Booking the wrong removal company is one of the costlier mistakes you can make during a house move. Here are the ten checks we recommend running on any firm — including us — before you sign a contract or pay a deposit.
The British Association of Removers is the industry's main trade body. Members are independently inspected against standards covering premises, vehicles, training, customer service, financial stability and complaints handling. They also operate an advance-payment guarantee scheme. If a company is not a BAR member, ask why.
Ask to see a copy of the insurance certificate. £50,000 minimum is standard for a domestic remover; bigger firms should have £100,000 or higher. Check that the policy is current — some firms quote old certificates.
Companies House is free to search. Look for a track record of at least five years' trading. Many removal firms come and go — and if something goes wrong with your move, you want a company that will still be around in three months when you make the claim.
Google Reviews are harder to fake than checkatrade or company-controlled testimonial pages. Look for: at least 50 reviews, an average above 4.5, and reviews spread over time (not 30 reviews all posted in one week). Read a few of the 3-star reviews — they often show how the firm responds when something goes wrong.
Any quote given over the phone without seeing the property should be treated as a rough estimate at best. Reputable firms send a surveyor (in person or by video call) to walk every room, measure access constraints, and discuss packing and special items. If the firm refuses to survey or pressures you to book without one, walk away.
The quote should list — separately — the labour, the vehicle, packing materials (if used), parking permits, insurance, and any special-item charges. "All-in" quotes that lump everything together make it impossible to compare between firms and easy for hidden costs to appear on the day.
Ask explicitly: "what happens if my completion date moves?" Many firms charge a significant fee — sometimes 25-50% of the quote — for date changes. We do not, but you need to know the policy in writing before you book.
This is the single most important question to ask: "how do you protect furniture during the carry to the lorry?" A good firm will say "we pad-wrap every piece in your home before it leaves the room." A poor firm will say "we use blankets in the lorry" — which is too late, because most damage happens on the carry, not in transit.
Ask if the crew are directly employed and trained, or hired through an agency. Direct employment with in-house training (look for BS 8564-aligned standards) means the people moving your house care about the company's reputation. Agency labour does not.
A 10-25% deposit is normal and reasonable. A 50%+ deposit, or full payment before move day, is a red flag. Check whether the deposit is held in a client account or BAR-administered advance-payment scheme — that protects you if the firm goes bust between your deposit and your move date.
If a firm passes the ten checks, two final conversational questions reveal a lot:
If you are getting a removal quote in Eastbourne, we would be glad to be one of the three you compare. Call us on 01323 848 008 or request a quote online.
Beyond the positive things to check for, there are warning signs that should disqualify a removal firm immediately. If you encounter any of these, walk away even if the price is appealing.
Cash-only requests for the deposit. A legitimate firm accepts bank transfer, card or cheque. Cash-only is either tax evasion or a sign that the firm cannot maintain a business bank account.
No physical office address. "We will come to you for the survey" is fine, but if the firm has no published depot or office address, ask why. Reputable removers have premises you can visit.
Pressure to book quickly. "This price is only valid today" is a classic pressure tactic. Reputable firms hold quotes for 30 days because they are confident in their pricing.
Reluctance to provide insurance details. Any legitimate firm will email a copy of their goods-in-transit insurance certificate without hesitation. Hesitation here is the single biggest red flag.
Vague answers about who will actually move you. "It depends on the day" might mean they sub-contract to whoever has capacity — agency labour with no training and no accountability. Ask explicitly: "will the people I meet at the survey be the same people who move me?"
Unprofessional communication. Misspellings on the website, broken contact forms, no response to email for days. These are not just signs of a small operation; they are signs of a poorly run business.
The reason most consumer-advice publications recommend getting three quotes is not just to compare price — it is to compare process. Three legitimate quotes from three BAR-registered firms will be within 10–20% of each other on price. If one of them is 40% lower, something is missing from the quote (often the packing, insurance or fuel) and you need to know what.
The three quotes also let you compare how each firm conducts the survey and the conversation. A good survey lasts 30–45 minutes, walks every room, asks about access at both ends, and follows up with a written quote within 24 hours. A bad survey is rushed, generic and followed by a quote that arrives in a week. The way a firm runs its sales process tells you a lot about how it will run your move.
One final tip: when you call to ask for a quote, listen to who answers the phone. At good removal firms it is the office manager or one of the family. At struggling firms it goes through to voicemail or a generic answering service. The phone is the front door of the business — and what you hear is what you will get.
Search results for “removals near me” pull in a great deal of national-comparison sites, lead-generation portals and broker platforms. Most of them aren’t removal companies at all — they sell your enquiry on to three or four sub-contracted firms in your postcode and take a referral fee. There’s nothing illegal about that, but it does mean the cheapest-looking quote often comes from the firm that pays the highest referral fee, not the firm that runs the best move.
A local Eastbourne or East Sussex firm has three structural advantages over a national broker, and they all show up on move day.
Local crews know the streets. Knowing which end of South Street in Lewes accepts a 7.5-tonne lorry, which Old Town lanes turn into single-track at the school run, which Meads basement flats need a furniture hoist, and which Hailsham new-builds have a service lane round the back — this knowledge isn’t in any database. It’s in a crew that has done this for twenty years. You can’t outsource that.
Local firms carry local stock. If your move runs late and you need a second night’s storage, a local firm with its own depot can hold the lorry overnight at no charge. A broker-led move ends with the lorry leaving Sussex at 6pm because the crew has a job in Birmingham tomorrow. Ask at the survey: “is your storage on-site?”
Local reputation is on the line, every move. A national broker who fails on your move loses one referral fee. A 40-year-old Eastbourne family firm that fails on your move loses fifteen reviews from your neighbours, your conveyancer, your estate agent and your friends. That asymmetry of consequence is the single best thing a customer has on their side — and it’s why we still answer the phone ourselves at 7am on a Saturday.
One practical test: ask each shortlisted firm to name three streets within a mile of your property that they have moved in or out of within the last twelve months. A genuine local will reel off five without thinking. A national broker will pause, then ask you for your postcode again.
None of this means a national firm can’t do a good job — some do. But for moves inside East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey and Kent, a local family-run firm gives you a structural advantage that a price comparison alone won’t reveal. If you’re not sure whether the firm you’re speaking to is genuinely local, look at the registered company address, check whether they have their own depot, and ask whether the survey is done by a director or by an outsourced assessor. The answers tell you everything you need to know before signing a contract.
Call us today for a free, no-obligation quote — or use our online form. Whether it's a one-room move or a full international relocation, we've handled it before.