Top 10 NZ Moving Companies of 2024

If you’re looking to move internationally from New Zealand or domestically around New Zealand the moving companies listed below represent the major national and international movers in the New Zealand market.

Companies are listed alphabetically, as the fairest and most impartial method of rating.

Note that we do not vouch for the quality of any of these companies, only that they make up the majority of New Zealand-based companies providing international and local household removals services.

We strongly recommend you do your own research, based on the reputation of the companies, word of mouth reviews and your own interaction with the people you deal with.

1. Ausmove

As the name suggests, this company specialises in moves to Australia.

They proclaim to be the number 1 moving company in Auckland – presumably for moves to Australia.

Although they state they will quote from “wider New Zealand”, in reality they only operate from Auckland, and moves from other centres would be handled by another company.

Services include:

• Export packing
• Shipping and delivery to door throughout Australia
• Pet transportation
• Motor vehicle shipping
• Marine insurance
• Storage
• Airfreight

Ausmove does not have any quality accreditations nor international affiliations.

Full Profile: Ausmove reviews

2. Conroy Removals

Conroys is a privately owned New Zealand household removals company.

First established in 1972, it now has offices in 8 New Zealand locations, with a further 5 in Australia.

From small beginnings, undertaking removals around New Zealand, Conroys now has a high international profile, handling a significant number of moves to and from Australia and throughout the world.

The company is driven by owner David Conroy and his daughter Fiona, and retains a strong family culture, while offering scale through its wide coverage in New Zealand and Australia.

Conroys are members of the FIDI Global Alliance, and therefore have the FAIM quality accreditation (FIDI Accredited International Mover).

Services include:

• Export packing
• Shipping and delivery to and from Australia and worldwide
• Motor vehicle shipping
• Marine insurance
• Storage
• Airfreight
• FX exchange
• Removals throughout New Zealand

Conroys has offices in the following locations:

• Auckland
• Tauranga
• Napier (Head Office)
• New Plymouth
• Wellington
• Cromwell
• Nelson
• Christchurch

Full profile: Conroy Removals reviews

3. Crown Relocations

Crown Relocations is a member of the Crown Worldwide Group, a multi-national organisation with offices in 60 countries worldwide.

In New Zealand, Crown operates from 8 branches, and offers a wide range of services, beyond its major international operation.

Crown has built up a significant profile in both the private and corporate sectors and is probably New Zealand’s largest international shipper and enjoys an excellent reputation.

Services include:

• Export packing
• Shipping and delivery to door throughout the world
• Pet transportation
• Motor vehicle shipping
• Marine insurance
• Storage
• Airfreight
• FX exchange
• Immigration and visa services
• Domestic removals around New Zealand
• Settling in services
• Office moving
• Records management

Locations:

• Auckland
• Hamilton
• Tauranga
• Palmerston North
• Wellington
• Nelson
• Christchurch
• Dunedin

4. Grace Removals

Grace Removals is a subsidiary of Grace Removals Australia, one of Australia’s leading household removals and relocation companies.

Located in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, Grace specialises in international removals to and from Australia and the rest of the world.

As members of the FIDI Global Alliance, they hold the FAIM quality standard (FIDI Accredited International Mover), which is the industry’s global benchmark of professional international moving companies.

Services include:

• Export packing
• Shipping and delivery to and from Australia and worldwide
• Motor vehicle shipping
• Pet transportation
• Marine insurance
• Storage
• Airfreight
• FX exchange
• Removals throughout New Zealand

Locations:

• Auckland
• Wellington
• Christchurch

5. New Zealand Movers

NZ Movers is a New Zealand-owned company operating out of five offices, offering domestic and international moving services.

NZ Movers emphasises its New Zealand ownership and “green” image as a major benefit to the moving public, though this doesn’t seem to be a key differentiator in the New Zealand household removals industry.

NZ Movers is a member of the FIDI Global Alliance and as such is accredited with the global industry standard FAIM (FIDI Accredited International Mover).

