Best courier to send a bike with, UK.

andUK

If anyone has recently sent a bike within the UK, please can you say:
with which courier service that was,
whether insurance was adequate,
if all went smoothly
and price.
Much appreciated in advance.

ilm_zero7

DPD - the best courier service out there, but they dont collect - that is done by their sister company Interlink

rafletcher

Parcel force, and they do collect. Booked through P4D..

thefog

Always a difficult one. You will find complaints about all couriers, because generally people leave reviews when something goes wrong.

I recently sent a bike through citylink, online via Parcelmonkey - £20 including £400 insurance including collection. All went absolutely fine.

Parcelforce won't take bike boxes over a certain size, so you may not be able to use them. Many people swear by paisley freight, though I felt their insurance costs weer expensive.

muttley_109

The last time I sent a bike by courier the box was cut open and most of the contents (tools, clothes, helmet etc) were stolen. The bike itself was still there but it was damaged. The insurance didn't pay out and the company didn't want to know. I'm not doing that again!

r0b1et

TheFog wrote:

I recently sent a bike through citylink, online via Parcelmonkey - £20 including £400 insurance including collection. All went absolutely fine.

Good luck using them again!

a4ndyp

I work in distribution and although i have never sent a bicycle, Fedex are by a LONG shot the best courier that i have used - and i have used them all. they are fast, efficient and reliable.... for car parts (my other hobby) i regularly use Paisley freight http://www.paisleyfreight.com/ who again, have never let me down, fast and reliable. PF offer a flat rate service to ship bikes anywhere in the uk of £22.50 inc vat

Fedex own their entire network, meaning that from the moment your parcel gets picked up till the moment that it gets delivered it stays within fedex.

other couriers buy in to a network meaning that you could book your job with parcel monkey or similar - it will be picked up by one courier who covers a particular area then passed to another and another etc etc. this means that tracing your parcel is unreliable and the companies handling the item have less "ownership" of it - usually resulting in it being mistreated / delayed.

woolwich

I send a reasonable amount of both frames and bikes. I usually use Parcel Force who have been reliable and collect. To purchase additional insurance to cover the full cost of the frame brings the total to around £30.

I got quite excited when I just read Paisley Freight are quoting £22 and specialise in Bikes. Then I noticed that the insurance cover is £5 per kilo total loss only. Full insurance cover to be purchased as an extra. I am not saying that they might not prove to be competitive and reliable. Just the above info doesn't compare like for like. Still might try them though.