The Pros and Cons of Hiring a Van When Moving Home
Moving home can sound like a good idea at the time, but as the big day draws nearer, the stress of having to move all of your belongings can make you think twice about the whole thing after all.
In truth, moving home will be worth it — it’s just that before you get to enjoy all the good stuff, you’ll need to go through the pain of transporting your goods. With that said, how much pain that causes is within your control, to a degree.
One of the better options is to rent a van, which offers significant advantages over hiring movers or trying to move things in your normal vehicle. In this post, we’ll run through the pros and cons of this option, which should make it easier to decide whether it’s the right choice for you.
Pros of Hiring a Van
It’s Cheaper Than Hiring Movers
First up, there’s the cost. You’ll likely need to pay something to move your belongings from your current home to your next. While a van hire isn’t free, it can be considerably cheaper than hiring movers to do the job for you. When you hire movers, you’re essentially hiring a van plus manpower.
But in truth, the manpower part doesn’t really come into play all that much. Most things you’ll be moving aren’t that heavy, and for the ones that are, well, that’s what friends are for. When you hire movers, the thing you’re really paying for is the van, since that’s the main asset. Renting a van yourself helps you keep costs down at a time when you could very much do with keeping costs down.
More Space = Fewer Trips = Less Stress
For many people, the problem isn’t driving from their current property to their new home with their belongings in tow. The problem is that they have to do it multiple times. There’s only so much stuff you can fit in everyday vehicles, and it ain’t much — even if you don’t have a colossal amount of belongings to move, you can still end up making a lot more trips than you’d like to.
With a van, you can cut down on the number of back-and-forth journeys considerably. Indeed, depending on the size of the van you hire, you might find that you can move all of your belongings in a single trip.
They Offer Better Protection for Your Belongings
Moving your belongings is about more than physically taking them from one house to the next. It’s about ensuring that they get there safely. There’s nothing more annoying than going through the painstaking process of moving your belongings, only to have them damaged along the way.
There’s no bulletproof formula for preventing damage to your belongings, but there are ways to reduce the likelihood. Trying to cram boxes and furniture into a vehicle that wasn’t designed for transporting items — like your car — is asking for trouble. With a van, you’ll have plenty of space to safely store your belongings, and many of them come with straps and other features that can ensure boxes and other items stay securely in place while you’re driving.
It Also Protects Your Vehicle
And that approach won’t just protect your items. It’ll also protect your vehicle. As we said above, your vehicle was not designed to move heavy boxes and furniture. Even if the trip is short, the added weight could cause damage to the suspension, and you might find that damage is caused to the interior when you’re putting in/taking out your items.
Your vehicle is valuable, arguably even more valuable than the possessions you’re transporting. Hiring a van helps you to keep one of your most expensive assets safe.
Vans Make it Easier to Unload
You could argue that transporting your home’s belongings to your new property is actually the easiest part of the process. After all, at that point, all you’re doing is driving while your items are secured safely in the back.
The real challenge comes from loading/unloading the boxes. Renting a van makes this as simple as possible — or at least a lot simpler than getting things out of your car — by providing ample space, allowing you to get a firm grip before moving the items.
It’s Much Less Stressful
As we said above, there’s no way to completely eliminate the stress of moving, but you can keep it down — renting a van, rather than trying to cram everything into your car or paying for expensive movers, seems to be a pretty good way to do that.
Cons of Hiring a Van
It Can Be Difficult to Drive for the Inexperienced
A van is easy to drive because it has the same controls as a normal car. However, they can be a little intimidating to drive if you don’t have any experience in driving larger vehicles. We’d recommend getting a smaller van — which is just like driving a car — or having someone with experience do the driving. If that’s not an option, then spend some time behind the wheel so that you get used to it before moving day.
Parking Can Be Challenging in Urban Areas
This won’t be a factor if you’re moving to a rural or suburban environment, or if you have a driveway that you can park the van on, but it can be a factor in the city. You’ll need to figure out where you’ll park the van near your new home without blocking others.
You Might Be Against the Clock
Trying to get everything done when you’re racing against the clock can add to the stress. If you’ve only hired a van for a few hours, then that’s just the position you’ll be in. We’d recommend hiring the van for slightly longer than you think you’ll need, or even just for the whole day (or more). That way, you can make sure that you move all of your belongings safely and securely, without having to worry that you’ll have to return the van later than agreed.
This is a collaborative post.
