ONE WAY VAN HIRE

If you've read any of the English newspapers recently published in Spain or seen ads in web search results, you may have noticed a few firms popping up that offer one way van hire to and from the UK.  In our opinion we think some of these adverts are very misleading!

Is it really an option to offer a good saving?  Is it an EASY option?  We think not! Please read on - the following list is by no means exhaustive!

1.  Keeping legal and SAFE - most of the vans available for hire in Spain will only hold little over a tonne, Lutons even less.  But the maximum payload can't just be chucked in the back, it has to be evenly distributed across BOTH axles. It's harder to get it right than you think!  Are you used to driving a large van? Over such long distances? Do you need a hotel stop half way?  Are the tyres legal? Has it been serviced? Does it have air conditioning?  Does it come with lots of blankets, cardboard, straps and bubble wrap?  There are a lot of things to consider!

2.  Ferry costs - Whether you catch the ferry from Spain or France back to the UK (or vice versa) it is not cheap.  Especially as it's going to be a one way ticket. Add in a cabin and food etc and it becomes quite expensive.  Allow a good £300 - £600 from Spain to the UK depending on season.  Plus a cabin at around £80 - unless you want to just have an uncomfortable seat for 30 hours or more! 

3.  Tolls - Driving back up through France? - Allow a good £100 for tolls.  You can go the non toll route if you don't mind adding a day (another hotel) to your journey (and another day or two van hire!) You can treble these toll costs if you travel the Eastern route up through Spain (Alicante - Barcelona!)  You may also need a hotel stop off - so there's another £70 plus the fact you've got a van loaded with your belongings sat in the car park!

4.  Fuel - Most large vans won't better around 18 mpg loaded, no matter how careful you are.  Especially in Spain where there are a lot of hills on the motorways. So a 700 mile journey just to the top of Spain is going to cost you around £240 plus the UK fuel which at £1.42 a litre REALLY TOTS UP! And that's if you make it around Madrid without being robbed on the motorways by fake Police (It happens!!) Most of these vans have sign writing plastered all over them too - a bit of a give away you are in a hire van to some crooks! Time - from the Southern areas of Spain to Northern Spain where the ferries sail from is a good 12 plus hour drive - to Northern France you can double that!

5.  Cost of hiring  It's not cheap.  By the time the company has sold you the extra insurance, the vat and say one additional driver - you are looking at £150+ PER DAY!!!!  So if you need say only 6 days hire - that's a whopping £900 (Min 4 days hire!!) Add in the fuel £350 and the ferry £400+ and maybe a nights hotel £75 and you are now looking at over £1700 - not to mention tolls or more fuel if your are heading North in the UK  Deposit? A lot of companies now prefer NOT to take a deposit.  Instead they have your credit card details and it's not unknown for some to charge a few hundred pounds for say, just a grazed bumper! (Easy to do in van and some could aruge part and parcel of van ownership) and just as easy to debit money onto your card! Always check your statements a couple of months later!

What if the van is broken in to? There really are so many things that can and do go wrong. Is it really worth the headache - especially if you are not really saving any money!!  INSURANCE!! - We've noticed one of the bigger firms that offer one way van hire charge an incredible £1500 EXCESS should you damage the van or have an accident.  They charge even more to cover damage to the TYRES and again for a 2nd or 3rd driver.

6.  Loading - Not only do you have to get the load distribution right, you have to make sure you DO NOT GO OVERWEIGHT.  VOSA (vehicle operating standards agency) and other departments in the UK (& Spain - Guardia Civil) often weigh vans.  It's easy pickings for them as it is so easy to overload them!  Not only could you get a large fine - you will also have to arrange another vehicle to come and take some of the load for you. Time and again we have seen vans grossly overloaded and being pulled in by VOSA and the Police in Portsmouth and Plymouth etc.  In Dover you can even been weighed without knowing it!  

