Moving quotes: the five lines that genuinely commit

Two quotes showing the same total can carry radically different commitments. Price is the most read and the least decisive line: what counts on the day of breakage, delay or impossible access lies elsewhere, in five lines rarely read.

The declaration of value, and its hidden ceiling

The quote states the price. The declaration of value states what the carrier will owe you if everything disappears. These are two distinct figures, and only the second protects you.

The genuinely misleading line, however, is not the overall amount: it is the per-item ceiling. A comfortable overall declaration of value can come with a low individual ceiling, which will never cover the one piece you cared about. Valuable items are declared by name, on a list attached to the contract.

Calibrate that amount on real value, neither above nor below. It raises the price, and rightly so: it raises the commitment on the other side.

The packing formula, and who packs what

An item packed by you is almost never covered by the carrier, who does not answer for packing they did not do. It is logical, and it is rarely explained.

The trade-off is therefore made item by item, not across the whole move. Full packing for what is fragile, old or irreplaceable; plain carriage for the rest. Saving on the packing of inherited crockery is not a saving, it is a transfer of risk.

Access, the most underestimated item

No lift, a narrow street, carrying distance, a hoist required: what was not seen will be charged extra on collection day, when it is too late to compare. At the other end, two permissions often govern the day: the town hall’s, to reserve the lorry’s space, and whatever the building’s rules allow.

Hence a simple rule: never get a quote without a technical survey, on site or by video call. A phone estimate produces a quote that does not hold, at both ends of the journey. And since the price is computed by volume, sorting is done before the survey and not after: sorting once the quote is signed does not lower the bill.

The lead time, and its nature

A firm date and an indicative range do not commit in the same way, and the quote rarely says which of the two it offers. In shared sea freight, the arrival date depends on the container filling: it is indicative by construction, and no undertaking in the quote will make it firm. That is the heart of the choice between a shared load and a full container, which decides the timing far more than the price.

Ask the question explicitly, and note the answer. It decides what you carry as accompanied baggage to live on during the transit.

Storage, and who insures during that time

A last line, often absent: what happens if the home is not ready on arrival? Who charges for storage, from what day, and above all who insures the goods during that period?

The answer varies from one carrier to another, and it is not improvised on the day the container lands before you do.

Delivery day

The quote has done its work; what follows depends on one gesture. Reservations are written on the delivery document, they must be precise to count, and they are confirmed by registered letter within ten days. What that formality requires exactly deserves to be known before the truck arrives, not during.