.

The four clocks on Transfer of Residence relief Applies to goods coming into the UK. Miss one and the relief is refused. 12 months abroad You must have lived outside the UK for at least 12 consecutive months. 6 months' ownership You must have owned and used the goods for six months before moving. Arrive within 12 months The goods must reach the UK within 12 months of the date you moved. 12 months' restriction You cannot sell, lend, hire out or pledge the goods for 12 months after. Source: HMRC guidance, Transfer of residence to Great Britain. Chart by Move Sussex.
The relief is generous and the conditions are rigid. Chart by Move Sussex.

Insurance is not the same as liability

A mover's liability under standard trading conditions is capped, usually per item and often at a figure nowhere near replacement cost. Marine transit cover is separate, it is priced on the declared replacement value of the whole consignment, and it normally requires a valued inventory. Two things sink claims: undervaluing the load, and owner-packed boxes, which many policies exclude for internal damage because nobody can prove how they were packed. Our page on removals insurance explains the distinction in more detail.

What will not be shipped, whatever you are paying

Aerosols, paint, petrol, gas bottles, fireworks, cleaning chemicals and anything else flammable or pressurised are refused outright, and that includes the half-full can in the garage. Open food, plants and soil are refused by most destinations on biosecurity grounds. Firearms, some knives and some medicines need their own permissions. And your car is a separate shipment with its own paperwork, not something that goes in the container with the sofa. See items removal companies will not move.

A realistic timeline

  1. Four to six months out: surveys from three accredited firms, on the same brief, so the volumes are comparable.
  2. Three months out: pick the firm, confirm the service level, and get the destination customs requirements in writing.
  3. Six to eight weeks out: declutter and sell, because volume is the price. Start the destination paperwork.
  4. Two weeks out: valued inventory for insurance, and separate the air consignment from the sea one.
  5. Moving week: packing and loading, usually two days for a house. Keep passports, documents and the inventory with you.

Frequently Asked Questions

How are international removals priced?

By volume, in cubic metres or cubic feet, not by weight. A surveyor walks the house, lists what is going and puts a figure on it, and that volume decides whether you are quoted for shared container space or a container of your own. Everything else on the quote hangs off that number, which is why two firms who survey you at different volumes produce quotes that look impossible to compare.

What is the difference between groupage and a sole-use container?

Groupage means your goods share a container with other people's. It suits small loads because you pay only for the space you use, and it costs you time, because the container waits until it is full at both ends. A sole-use container goes when you are ready and is opened only at your new address. A standard 20ft container holds roughly 33 cubic metres and a 40ft about 67, so the crossover point is usually somewhere around a three bedroom house.

Do I pay UK duty or VAT when I move my things abroad?

No, the UK side is an export. The tax question sits at the other end, and every country answers it differently: most operate some form of returning or new resident relief on used household effects, most require you to have owned the goods for a set period, and most require an inventory with values. Your mover's agent at destination files the entry, but the liability is yours, so ask to see the destination requirements in writing before the container is sealed.

What is ToR1 and do I need it?

Transfer of Residence relief lets you bring your used household goods into the UK without import duty or VAT when you are moving your normal home here, and most people have to apply on form ToR1 for prior approval before the goods arrive. HMRC issues a unique reference number that goes on the customs declaration. It matters for Sussex residents coming back, not for those leaving.

How long do I have to have lived abroad to claim ToR relief?

At least 12 consecutive months outside the UK, and you must have owned and used the goods for at least six months before the move. The goods then have to arrive within 12 months of the date you moved, and for 12 months after that you cannot sell, lend, hire out or use them as security. Students and people moving here to marry follow different rules.

Which accreditations actually mean something?

Two. Membership of the British Association of Removers' Overseas Group, because those members are inspected every year against the British Standard BS 8564 for overseas moving and carry an Advance Payment Guarantee plus free independent dispute resolution. And FIDI's FAIM certification, because a FAIM company is audited every three years by an independent auditor against more than 200 requirements. A firm with neither may still be good; you just have nothing to check it against.

Sources

More from Move Sussex: what removals cost in Sussex, long distance removal costs and how to get a removal quote that holds.

Checked on 12 September 2026. Customs rules and reliefs change; confirm the destination country's requirements with your mover's agent before the container is sealed.