Services include:

• Export packing
• Worldwide door to door services
• Motor vehicle shipping
• Pet transportation
• Marine insurance
• Storage
• Airfreight
• FX exchange
• Removals throughout New Zealand

Locations:

• Auckland
• Hamilton
• Wellington
• Christchurch
• Dunedin

6. New Zealand Van Lines

New Zealand Van Lines is probably New Zealand’s largest privately-owned household removals company, whose origins date back to 1986.

In addition to handling significant volumes of household removals, both domestically and internationally, NZ Van Lines has held a dominant position in the New Zealand Government sector and has had removals contracts with several large Government departments for many years.

NZ Van Lines also enjoys a high profile in the New Zealand arts scene and is the exclusive carrier for the NZ Symphony Orchestra, Royal NZ Ballet, and NZ Opera for their tours around New Zealand and overseas.

NZ Van Lines is also an accredited member of the FIDI Global Alliance and has FAIM certification (FIDI Accredited International Mover), being the first New Zealand company to attain this prestigious quality recognition – globally audited by Ernst & Young.

NZ Van Lines is also New Zealand’s only founding member of OMNI (Overseas Moving Network International), an exclusive organisation of leading independent global household removals companies.

Services include:

• Export packing
• Worldwide door to door services
• Motor vehicle shipping
• Pet transportation
• Marine insurance
• Storage
• Airfreight
• FX exchange
• Removals throughout New Zealand

Locations:

• Auckland
• Hamilton
• Tauranga
• New Plymouth
• Palmerston North
• Wellington
• Blenheim
• Nelson
• Cromwell
• Christchurch
• Dunedin
• Invercargill

Full profile: New Zealand Van Lines reviews

7. The Moving Company

The Moving Company is another long-established, privately owned New Zealand household removals company, operating in both the domestic and international moving markets since 1987, from its locations in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

The Moving Company is a member of the FIDI Global Alliance and is audited by Ernst & Young, FIDI’s official global auditors, to ensure compliance with the FAIM (FIDI Accredited International Mover) quality standard.

The Moving Company is also a member of OMNI (Overseas Moving Network International), a select group of independent removals companies from around the world.

Services include:

• Export packing
• Worldwide door to door services
• Motor vehicle shipping
• Pet transportation
• Marine insurance
• Storage
• Airfreight
• FX exchange
• Removals throughout New Zealand

Locations:

• Auckland
• Wellington
• Christchurch

8. Allied

Allied, previosuly known Allied Pickfords, New Zealand is a subsidiary of the SIRVA Group of companies, a US-based based global relocation organisation – probably the largest in the world.

In New Zealand, Allied Pickfords operates out of 10 offices and proclaims it is the biggest in the New Zealand industry – a claim unable to be substantiated, due to the fragmented nature of the New Zealand industry and lack of reliable data.

Allied Pickfords is a member of the FIDI Global Alliance and thus has the FAIM (FIDI Accredited International Mover) quality certification.

Allied Pickfords is the only New Zealand household removals company to retain the ISO 9001 and 14001 standards.

Services include:

• Export packing
• Worldwide door to door services
• Motor vehicle shipping
• Pet transportation
• Marine insurance
• Storage
• Airfreight
• FX exchange
• Removals throughout New Zealand

Locations:

• Auckland
• Hamilton
• Tauranga
• New Plymouth
• Palmerston North
• Wellington
• Nelson
• Christchurch
• Dunedin
• Invercargill

9. Transworld International Removals

Transworld is a privately owned New Zealand household removals company, operating from four offices, specialising in international removals worldwide.

They are members of the FIDI Global Alliance and successfully retain their FAIM (FIDI Accredited International Mover) quality accreditation.

Services include:

• Export packing
• Worldwide door to door services
• Motor vehicle shipping
• Pet transportation
• Marine insurance
• Storage
• Airfreight
• FX exchange

Locations:

• Auckland
• Tauranga
• Wellington
• Christchurch

Full profile: Transworld reviews

10. World Moving and Storage

World Moving is a privately owned New Zealand company operating out of three offices.

