Can You Move House With Just Your Car?

In the UK people on average move house once every seven years. As this is the case, when it comes to moving, not many people are familiar with the process. It is very stressful and very difficult, with many things to organise. Looking for your new home and selling your existing home can be fun to begin with, but after that the real problems begin. Solicitors, mortgage advisors and lenders and all of the paperwork and problems that arise because of it can drive you mad. It can go on for many months, and 50% of the time will fall through if you are in a chain, so you might end up going through the process several times over. 

When you have finally been given a completion date, you now need to think about the actual moving part, often using moving house packs. There are two ways to do this; hire a professional removal company or do it yourself. Obviously the preferred choice would always be to hire a removal company, but the cost of this can be huge, which is why it is always worth exploring if you are able to do it yourself and save a lot of money.

If you are trying to move house yourself, you might be wondering whether you’ll need to hire a removal van, or if you can move house simply using your car or several cars. 

So, can you move house with your car?

    • The first and most obvious factor that you have to consider is that you need to be able to fit plenty of packing boxes for moving in the car. Cardboard boxes come in many different sizes, so if you buy some small sized boxes then they would fit into your car, but the larger objects of your home won’t fit into smaller boxes, so they would have to be moved separately. Using small boxes can be more time consuming than larger boxes to fill and use and carry. 

    • As you can fit fewer boxes into a car than a removal lorry, this means you will need many trips back and forth from the new home. This will cost you more in petrol money and will take a lot longer to do. You can only fit around ten boxes full in a car, as opposed to one hundred boxes in a lorry, so you will need ten times the amount of trips.

    • The distance to your new home from your old home is therefore an important factor. If you are only moving a few streets along, which is within five minutes of your current home, then this could be achievable because the trips back and forth with cardboard boxes for moving won’t cost you as much time. If your new property is over an hour away, then the trips will cost you a lot of time and it might take several days to fully move your possessions, which isn’t feasible as you legally have to move within the completion date. 

    • There are many extremely large objects in your home that need moving, which include furniture such as sofas, mattresses, bed frames and cabinets to name a few. These objects absolutely have to be moved using a van or lorry and will not fit inside of your car. Again this comes down to the distance between your old and new home, because if the distance is short enough, you could simply carry the largest furniture and only use the car to move smaller objects. However if the distance is a long way, you won’t be able to move the bigger furniture unless you have a friend or family member who owns a van that can assist you.

    • If you are using a car you’ll have to ensure that the boxes are secured carefully using some string or rope, so that the boxes do not affect your ability to drive. Remember that the car will become very heavy when it is full of boxes so drive slowly and try not to break too suddenly.

    • You ultimately need to weigh up the cost of hiring a removal van or lorry versus the petrol cost of the trips back and forth. You need to weigh up the time difference and if it is even feasible to move quickly enough using your car and this will depend on the distance between the two houses. When it comes to large furniture, this again depends on distance and whether you have somebody who can help you.

    • Your car will become messy and dirty after you have moved, so you’ll certainly need to have it cleaned inside and out. 

Where Can You Hire A Removal Van And How Much Does It Cost?

    • Removal vans and lorries are easy to hire and they can hold plenty of large boxes for moving. There are many hire companies throughout the UK, some local and some national, that are able to supply you at short notice with many different sizes and types of van or lorry. These are perfect for moving house. 

    • We recommend using a ‘Luton’ van to move, which are in between the size of a van or lorry. They are a box shape, and they have a tail lift at the back which is perfect for moving because it enables you to easily get larger furniture into the back of the lorry. You can place furniture onto the tail lift and press the button which will take it up to the lorry. 

    • The cost of hiring a Luton for one day is usually around £100. Make sure you shop around for the best price. You can collect them the evening before your move, and drop them off late at night when you are finished using it. The only thing you need to do is to remember to fill up the lorry with petrol or diesel before you hand it back to the hire company.  

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