Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Calis Beach Forum => Calis Beach Questions and Information => Topic started by: joe_alison on June 03, 2008, 21:41:23 PM
-
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
-
Nice idea. You need to email some hire companies really.
-
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.
-
could you not buy an old lorry and either a family member drive it back or sell it in greece or scrap it ?
-
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
-
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
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
I would just like to thank everyone who has contributed to my plight! I still have no idea what to do though, but it has given food for thought . . .
Thank you
Joe
-
As some have said, a car full or an estate you could pull it off but with a Luton then you are opening yourself up to many many headaches and it will be customs that will finish it off.
The rule is you can bring in 1500 euros worth of personal effects, a luton full of stuff is worth way more then that and at best they will let you bring it in on a temporary basis (gecici kabul).
To be honest this is something where you would really need to spend money on if you want a stress free move and work with someone who is FIDI approved and not just any mickey mouse outfit that does it cheaper. I learned the hard way by bringing a 20ft container and going for the cheapest shipper. They sent it to Istanbul 1 month late and then left it at the port for me to do all the paperwork and they never tell you about things like THC (terminal handling charge) or SIT (storage in transit).
My advice is to ship it with an experienced company that has good connections with Turkey and ships to Turkey often and are FIDI registered.
FIDI members have to pass strict quality tests and they dont hand out memberships to anyone and at the moment there are only 4 FIDI companies in Turkey. Only 2 of them have offices in Izmir.
Also there is only one company that does removals by road from UK to Turkey and all under the same roof and only one company (different one) that ships via sea from UK to Turkey (except they dont have an office in Izmir) that is under one roof.
Also dont even think about shipping until you have your residence permit (permit not visa)
-
Thanks for that starman-
I am confused though becuase you say
"Also dont even think about shipping until you have your residence permit (permit not visa)"
Well everyone is telling me to apply for this once we are in Turkey! Well how then can I ship my goods from the once I arrive in Turkey!
This is really getting confusing now!
-
easy. get your stuff packed. Hold it in storage untill you get your residence then once you have it give the green light to the shipper to send it.
-
It might be worth having a rethink, and buying in turkey, I have friends who left smaller and sentimental items in a family members loft and brings some over every time they go to uk, or have people coming out. Many Kennels in the uk arrange all the travel docs that your little (ha ha) dog needs. I also believe that you can go to the customs police here and get permission to bring used goods into turkey, i know you must keep the goods for 5years, might be worth a visit to the british consulate to get the correct and most up to date information. Hope you dont mind my comments and can i wish you all the best for your new life in Turkey.
-
British consulate wont be able to give definet information as most customs people dont know it themselves. There is no customs police by the way and also there is nothing about having to keep goods here for 5 years.
If people bring in say a 40 foot container and went to do it as a permanent export then it is possible but you will not find out what the taxes are until the day of inspection and they work it out themselves by what the "feel" the goods are worth and the depreciation factor too. Then its all done under the table.
Just remember that most movers and customs agents will try to bring the goods in under a temporary import, if you plan to stay here then DONT do this as you will have to re-new your customs declaration every year which is a pain and if you dont renew it then you get a heavy fine.
By the way, I dont work in shipping anymore so please dont come to me for quotes :)
-
Starman
As you have seen I've moved away from the "self-drive" approach myself. This is partly due to recommendations from you in previous discussions which I posed. Thanks for the advice.
I have another problem!
In your post above you say that if you are moving permanently then you should avoid temporary import. This is advice I've seen elsewhere as well.
My problem is that the company I am planning to move with is saying that their Turkish agent are saying that there is no way that Customs will accept a 20ft container as being valued at less than 1500€. As such it then falls into the temporary import regime in line with the published rules.
Given that I want to get permanent import do you have any recommendations of Turkish agents who would be willing to try for permanent import? Or do you think this might be seeing a "sea-change" in the way that Turkish Customs are acting and the days of permanent import of a 20ft containers are past?
As a point of interest I am not trying to avoid any import taxes - just don't want the hassle of temporary import status!
Many thanks
Tim
-
Ask your removal company to change their agent. 20ft containers can and have been brought in under the taxed way even though it is over 1500 euros worth. Ask Kayakoyoldboy as he did it. I have overseen people who have brought in over 80 cubic meters which is a 40ft and half a 20ft container.
I can give you a list of companies that can do this in Izmir but I wont write them here as I dont want to be called a spammer even though I dont work for a removal company.
-
Starman
Thanks - it is as I suspected! You can email me through the forum link if you want to send me the list of companies. It might also be useful if you could give me your thoughts on the current company and their Turkish agent in the "privacy" of an email exchange.
Thanks again
Tim
-
Hi Joe,We used John at Freightbrain and he discussed what was best for us at the time.When we got here we organised our residency and when we had it in our hands we then emailed John to get our container on it's way.Total cost 3,600 pounds and that included Ozcan Soyers charges as well.At the time our friends were bringing over a golden retreiver.This was done through Thomas Cook cargo at a cost of 1000 pounds.They came on the same flight. Hope this helps.