It’s that time of year again when thousands of students across the UK need to move themselves – and their belongings – back to their university accommodation for the start of the new academic year.

Very often, this involves parents hiring a van and shuttling their children’s belongings back to their university accommodation.

Although some companies do cater for younger drivers (see our Student Van Hire page), van hire is not generally available for drivers under the age of 21. In addition, one-way van hire is usually considerably more expensive than returning the hire van to the original rental branch.

All of this means that parents are often called upon to hire a van, drive it to the university, and then drive it back again.

If your child is about to head back to university and you’ve got a transport headache, here are a few suggestions:

• Why not share the cost of a hire van with one of your child’s friends who’s heading in the same direction?
• Check out our exclusive Sixt van hire discount  – hire a large panel van for just £29 per day until 15th October 2011 (selected locations).
• If your child’s university is a long way from home, why not consider self storage for bulky items next year? Self storage pioneer Big Yellow has stores in 74 UK locations and even provides free van hire for local moves! What’s left for the summer should easily fit in your car.