DIY House Move With A Renault Trafic – I Did It!

Our DIY Removals Guide is one of the most popular pages on the site – it’s based on my own experience of moving house for myself. However, it has been a few years since I last moved, so I thought it was time to refresh my experience and put my money where my mouth is.

Luckily enough, my sister was due to move recently, so I offered my help in the form of a hired van and my labour for the day. As she was living in a furnished, rented house, she did not have a lot of furniture or appliances – so I opted for a medium van from my local rental company. The van in question turned out to be a Renault Trafic – a hugely popular model that is also sold as the Vauxhall Vivaro and Nissan Primastar.

Renault Trafic

Renault Trafic

Here’s a snapshot of the inside, empty:

Inside an empty Renault Trafic

Inside an empty Renault Trafic

Here’s what it looked like when we had finished loading:

Renault Trafic loaded up and ready to go

Renault Trafic loaded up and ready to go

The lesson here is that, correctly packed, you can get a surprising amount in a van of this size. I could have booked the next size up, but I would then have had a lot more space than I needed and would have had to restrain the load to stop it all moving about while I was driving.

There are a few additional tips I would like to share:

  • A lot of the stuff was packed in identical boxes. I could stack these against the bulkhead neatly and efficiently – if the boxes had all been different sizes, this would have been less convenient and stable.
  • Start at the front, with the heavy, stackable stuff. Stack hard against the bulkhead and work your way back.
  • Anything like flatpack furniture or table tops can be stacked against a side wall and then boxed in so it can’t move – use an old blanket or sheet to protect any unboxed furniture from being scratched.
  • Drive carefully – with the van this full, I did feel the extra weight
  • Make sure your tyres are inflated correctly – mine all looked okay before I loaded the van, but one was badly underinflated and after the van was loaded it was visibly flat. I pumped it up at the first garage I came to.

I’m pleased to report that nothing moved and nothing was damaged during the move – which was over a distance of about 190 miles, many of which were on winding, country roads. Of course, I did take care and took the corners slower than I would have in an empty van (or car).

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