Hi Mr Eq here,

Trying to get our heads round :Headbang:what would be the best option for transporting our treasures when we move to Bulgaria.

As you know we would be bringing our dogs with us, but basically we would not be bringing big items (white goods, sofas, wardrobes, tables etc:). As we all know you think we do not have much, but by the time you have packed everything up you end up being surrounded by a wall of boxes. As there are only the two of us, hopefully we can selective enough that we will just bring personal treasures with us.

Now it comes to how to move and what is the best option. If anyone can advise or let us know their experiences that would be great to help us decide what option we go for:

Option 1:
Keep one of our cars and get our items sent over. That way we could just drive out with the dogs and then maybe rent first until our items arrive and register the car.
How expensive is it to get things sent over and has anyone had problems with this method?

Option 2:
Trade our cars in for a decent van (Mercedes Benz - LWB) or transit and then travel out with the intention to then sell/trade the van when we arrive to buy a car.
How easy would it be to sell/trade the van once in Bulgaria?

Option 3:
Buy a 4 x 4 here in the UK with a box trailer and then travel out. Once arriving then register the 4 x4 with Bulgarian registration.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

We travelled over with our two dogs in our Nissan X-Trail. No problems at all, and it was crammed to the roof!
We also got some of our thing sent over by carrier. It worked out at approx £100 per cubic metre. Unfortunately
the guy wasn't overly careful with our stuff, some chips here and there. So can't give you a recommendation!
For a trailer, I think you need a permit or something, but I'm sure someone on here will give you advice.

your worrying too much, your dogs are your treasures, everything else is material. you wont get the deal you want in bulgaria, selling here does leave a lot to be desired, they will bargain to the point that its not worth the deal. moving goods abroad is not cheap either, so you have to make the decision of whether it is worth doing.

i decided not to bring my goods, i sold them in the uk, and started from new, it worked for me

We used allied pickfords but contacted the Bulgaria office and they were very professional and didn't damage anything and more importantly were on time at both ends.

When I moved over here six years ago, I drove my car and box trailer, loaded up with my treasures. I had to leave a lot of other stuff behind, stored in a mates lockup..sadly the lockup was broken into, ransacked, then burnt out, so I lost everything. If I had to do it all again [wisdom in hindsight], I would get myself a good van..Mercedes Sprinter or Transit..and bring everything at once. The clue to being able to sell or trade well in Bulgaria is to buy a LHD vehicle and bring it over. RHD's are not popular here as most Bulgarians are terrified of driving them and the prices offered are much much less than a LHD. There are quite a few car yards or garages in the UK which deal in LHD vehicles and of course, Ebay..plenty of vans on there and if you are careful about things, bargains can be found.

You would find that your van would come in very handy during your 'setting up' stages, once you've found your dream place..so many times over the years I've wished I had one to fetch bits and bobs instead of paying for delivery.

sallyann wrote:

We used allied pickfords but contacted the Bulgaria office and they were very professional and didn't damage anything

We also used Allied Pickfords in Sofia.

They did all our packing in France and delivered to Bulgaria once we got there. Not one breakage. Very polite and helpful staff.

We threw our german shepherd dog in the back of the 4-WD and drove via Italy, overnight ferry to Greece and straight into Bulgaria. Pet-friendly hotels all the way and even a 'dog-friendly-cabin' on the ferry!

I used a firm in Essex who the manager is a Bulgarian and they ship here twice a week using as you would imagine a huge double pentatagon. One half of the pentatagon was all mine and managed to get all my stuff in it. You have to pack your stuff in boxes yourself but they will load it for you and you can supervise if you are worried.It takes about a week or less to arrive and it is door to door. They left on a Thursday and I saw the distictive red vehicle in Romania and I left for Bulgaria on the Saturday and it arrived on the Tuesday.The cost of the move was £1800 which I thought was reasonable and none of my kit was damaged.
Bringing a pet over is no hassle as I brought my 18 year old cat with us in the back of my pick up which had a snug top fitted with no problems'The back of my pick up was never opened for inspection by any of the authorities in any country and so getting a "
Pet Passport"
which I got was a waste of money! It took us 3 days with 2 over night stops travelling at about 60mph and the diesel worked out around £300 for my two and half liter Mitsibushi.Just be advised you will need to buy a "
Vignete"
in most countries at little cost as this is a form of road tax, they sell these at most boarder crossings in the garages or shops.Regardless of what you may be told you can exchange currancy at all the boarder crossing points.The only places that we were stopped to have our passports checked was ironically Romania and Bulgaria but no luggage check or vehicle check.

