Shifting your stuff is much easier in a van than in your parents’ car! Think about sharing with an older driver to avoid age restrictions.
It’s the end of another term. You’ve got revision to do. What you don’t need is to have to empty your room and shift all your stuff back to your parents’ house half way across the UK. And then bring it back again a few weeks later.
Unfortunately we can’t help you keep your uni room over the Easter holidays. But we can help you to cut costs and ease the pain of shifting your stuff around.
1. Consider self storage
Do you really need to take everything home for just a few weeks? If your university is in a major town or city, you’ll almost certainly have self-storage facilities available nearby.
Why not hire a storage unit and then get the train home? If it’s too big, you could share the cost with a friend.
How to get everything to the storage unit: If you have a friend with a car, even a small one, then you can probably manage by making several trips. If you don’t, then the cheapest option might be a ‘man and van’ service which charges by the hour.
The other option is to hire a van and drive yourself (or get an older friend to do the driving). Hourly van hire is available from companies in most cities, including Europcar, Hertz, Enterprise and Zipvan (note that Europcar’s service is a standard rental, the others require you to join a car-sharing club).
2. You need to take everything home
If you need to take everything home, then the usual routine is for your parents’ car to be pressed into service as an improvised van. But this isn’t always ideal. It might not be big enough and could end up getting scratched and dirty inside thanks to all of your boxes and bits.
A far better solution is to hire a van. This can be surprisingly cheap, as even a small van is bigger inside than most cars. The biggest problems are age restrictions and the need for a one-way hire.
Under 25? We’ve got a list of van hire companies which rent vans to under 25s:
I’m afraid you probably won’t find a company who’ll hire to drivers under 21. So if you’re lucky enough to be this young, team up with a friend or get one of your parents to rent the van…
One-way van hire: Nominating a parent to drive can also solve the one-way problem, as your parents can hire a van at home, pick you up, and then drive it back!
Joking aside, this is sometimes be the best and cheapest option. Your stuff will probably fit easily into a small van (unless you have a lot of furniture) and one-way fees can be quite high. A single-day return hire will be much cheaper than a one-way van rental.
Finally… our top tip to save money on insurance
Van hire companies will often offer you extra insurance to reduce the excess on your rental vehicle to £0. This can be quite expensive. It’s normally much cheaper to buy your own van hire excess insurance from a third party.
Here’s our quick guide to help you compare van hire excess insurance. Prices start from just £6.33 per day*. It’s very affordable and often normally provides extra cover compared to hire company insurance.
*Price believed to be correct at time of writing (12/03/2018). Check before you buy.