While their main area of operation is international moving, they also do some domestic moves.

Although not members of the FIDI Global Alliance and subject to auditing,

World Moving is a well-established company, maintaining high standards of service and expertise.

Services include:

• Export packing
• Worldwide door to door services
• Motor vehicle shipping
• Pet transportation
• Marine insurance
• Storage
• Airfreight
• FX exchange
• Domestic moving around New Zealand

Locations:

• Auckland
• Wellington
• Christchurch

World does not have any quality accreditations nor international affiliations.

How To Choose an Moving Company

So, you’ve made the big decision to move.

And it is a big decision.

Whether you’re following in the footsteps of so many New Zealanders who’ve chosen to make Australia their home, or you’re moving within New Zealand.

Whether you’re moving privately for personal reasons, or you’re being transferred by your company at their expense, you’re facing an exciting, albeit stressful time in your life.

And among the myriad other things you’ve got to cope with, you need to arrange for your personal possessions to be packed up and shipped – more stress!

How do you go about choosing the removals company you’re about to entrust with your worldly belongings?

Big decision! Vital decision!

You need to be confident the company you choose will pack professionally, ship expeditiously, works with a reliable overseas partner to safely deliver to your new home – and above all, won’t rip you off!

So how do you go about the selection process? Help is at hand! Here are some golden rules, which if followed, should lead to a stress-less and relatively painless process.

And the first golden rule is:-

Start the process early!

Don’t leave it to the last minute, as surprisingly, many people do (“Oh hello, I’ve just sold my home and I need to move to X country.

No hurry – early next week will be fine”!). It happens! Frequently!

Last-minute decisions lead to compromise – maybe some companies are booked out; maybe they’ll “fit you in” and then work out how they’re going to do it; maybe you’ll be forced into accepting a higher price, or a less established removals company, or putting up with inconvenient packing times.

So get started as soon as you’ve made the decision to move – it doesn’t matter how early, or whether you’ve sold your home.

This way your chosen provider will be well prepared – and so will you.

Remember one other thing – December and January are the peak months in the removals industry, where significant demands can be put on their resources, so advance notice is even more critical if you’re moving during that period.

Another benefit in starting early is it gets you into the mindset of what lies ahead and enables you to start thinking about what you want to take and what you want to dispose of (sell/donate/dump!).

This is a very important step in the process, as it ensures that when the removals companies come into your home to quote, you’ll be able to tell them exactly what’s to be moved.

It’s fair to say that most of the New Zealand companies dealing in international removals are reputable and professional – thankfully most of the crooks and rogues of the past have disappeared!

This simplifies your decision-making to a degree, though there are still many factors that need to be taken into account – and the answers are not on the internet!

A browse through the various removals websites will reveal they are all the best and do a fantastic job at a very reasonable price!

So dig deeper!

Get at least three quotes.

More if you want, though three should give you a good comparison.

Bear in mind that each company will need to have a representative visit your home to physically survey what’s to be moved – and to give you their sales spiel!

While fairly time-consuming, it is important to get in-house quotes, rather than estimates provided sight-unseen, which will inevitably change on the move day – inevitably upwards!

Getting three quotes will give you the opportunity to compare services offered, experience, reputation, and of course, price.

Next question – how do you decide which three companies to approach?

Recommendation is helpful if you happen to know of anyone who can advise you – maybe they’ve had direct experience, or have heard good things about a particular company or companies.

You could also check reviews, blog posts etc, though as with reviews for other services such as restaurants, hotels, etc you’re bound to find conflicting statements!

Also, look for accreditations – a number of the New Zealand household removals companies belong to the FIDI Global Alliance, an international association with over 600 member companies in 120 different countries.

The sole criterion for FIDI membership is the attainment of the FAIM (FIDI Accredited International Mover) quality standard.