If you want to know the name of the company that shipped my stuff get back to me as I havn't got it to hand at the moment.

I'm back again!Continuing on with the vehicle side of things. I bought a Mitsibushi l200 4x4 as I knew what the roads were like here which are rough to say the least and I knew it would handle the snowy Winters here.So unless you are moving to a large town where the roads arn't to bad I would go for a 4x4 or you could be replacing shock absorbers or getting stuck in snow and ice.Now I have been here almost a year and have just registered my vehicle and what a nightmare it was for me but some people have had a better experience who do not live in the Varna area.Just be advised that when you arrive in Bulgaria they do not as you know stamp passports any more but they do take note of your vehicle entry date as I found out when I went to register it and told me that I should have registered it sooner.You will also need to get an I.D card each and you will need proof of your health insurance E11 card will do and your house deeds plus your passport. They will give you documents to be filled in but don't worry as normally just around the corner from the immigration office is a firm that will fill it in for you for a small charge and they speak English. Go for the photo I.D. as you can have one without but most Bulgarian banks and the police for that matter will not accept it for some odd reason I found out when I first got here.
Without an I.D. you cannot do anything apart from open a bank account so that means no phone no telly etc.It all seems a bit perplexing at first but once you start to get organised , may I suggest that getting the internet where you are going to live is a must then you can go on "
Our Bulgaria"
and ask for advice as you have just done!

Anyway good luck with your move and I am sure you will not need it.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] These are the people that moved us last year.

Thanks for all that Speedgunner. Things to discuss with Mr Eq.

Scunnered wrote:

We travelled over with our two dogs in our Nissan X-Trail. No problems at all, and it was crammed to the roof!
We also got some of our thing sent over by carrier. It worked out at approx £100 per cubic metre. Unfortunately
the guy wasn't overly careful with our stuff, some chips here and there. So can't give you a recommendation!
For a trailer, I think you need a permit or something, but I'm sure someone on here will give you advice.

Hi
We have tried Googling for information about trailer use in Bulgaria and other European Countries but cannot find anything that makes sense. Can anyone help with advice please as to if this is an option.

As far as I know you will only need to register the trailer once you arrive and live in Bulgaria, there are a few on the forum who have done this so maybe one of them will be along soon to advise.

I hope someone who has registered their trailer here can help out, because it would make good sense to purchase the same brand and here's why...

As I've said before, I drove over, towing my little trailer and within a month was going through the registration process. My trailer was a new, galvanised bodied 'Franc' model, in perfect condition, but KAT had not seen one before and refused to register it. I contacted the manufacturers and they kindly sent me the EU compliance certificate along with heaps of engineering details, but KAT would not budge..quote 'it wasn't built here, so it's no good' unquote. I tried all sorts of things, but never managed to get it done. What really 'P'd' me off, was seeing all these old wooden things with wobbly, bald tyres, no working lights being towed around by old cars in a similar condition!

I ended up giving it to my next door neighbour who happily tows it around behind his little tractor.

I hope you can understand what I'm getting at.

As the question here viewtopic.php?f=8&
t=1781&
hilit=trailer I'm sure mickhev will give you some advice.

If you contact the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) in the UK they can issue a document that normally is acceptable to the authorities of other Members States. The form is called a ‘Certificate of Keeper of Trailer’, this can be applied for using this form [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ... 202010.pdf You need also to submit proof of purchase such as a receipt and any manufacturers’ documents you were supplied with at the time of purchase especially if they detail dimensions of the trailer. Unfortunately just like other vehicles you do have to pay a fee for the Certificate and I believe the fee is £25. If you have any further questions I suggest you contact VOSA directly, their telephone number is 01792 454373.