Van Hire for Long Distance House Move - Any tips or things to bear in mind?

Tunstallstoven

Hi all

I'm hoping to be moving house soon - at last!

I'm moving from Suffolk to Wales and have enough stuff to fill a reasonably sized single garage to head height. It's already all packed up and ready to go as we've already sold.

One option is to hire a van for three days (I'll need to make two separate trips). Another is to hire it for 24 hours and then do the same a few days or a week or so later. If doing that, I would probably pay the extra to pick up the van in Suffolk and drop off in Wales. But I'm also considering the "man with a van" route.

So I just wondered whether anyone has any general advice about the best and cheapest way to go about it? I'll look into some man with van quotes, but haven't got a clue as to how much that might be. What would also be very helpful would be a real world idea of the MPG a large LWB transit (or even a Mercedes Sprinter size) would be as I'm thinking the diesel costs will actually be a significant factor.

Also, could anyone tell me whether the insurance would cover me for an accident/damage if it was my fault?

Any help and/or recommendations most appreciated.

Cheers

da_rule

Regarding insurance, you can generally get additional insurance at the time of renting. There are also companies out there tbaf slecialise in this type of insurance.

Man with a van is certainly something to consider. If you get the right company then they may have a van/lorry big enough to do it in one load. Also, their insurance would cover any damage to your goods whilst in transit. The insurance you have on a rental probably wouldn’t do this.

I hired a LW base van for a drive from Edinburg to Bath and used about a tank and a half of fuel. The tank cost around £100. It was a commercial rental so I didn’t have to fill it at the end either.

Man with a van may not be the cheapest when you look at the numbers but when you factor in the stress and time of loading and unloading, sorting out the hire van and having to do the drive then it may work out as a better use of your money.

Cakeguts

I don't really understand what you have written in your OP. You say that you have already sold the house and then you say that you are moving house. Where are your belongings now? Are they in storage? Are they still in the house or garage?



When do you get access to the Wales house? Have you already completed on that house? You won't get access to the Wales house until you complete so if you do this over 3 days where are you going to put all of your belongings?



Completion is usually midday so if you still have something in the Suffolk house on completion day it has to be out by then as after that the house will no longer belong to you. You don't have a whole day to move out on completion day only until midday when the buyers will become the owners of the house so you can't count completion day as a whole day for moving out.



You have to be able to tie furniture into the back of a van so that it doesn't move around when you are driving. There will be anchor points in the back of a transit van that you tie the furniture to.



To be honest the way to do this with the least amount of hassle and the least broken furniture from getting broken in the back of the van when it moves about is to use a normal removal company. They will move you out on time on completion day and take all of your furniture to Wales and then unload it.

EachPenny

Seagull27 wrote: »

I'm moving from Suffolk to Wales and have enough stuff to fill a reasonably sized single garage to head height. It's already all packed up and ready to go as we've already sold.

One option is to hire a van for three days (I'll need to make two separate trips). Another is to hire it for 24 hours and then do the same a few days or a week or so later. If doing that, I would probably pay the extra to pick up the van in Suffolk and drop off in Wales. But I'm also considering the "man with a van" route.

So I just wondered whether anyone has any general advice about the best and cheapest way to go about it? I'll look into some man with van quotes, but haven't got a clue as to how much that might be. What would also be very helpful would be a real world idea of the MPG a large LWB transit (or even a Mercedes Sprinter size) would be as I'm thinking the diesel costs will actually be a significant factor.

If you have a category C1 licence you ought to be able to hire a 7.5tonne box lorry - this will cost more to hire, but you might be able to complete the move in one trip saving on fuel and the number of days.

Whether or not you have C1 will depend on when you passed your test. I believe if you passed your manual car test before 1997 you should have C1 included, but you must check to make sure.

You also need to look at the weight of the load - a 7.5t box van might have a load capacity of 2.5t, whereas a LWB transit type van is typically 1.5t. If you have a lot of heavy stuff in the garage then you need to be careful you don't exceed the maximum for the vehicle type.

