Why you need marine insurance when you emigrate – 2
There’s an article in today’s Herald from a Christchurch man whose goods are stuck on the Rena.
Mr Rhodes may also be left short on his insurance. His first thought was, “The ship won’t sink”, but he insured his contents in case anything was broken.
“We were pretty sure $25,000 would cover it, but now we’ve been going through everything … that insurance is not going to cover it all.
We actually created a spreadsheet of absolutely everything we were shipping. We were as picky about it as we were about budgeting – so everything was listed – and we gave everything a value. So by the time we organised the insurance – we knew exactly what we owned (which was a shocking amount of “stuff”) and how much it would cost to replace.
We worked out we needed cover for £44,000 worth of stuff. Scarily – about a 25% of that was for our books – and that was priced for replacements at UK Prices – which is considerably cheaper than NZ prices.
Yes it costs – but put that into context – $25,000 of cover even at todays exchange rate would only cover the replacement of our books (about £12,500). We are all notoriously bad for under valuing our goods.
So I really recommend – painful and immensely boring though it is – actually sitting down and cataloguing everything before you ship. There’s also another upside to this – anything you pack before the shippers get in (possibly like us you have your house “staged” for selling so a load of stuff is boxed up in advance) – you can actually number the boxes and add the box number to the spreadsheet. Makes finding the lemon juicer a helluva lot easier to find at the other end.
Why you need marine insurance when you emigrate.
See those “boxes” tipping over on the back of that ship? Some of those could contain the household goods of people moving to New Zealand. The Rena has been run aground on a reef near Tauranga. For ease – the Dom Post has a nifty The Story So Far section:
Wednesday, October 5
2.20am: Rena, a Liberia-flagged 235m vessel, was heading to Tauranga from Napier when it crashed into the Astrolabe Reef, about 7km north of Motiti Island. Maritime NZ said the cargo ship, which was carrying 1900 tonnes of fuel, was on a 10-degree list and some fuel had leaked from its hydraulic pumps.
Thursday, October 6
-An early morning flight by MNZ confirmed an oil slick stretching 2 kilometres.
-Four dead birds were found, covered in oil. An oiled wildlife response team was mobilised.
-The Director of Maritime New Zealand issued the owners with two notices. One, that a reputable salvor be appointed. Two, that MNZ can take control if it deems it necessary and the vessel owner must comply with the National On Scene Commander’s directions.
Friday, October 7
-Four little blue penguins and two shags affected by oil were rescued from Motiti Island. Six teams of responders are deployed and joined by 10 more teams on Saturday.
Saturday, October 8
-Fresh oil is spotted leaking from the cargo ship, which is on an 11-degree list, MNZ confirms.
-Specialists from around New Zealand and Australia join the more than 100-member strong oil spill response team led by MNZ. Three hundred defence force personnel are on standby.
Sunday, October 9
-Oil recovery teams head out on the water to collect oil. The oiled wildlife response is continuing
-About 10 tonnes of oil is pumped from the Rena to the bunker barge Awanuia.
Monday, October 10
-3500 tonnes of oily water has been recovered and offloaded at the Port of Tauranga.
-Clumps of oil are found washed up on the beach.
-Awanuia is currently alongside Rena and preparations are underway to transfer oil from Rena to the Awanuia, weather permitting.
Tuesday, October 11
- Environment Minister Nick Smith calls the incident our worst environmental disaster.
- Stormy weather in the region makes the clean-up difficult
- Maritime New Zealand issue warnings for volunteers to stop picking up clumps of oil.
Now, the captain of the ship is being charged, and faces a fine of upto $10,000 or 1 year in jail. His ship is leaking oil which will do substantial damage to the New Zealand environment and we have to pay to clean up his mess.
$10,000 or 1 year jail! That 10% of the fine, and 14% of the jail time he could face if he got caught giving immigration advice without a licence.
But that aside – what would you do if that happened to the ship carrying your containing?
I despise insurance companies – especially with the sickening way they are behaving in New Zealand right now with regard to the earthquake in Christchurch – but I also know I would stump up the cash and pay the premium to insure all my worldly goods when shipping them half way round the world.
