Van hire is one of those things people tend to do because they need to — often urgently and without much prior experience.

In that situation, it can be hard to know whether you are getting the right van for your needs at the right price — after all, vans come in a wide range of shapes and sizes and rental rates can vary widely, so I thought I’d share some ‘insider’ tips with you to help you save money next time you hire a van.

1. Compare Prices

You may be surprised just how widely quotes can vary — when we were developing and testing the vanrental.co.uk price comparison engine, we were amazed to find that the cheapest quote was often half the most expensive quote!

Funnily enough, sometimes the vans were coming from the same company — the cost difference was between booking direct and booking through one of the big van rental brokers we deal with directly.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like paying twice as much as I need to for exactly the same service.

2. Size Matters!

When it comes to van hire, size really does matter. Too small and you won’t be able to fit your ‘stuff’ in the back, too big and your stuff will just rattle around and you will be paying extra in hire costs and fuel in order to drive a half-empty van around.

Getting the right size hire van is key — and the best way to work out what you need is with our Van Hire Size Guide. This has been one of the most popular pages on this website ever since we launched back in 2007.

3. How Long Do You Really Need It?

The other way to save money on van hire is to not to fall into what I call ‘the 24 hour trap’. Van hire companies normally charge a daily rate that is calculated in exact 24 hour periods, so if you collect a van at 9am one day and return it at 10am the next day, you will be charged for two days’ hire.

Make sure you use the system to your advantage and choose your pickup and dropoff times so that this doesn’t happen to you.

You might also want to consider the hourly van hire or overnight hire deals offered by companies such as Europcar. If you really only need a van for an hour or two or can manage overnight only, then these can save you money.

4. Drive Slower

Speed makes a big difference to a van’s fuel consumption, especially with bigger vans that are heavily loaded.

You may not believe me, but I know I’m right — I’ve managed 41mpg in my Transit cruising at 50mph on open roads, whereas my usual 70mph motorway speed only gives me 35mpg. Naturally it does take a little longer to get there, but it doesn’t make as much difference to your journey time as you expect. They key is to maintain a good average speed.

5. The Biggest Saver

Choosing the right size van and only booking it for the minimum length of time will save you money, but to be honest, the biggest van hire money saver I’ve found is to compare van rental prices using our system:

• We get prices from more than 1,000 branches in over 400 locations across the UK.
• We get all of our prices direct from the company you book with and do not add anything on to them, so the price you get is the same as the price you get if you go direct.
• The only difference is that you only have to visit one website — this one — to get all of your quotes.

Why pay more when you don’t have to? Compare van hire prices now on vanrental.co.uk.