Moving house with a hire van

It’s already the start of February, and the half-term holiday is approaching fast. UK school half term is either 12-16 or 19-23 February 2018, depending on where your children are at school.

This early in the year isn’t always a great time to go away, but it is a fantastic time to get to grips with jobs at home so that they’re finished before the good weather arrives in time for Easter. Here are a few suggestions:

• DIY projects
• Having a clear out
• Trips to Ikea
• Getting to grips with messy gardens before everything starts growing

Many of these jobs need a load-lugging vehicle that you can safely get dirty.

Rather than using the family car, it makes a lot more sense to hire a van for a day or two. You might be surprised how much fun they are to drive — why not treat yourself to your own van adventure!

Hiring a van can also be surprisingly affordable.

Indeed, when you compare the cost and time required to make multiple trips in your car to get supplies or head to the tip, hiring a van might actually be cheaper.

Plus there’s the bonus of just being able to sweep out the back when you’re done, rather than having to clean and hoover dirty car seats and repair scratched plastic trim.

If you’re not sure what size of van you’ll need, then check out our van size guide. But to get you started, here’s a quick summary:

• Medium van – ideal for smaller items of furniture, trips to the tip or smaller DIY supplies such as tiles and bags of cement. If you’re tiling a bathroom, for example, the weight of the tiles means you’d probably have to make several trips in a car, but could probably do it in one go in a van.
• Large van – sofas, dining tables and beds should all fit easily.
• Luton van — the best choice if you have a lot of furniture or other bulky items to shift.
• Dropside/tipper — if you’re planning a big building or garden project, this could be the best choice. The open load bed is ideal for dirty work and means that dumpy bags of soil or sand can be lifted on. Also useful for long lengths of timber.

Whatever you’re planning, a van is bound to make shifting stuff easier. Click here to compare van hire prices in your area.

Finally, if you’re to take some time off and enjoy a big trip out with lots of family or friends, have you considered hiring a minibus or a 7/9 seater MPV? Taking one vehicle instead of two or three has several bid advantages:

• Everyone can travel together
• You only need one parking space
• You only need one designated driver

We offer MPV and minibus hire from a range of well-known hire companies. To compare prices in your area, click here.