Our shipping insurance cost £1,390 7 years ago (blimey was it really that long). It was 3% of the value of what we shipped. Looking at that listing ship – which is by all accounts about to break apart – I am glad we did.
Are you taking your children with you?
I’m currently watching an episode of Undercover Boss UK. A series where CEO’s work for a week as a pleb, in order to better understand how the company they run really works. This week, its Crown Relocations – the company we used for two out of three shipments to New Zealand.
So well worth a look. Though with some trepidation – maybe after all we don’t want to see behind the scenes of what they do with all our stuff.
Well, a cracking moment came when the boss was working in the Leeds office: they take Internet inquiries and call the prospective clients back to find out their requirements and try and book a time for someone to come out and do a quote. He has to do a “Dry Run” with one of the staff before being let loose on the phones, and real life customers. The woman is prepped to be awkward, and the scenario is that shes moving to Hanoi. She has three children.
One of the questions he asks her is:
“Is it you or are you taking your children with you?”
Um no – I thought I’d bung them in a kennels for the next 5 years????
Classic!
The good news is that the program did show two sets of packers, who were packing up the lives of two families moving to Australia. The care and pride those guys took in packing up their homes was heartwarming and reassuring. They really did come across as having a real care for how they treat our worldly goods.
Which is probably why we have twice chosen Crown to ship stuff here, and then went on to get the local branch in to move us into our Wellington apartment.
If you get the chance, I would try and have a look at this program. And I would seriously consider Crown for your removals: they weren’t the cheapest – but all round, we were personally impressed with them.
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Why you really ought to take out shipping insurance :)
From the amazing Very De-motivational website.
see more Very Demotivational
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Still no Ikea in NZ, but…
Filed under: Cost of living, Getting to New Zealand, Life in New Zealand
straight from the Facebook Page “I want IKEA stores to open in New Zealand” comes a link for a new company in Parnell Auckland that is shipping IKEA products from Australia for you, MYKEA. (Now called MYFLATPACK)
(Please read the comments below before buying from this company).
The Idea is that you visit the Australian IKEA website, fill in a form with MYKEA telling them what you want, and they send you a quote telling you how much it will cost to get it delivered to you, including all costs (taxes, shipping etc). You can then place the order or not. They have a minimum order of $150 AUD, and you cant any item less than $10 AUD, but all in all it looks like a good system to me.
Now you are going to pay a premium for this obviously – not only are you covering IKEA’s profit, but also MYKEA’s, but hey – nowt wrong with that. They are being enterprising, and offering a service that many NZ’ers really want. Good on ‘em. And lets face it – you can always judge for yourself whether the quoted prices suit your pocket, or are fair. Given the numbe rof people I’ve met taking flights to Aussie just to go get stuff from IKEA – I’d say they could be onto something in saving you money on airfairs and excess baggage fees!
Actually they aren’t the first to do this. When we first arrived 5 and a bit years ago, there was a company doing the same thing, and another company that was actually just importing container loads of stuff and selling it the old fashioned way. Both of those stopped trading – Ive no idea if it was because they went out of business or went on to do other things. But it does suggest that there may be a window here in which to make the most of this opportunity.
Depending on whether we make out “city living” arrangement permanent after a few months of trialling – I am sorely tempted to splurge (once we have cleared the credit cards!) and buy some decent storage! NZ is woefully short on decent affordable storage I’m afraid. And to be honest – when you have kit out a second home -you need access to something that isnt going to rob you blind on the costs. The nearest similar store to IKEA in NZ is Freedom Furniture – but its a lot more expensive. Arguably the quality is better, especially if you compare it with the cheaper IKEA ranges, but when the budget is what matters – there really isn’t a good alternative.
If you have IKEA bookshelves – or indeed IKEA anything - what ever you do – bring it with you! You will regret it if you don’t. Even if you don’t want to keep it – bring it and sell it on Trade Me.