This accreditation is best described as an industry-specific equivalent to ISO certification, the key differentiator being that FAIM was developed independently, and the same standards and requirements are required from all members, who are audited worldwide by Ernst and Young.

FAIM is in itself a true benchmark within the international household removals industry.

Unlike in a lot of countries, it is common practice in New Zealand for removals companies to provide fixed price quotes based on specified items to be moved.

Be wary of quotes that have a disclaimer such as “this price is based on X volume”, as you stand to risk being told on the day that the actual volume is higher than estimated, with a resultant hike in price.

Another important, though perhaps intangible, point to consider is how you relate to the sales consultant who visits you and how they present or represent their company.

The household removals industry is very much a “people” business, so you need to look beyond the glossy pictures and slick sales talk, and try to gauge the sincerity of the representative and by extension, the company they work for.

Multi-national or privately owned? There are two companies in New Zealand that are part of major global organisations.

They will espouse the supposed benefits of “the one-company move”, and while there is some validity in this from a comfort point of view, it can be countered by the fact that you risk being fed into a corporate machine at your overseas destination.

Conversely, privately-owned companies may be able to offer a more personalised, tailored service at both origin and destination.

Both sides have cogent arguments, and neither are completely wrong – or right!

OK – decision made on your three choices. When making appointments for them to visit, allow a good hour for each – this can vary of course, depending on how much you have to be shipped, but for an average-sized 3-bedroom home, this would be a good indicator.

Prior to the visits make up a list of questions to ask each representative after they’ve completed their survey. The list might read something like this:

• What is the assessed volume?
• Will my things be shipped in an exclusive-use container, or will they be loaded with other people’s shipments?
• If an exclusive container, will this be loaded at my residence and then transported direct to the port?
• What shipping line will you use and what is the approximate transit time door to door?
• What’s the name of the company you will use at the destination for delivery?
• Do you use this company regularly, and is it a FIDI member?
• What is the name of the person who will deal with my shipment there?
• Are there any items you can’t or won’t take, and do you have a comprehensive list you can provide?
• Am I able to pack any or all of my stuff myself, and if I do, will this affect my insurance cover?

These, and any other related questions, will test the knowledge (and patience!) of the representative and will give you some good initial comparisons.

Make sure you ask them to confirm their answers in writing when submitting their quote.

Next – the quotations!

Spend some time carefully reading through each quote, making notes of anything which is unclear, or unable to be compared with the other quotes.

Pay particular attention to:-

• Details of services included (packing/unpacking, freight, etc).
• The shipment method and approximate door to door lead-times.
• Are port or airport handling charges at each end included?
• Are quarantine fees included? (Very important if your destination is Australia, as these fees are quite high and can lead to false comparisons if excluded from a company’s quote).
• Are there any exclusions in any of the quotes, not mentioned in the others?
• If storage is required, where will this take place, what are the costs, and will my goods continue to be insured?

You will also receive a contract document from each company which you will be required to sign, so it’s worth spending extra time reading and comparing the terms and conditions in each, as there may be something you’re not comfortable with, and which could influence your decision.

Finally, if you can’t make accurate comparisons, don’t hesitate to seek clarification – in writing.

And don’t, don’t make price your sole determinant.

Of course, you don’t want to pay over the odds, but you do want the best service and personal attention, so if your preferred removals company is a bit dearer, think of it as a small price to pay for peace of mind.

After all, this isn’t something you do every day!

To summarise, here’s a quick check-list:

• Is the company well known or been recommended to you?
• Does the representative display an in-depth knowledge of the industry?
• Does the company present a good image, through its vehicles and staff?
• Have you visited the company’s premises and are they well kept?
• Is the company’s quote clear, comprehensive and unambiguous?
• Are the company’s terms and conditions fair and devoid of fish hooks(!)?
• Does the company have sufficient resources to complete your move?
• Does the company have FAIM, or similar quality accreditation?
• Is the destination agent similarly qualified?

If you can’t answer Yes to all these questions, you should reconsider your decision!