[Anneka @ Sytner]

Next year is going to be an exciting year for me!
Not only are we continuing to support bimmerpost, but we'll also be taking up a sponsorship with TotalMINI and xdrivers too.

A lot of parts enquiries come through with a request for delivery which we currently don't offer. I'd like to change this.

I'm currently struggling to find a company that we can use for parts deliveries.
A lot of the items are of value between £100 and £500. In the past we've used Parcel2go, but I find that the prices change too frequently and adding insurance can add up to an additional £20+vat to the price!
I don't want to set up a business account with monthly fees as I don't know how many deliveries we can expect to be sending out each month. Can anyone suggest a reliable UK delivery service that won't charge an arm and a leg for insured delivery? (Most packages are under £6kg with value up to £500.)

Thanks in advance,
Anneka

[M3-FAST]

Hi Anneka

You will struggle to find a company that offers insurance tbh.

I run a test equipment company that sells new products but also has to collect customers products, calibrate them and return them again.

The value of goods in each box is usually a couple of hundred pounds up to many thousands of pounds.

The courier companies used to offer their own insurance and if parcels got lost or damaged then they would issue a claim form and you would then be recompensed for the lost or damaged goods.

This unfortunately all seemed to stop about 5 years ago as the market became more and more competitive and the delivery prices dropped. We have now added transit liability insurance into our business insurance to cover any large losses as the courier we use now pays £10 per kilo I think, which doesn't helo with a small light tester that is worth £800!

We use City Link for 3rd party collections but now send out our parcels via UPS as they came and offered us a cracking deal for deliveries (£3.99 per parcel up to 20Kg I think on a next day service) - City Link couldn't compete but UPS were expensive for 3rd party collections.

I would get a few in Anneka and seriously over estimate the amount of parcels you will be sending - the sales rep will have to 'speak to their area manager' to get you the best possible rate, and then play them off against each other.

You can then either opt to pay for insurance (which as you know is extortionate) or take small hits on the chin and claim for any big losses by adding it to the dealerships business policy.

We send out 20-30 parcels per day and I can count on one hand how many losses we have had in the past year. With the money saved on not taking insurance we are easily 'up' so not to worry too much.

Once you have an account open simply arrange so the driver call past every afternoon and picks up anything you have boxed and ready to go. All consignments are booked via the UPS web site and you simply print out the consignment sheet with the bar code etc and pop it into the provided self seal sticky plastic wallets that attach to the parcel.

The bill comes through weekly and is taken by direct debit so nice an easy to administer.

For reliability, City Link are less good, and they often lose a parcel (it normally turns up somewhere else a day or so later after being cross labelled ) but they offer us the best value for money at collections and we can book the same day until midday for a same day collection.

Not sure if any of this helps!!

Paul

[creepy coupe]

We use DHL or now Yodel as they call themselves. On standard next day they cover up to £100, but we can insure the full invoice amount, for an extra fee.

[Anneka @ Sytner]

Hi Paul, it helps a lot thanks. I'll get our BA to look into getting coverage on our business insurance, it will be a bonus if we already have it. I just have a fear of someones Alpine Hi Fi going missing! At the moment I tend to use Royal Mail Special Delivery because it's easiest (they stop by here and collect everything each day). It's hugely expensive and we end up making nothing.
Perhaps it will be cheaper to just risk it (i'll have to do some theoretical sums and see). I couldn't figure out how other companies were doing it (free delivery, delivery for £5 etc).

Every online quote so far has been £20+, standard sized box, 5kg insured up to £500. Just terrible. I would have thought that if a delivery company failed to deliver a parcel because they lost it they would have been liable to compensate anyway for being in breach of contract.

[Anneka @ Sytner]

I had a look at Yodel, the 48hr delivery quote was a good price but with £500 insurance it topped £20.

[Sir_Pigley]

Anneka

I used to ship lots of parcels via Royal Mail, DHL, UPS and DPD over a period of about 4-5 years.

Over that period DHL lost 2, UPS none, DPD none and Royal Mail lots (but no special deliveries).

Royal Mail lost lots when they had strikes, but normally they were fine.

So I think self-insurance is the most cost effective option.

[AlwynMike]

Is it worth you using Interparcel and just getting the best rate "on the day"??
Perhaps this is what you're trying to avoid - the choice of many different rates, albeit on one page . . . .

Mike

[dobsy]

Originally Posted by Anneka @ Sytner

I couldn't figure out how other companies were doing it (free delivery, delivery for £5 etc).

I'm in furniture and can relate to this statement-I find it amazing how these 'companies' are offering free delivery etc with product mark ups at 20%! Classic cases of here today............, not good for the long standing retailer but hey they make a tenner on a wardrobe so they're happy!

I use a local broker who charge £6.21 with citylink up to 30kgs with pretty big parcel dimensions and before that I used Interparcel.com and you get an option which courier you use. As said before-UPS very rarely gave me a problem. But to be fair to Citylink I'm happy with them too.

[rs939]

Don't use YODEL they are the worst company bar none, Amazon started to use them to deliver the "prime" next day packets. I had a next day turn up a week later, google them and you will see how bad they are.

[Dannyrado]

I use www.wedelivertheworld.co.uk for my insured parcels, no probs with them as of yet. Insuring parcels is generally a PITA tho.