By the way: apparently the reason we cant have an IKEA store in NZ is becuase teh Auckland council reckons they cant cope with the traffic chaos that will inevitably ensue when 4,000,000 kiwis descend the place. Sheesh.
(Edited: Thanks John for the update on the website. MYFLATPACK now carries a small inventory of stock in Auckland. Prices are expensive, but ho-hum. And postage is based on a % of the total order – 10% for North Island deliveries).
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The joy of the shipping container arriving.
Last night, at 6.30pm our very last load of our UK lives arrived at our New Zealand home.
This is the third batch we have shipped over: the first was mine and hubbys household goods, shipped with John Masons once we sold our house. The second was the majority of my Parents household when they sold their house a few months later. This was the remainder of their stuff – the few things they needed to carry on living in the UK.
Of course when I saw “the few things” – what I really mean to say is that there was still enough stuff to fill half a 20ft container. That’s after we have shipped two full 20 ft containers already. And we got rid of a lot of stuff before we moved.
Now the scary part starts – trying to figure our where the hell to squeeze all this stuff.
This lot was shipped my Crown Relocations – who also handled my parents first container.
Again, we are hugely impressed with the service. More importantly, once again, not a whiff of the old “MAF Fees Scam” that is way too prevalent in the industry on the New Zealand side. This is where the New Zealand subcontractor charges you way more for the MAF inspection of your shipping than they are being charged by MAF.
The excuses given by these scam artists are varied and laughable.
We have never been scammed in this way – but many Migrants have – and some of these companies seem to have also bullied at least one forum owner into not allowing such facts to be aired on their forum.
John Masons used Allied Movers as their New Zealand subcontractor when we moved over here, and apart from some issues getting hold of the company to arrange delivery – we had no problems. If you use Crown as the shippers – it’s the same company on each side of the move – so you don’t even have to deal with a different company – and they have offices all over New Zealand. We were charged $150 for MAF to steam clean some outdoor furniture and tools – and that was it. A far cry from the hundreds of dollars that some migrants are charged for a MAF inspection that should cost around $100.
So once again – hats off to Crown Relocations. We had a great service, the stuff is all here, and we have had 1 broken glass. This takes our grand total for breakages over three container loads to:
3 broken glasses and a broken wooden box.
Ok, more unpacking to do. It’s like Christmas.
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12 days and counting.
Filed under: Getting to New Zealand, Property & General Investing
In 12 short days, the rest of my family arrives in New Zealand for what we sincerely hope is the final time. My Parents already have their permanent residency, and we will be sponsoring my brother as soon as he has a suitable job offer. (Let the fun begin).
In the meantime – I am running around like a blue arsed fly trying to make sure the house is suitable for 5 slightly-crazy adults, and they are packing up their UK lives for the last time and saying their goodbyes. I’ve got electricians and
builders still to come in and do a few bits: thankfully the heatpump is installed and our house is cosy and warm ready for their first blast of a New Zealand winter. They have clients to deal with (some of whom have just figured out that this is really happening and this time they won’t be coming back), and getting ready for the shippers.
At this point I am truly grateful to have a slightly oddball family: they sold their UK home 4 years ago, put a chunk of the money into the house over here in New Zealand, bought a static Caravan to live in in the UK and spent the UK summer in that and the NZ summer over in the house. Which means that as soon as the residency was approved – they were able to move without having to sell a UK home in a ghastly market.
It takes something of a special constitution for them to have believed in us so much that they would take that risk believing that we could make a successful life over here.
While we were working through Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich book, we came across a part of it which talks about burning your bridges behind you so that you cannot go back. This was one of those things: not allowing for the possibility of failure. When we emigrated – we sold our UK home rather than keep it and rent it out. Given that we then became property investors – the question has been asked: why on earth did we do that??? But I know that it would have been a lot easier for me to give up and go back home on the tough days of homesickness if we had not sold the house. Burning that bridge meant we had to succeed, and I had to work through the homesickness.
For us, emigrating to New Zealand was always about the whole family doing it. It can be an incredibly hard thing to achieve – but it is so worth it!
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