My most challenging question yet!

[joe_alison]

As you may know I am moving to Turkey as soon as I sell my house here in the UK.

In regards to our personal goods and our Great Dane I have been obtaining quotes from various sources to move these for us. . . I have though, had a brain wave and need your help.

Is it possible to hire a van from an international hire company, gather together my family, my pet and drive all the way to Calis? I realise there will be cost implications, but would it be cheaper then:
...   Three flight tickets
...   Pet Transfer
...   Shipping costs
If it were an international hire company they will have branches in Turkey and thus I can drop it off there when I have completed my epic journey. It might sound absurd, but is this possible?
Can anyone help me with this?

Kind regards

Joe

[stoop]

Nice idea. You need to email some hire companies really.

[KKOB]

You've got about a .1% chance of your plan succeeding.

Been there, tried to do it, gave up, burnt the T-shirt.

The biggest problem is hiring the vehicle and getting insurance cover for it past Istanbul.

[c1]

could you not buy an old lorry and either a family member drive it back or sell it in greece or scrap it ?

[waterdragon]

Joe

As KayaKoyuOldBoy has said you are not likely to succeed with your plan as it stands I am afraid!

We too wanted to do a "self-drive" option. We had quotes for moving our stuff of £8,500 and more! I spoke with some very good friends in Turkey who have relatives in the import/export world with particular experience of the borders near istanbul and got this response about driving our own stuff in ...


O... and his colleague A... called me today. Here are some notes: they can make sure you pass through Customs smoothly and quickly. the Customs you need to go through is called Ipsala (on the border with Greece) he expects the total cost of getting your stuff through is 2000 - 2500 euros. ... (that is also assuming you can actually convince the Customs to let your stuff in!)
... He also added it's much cheaper if these goods were coming in a container or in a transportation company truck. He mentioned about 500 euros.


I was also going to buy a 7.5T box lorry off eBay and drive it one way. The hire companies will not grant you insurance for Turkey. I even asked my own insurance broker if they would do part insurance. They wouldn't touch it! So was going down "buy a cheap van and nurse it there" route! Could get the requisite insurance then. I had even mapped that the route down through Italy to Brindisi the by ferry to Igoumenitsa in Greece then drive to ipsala and cross into Turkey was the most cost effective. Then drive the van back to Customs at izmir and dump it! (6 month import rule) It worked out cheaper than hiring.  This approach gave us advantages over shipping in that we had some storage at the other end (the van!) so we had flexibility in the plan!

The killer was the Turkish Customs!

Anyway to cut a long story short we have gone to John Willard at Freightbrain International (http://www.freightbrain.co.uk/) he in association with Ozcan Soyer in Turkey certainly seem to have real experience in getting these types of problems sorted quite easily. John is also very flexible in the way you actually do your move - he will actually listen to you and advise you! Also I know others in this forum have used him and had excellent experiences! Also he is reasonably priced!

As for pets - we are bringing out our 2 cats (I know they're not as big as a Great Dane!) But you need to be careful if you fly your dog! Some airlines (I know than Onur is one but there may be others) will quite happily accept your money for your pet to go into the hold but not tell you that it isn't pressurised! Then when it comes to boarding they would tell you that the animal was not fit to travel and keep your money! But there are airlines that will allow you to take them in the cabin - although don't know if a Great Dane would be allowed. But you could of course drive it with the dog in a car. The route I was going to use is about 3,500 miles one-way.

Anyway I wish you well in your quest!

We will be moving "lock, stock and barrell" in a few weeks so will give an update when it's all done and dusted!

Best wishes

Tim

[denniz]

uuummm! having driven my estate car and goods over here(turkey) you will find that at the ipsala border costums will insist on you buying the green card for entry into turkey, this is in affect your compusory insurance for driving in turkey, you could also arrange fully comp insurance with a turkish company to start at the border.
dennis

[KKOB]

quote:Originally posted by c1

could you not buy an old lorry and either a family member drive it back or sell it in greece or scrap it ?

Whoever has the vehicle details entered onto their passport on entry, must also be the person taking the vehicle out of the country.

[hubblebubble]

The issue is how much stuff you wish to take in - a car or small transit full is possible, a houseful unlikely.
You can get insurance for a vehicle you own from the Uk whilst Uk hire companies  seem not to want to know.

 Animal transportation companies are extortionate - accompanying your pet on the flight with it travelling as excess baggage (microchip, rabies jab, health (fit to fly) certificate) in a suitable crate seems common. Try these airlines - Thomson, Thomas Cook, KTHY. An export licence is not necessary if you travel with your pet.

As KKOB says - we burnt the t-shirt on moving ourelves - Freightbrain are well worth a try.

[Rindaloo]

One piece of info worthbearing in mind.  Don't book yourself on a flight untill you have booked dog on flight.  If then you cant get seats on that flight, you can cancel dogs booking with no charge.  If you book yourself on and subsequently cant get the dog on, you are stuffed.  Our two went as excess baggage, I am not sure if this was because they were small dogs.  We used British airways but DH tells me they don't fly into Dalaman any more.

Best wishes and I hope all goes well, whatever you do.

[thebillet]

I just wondered is the most challenging question "can I move my own stuff to Turkey" OR "will I be able to sell my house in the UK"? Good luck with both, I don't know which will be the most challenging.