Also, you need to check with the hire company whether there are limits on mileage. Some companies will impose a maximum mileage restriction whereas others have an all-inclusive price.

If you have an option of picking the van up the night before then my advice would be to do that and load up that evening before going to bed. That way you are ready to go in the morning rather than having to spend a couple of hours loading and then being tired for the drive.

Look into the option of a weekend hire as these often run from Friday evening until Monday morning so you have the possibility of two full days of use in addition to the loading opportunity on the Friday night.

Finally, look at the amount of space you have to manoeuvre the van, especially if you haven't driven one before (or recently). Are things like the gateways wide enough? Is the driveway long enough to get the whole vehicle off the road/footway? If there is a restriction at one end then you may need to plan the trip(s) so you have somewhere safe for parking overnight.

Mutton_Geoff

If you do hire, get one with a tail lift and don't forget the trolley and some blankets for protection of items.


Personally I would hire someone to do it. A couple of years ago I did a double return (ie 4x100 mile trips) late into the night with loading/unloading at each end. It was very tiring, and, had I not been experienced in staying up on night shifts, potentially dangerous driving wise.

AdrianC

We did exactly this a few years ago - moving from NW M25 to the Welsh Marches. We were fortunate enough to have a few days of overlap, so rented a 3.5t Luton Transit with tail-lift, and shifted everything ourselves. It was more complicated than a straightforward house-to-house - there was stuff in the house, a solidly-packed 75sqft Big Yellow storage room, and three garages full of tools and bits of car... Oh, yes, and the vendors had left a skip in the middle of the new drive, so the garage contents had to be carried a reasonable distance to the shed they were going into, because I couldn't drive the van to it.

DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE WORK.

Up and out before 7am.
3.5hrs there.
Load van.
3.5hrs back.
Unload van
Ready meal.
Bed.
Repeat.

Oh, yes. Except for what we thought was going to be the last trip... She cleaned the house while I loaded the van up at the lockups. "It'll be quick, last stuff, then the stuff from the garage at the house, and we'll stay over and head back west in the morning."

In failing light, I admitted defeat - the van was full. And the lockups weren't empty.
We got home at 11pm, and I started to unload at 5am, ready for the actual last trip. It was another two years before we'd got the new garage build, and I could hire another van and fully empty the last lockup...

Gawd knows how much weight we manhandled. Seven return trips in seven days. Closing on 2,500 miles at what must have been low 20s mpg and mostly around 50mph. We spent more on diesel than on van hire. We were chucking £90 at the same petrol station at the same time every morning.

We considered a 7.5 tonner, but the difference in hire cost and availability was substantial enough, combined with the realities of what we could get loaded and unloaded in one reasonable day, that we felt it wasn't worth it. B'sides, I'm happy driving a 3.5t Luton, but while a 7.5t would have been legal, it would have been a major learning curve on top of being simply knackered. The tail-lift was invaluable.

The key question - would I do it again...?

Probably - but the logistics of having the stuff spread across several locations, and the nature of a lot of it, mean I wouldn't have much choice. I'd probably have done the house and Big Yellow in one, then the lockups later, though.

AdrianC

Oh, and if you're worried about a few quid variability in the diesel costs, consider how many hours you're going to be paying somebody to do all that...

getmore4less

Have you looked at load shifters(or whatever they are called) that match up load space to keep costs down by utilizing both ways.

AdrianC

getmore4less wrote: »

Have you looked at load shifters(or whatever they are called) that match up load space to keep costs down by utilizing both ways.

They'll want it palletised and wrapped, for easy handling.

Norman_Castle

Start by getting quotes from a removal company so you know what price you're trying to beat. If everything is ready to load and on the ground floor or stored in a garage this may reduce the cost.

chunkytfg

As has been mentioned don't underestimate the weight of your belongings!

The average van would struggle to carry over 1.5t which really isn't a lot and a 7.5T truck maybe 3t tops.

Things like dining chairs and sofa's take up masses of room and will soon fill a Sprinter van. Odd sized boxes also make life difficult!

As has been suggested get some quotes and then you have something to beat to decide if it is worth the hassle.