And just because 3.5t vans don't have tachographs - you are still subject to some drivers hours laws and should not exceed 11 hours driving in any 24 hour period nor more than 60 in a 7 day period - and you should keep a note of what hours you have driven!  More and more authorities around Europe are taking road safety more seriously!  

IF YOU HAVE AN ACCIDENT THE AUTHORITIES WILL WANT TO KNOW HOW MANY HOURS YOU HAVE DRIVEN RECENTLY!!!! and look in to it.  It won't look good if they can see you filled up with fuel 12 hours ago etc etc.. ...Or started your rental at 9.00am and then 10 hours later you are 500 miles away with a loaded van etc..... You could be held liable if you injure or kill someone just because the authorities can prove you have driven a lot of hours or due to lack of rest or they think you was too tired to drive etc.

7.  Damage to your belongings - For professionals, it's relatively easy to load a vehicle safely and quickly and to ensure items are well packed and protected for the long journey.  It takes years of experience to ensure the vehicle is loaded as to avoid damage to furniture etc. It's a long journey - there is NO room for error. Insurance - Despite what the hire firms often tell their customers - there is no way an individual can insure their own belongings properly.  ALWAYS read the small print.  Most insurances are not worth the paper they are written on!

8.  Saving Money? - Is hiring really that much of a cost saving?  In our experience, more often than not, it costs the customer a good few hundred pounds more  - not to mention all the hard work loading and unloading - which, trust me, can be extremely hard - especially in the summer months!

MISLEADING CLAIMS!!! some companies (SEARCH GOOGLE FOR ONE WAY VAN HIRE TO SPAIN) wrongly and misleadingly claim that the cost to do it your self with a hire van costs a fraction of what using a removal company would cost - UTTER TOSH!  SOME COMPANIES EVEN HAVE THE AUDACITY TO CHARGE FOR RENTAL OF BLANKETS  £20 to RENT 5 blankets!!!  You can use 5 blankets just to wrap one table!! These blankets cost less than £1 each to buy and last a good couple of years or more.  Why they can't just loan customers 40 or 50 blankets......  Insurance excess an incredible £1500!!! or if you want to pay £10 per day the excess drops to a still high £500!!   

HOW EASY IS IT TO DING A VAN YOU ARE NOT USED TO!!!!????

Thinking of using Brittany Ferries?  Did you know they will measure your van.  If you are over 6 metres long - which means 80% of the hire vans!!! you will have to travel as freight.  This can then cost c.£50 per metre plus vat - so £350 plus £70 vat - during the quieter months - plus a cabin £80. The costs can in the busier months exceed £80 plus vat per metre - one way. 

So, lets presume it's going to cost you a good £1800 one way to move less than 18 cubic metres of belongings.  THAT WORKS OUT AT £100 PER CUBIC METRE - £150 PCM IF YOU HAVE SAY ONLY 12 CUBIC METRES!!!  

LET THE PROFESSIONALS MOVE YOUR BELONGINGS SAFELY, QUICKLY AND WITH FULL AND PROPER INSURANCE!! FOR NOT MUCH MORE - AND SOMETIMES LESS THAN YOU CAN DO IT WITH AN EXPENSIVE SO CALLED ONE WAY VAN HIRE!!!!

leaving you to travel to your destination without any of the hard work or stress involved - it will probably also work out cheaper!!!

Mrs Shires was 'shocked' when she heard how much it would cost them to move a few bits of furniture back to the UK from Spain!  She almost believed some of the ads claiming van hire would work out much cheaper than using a removal company.  

Mr John Shires nearly rented a van as he thought it would cost fractions of what a removal firm would charge! Even the adverts he had seen stated so... but then a friend told him not to be fooled by unrealistic misleading claims and to get quotes from removal firms all of whom worked out cheaper!  Not to mention, saving poor old John a long long drive in an old van, lots of loading and unloading, paying for expensive insurance and having his belongings arriving in good condition.  

NOT TO MENTION TRYING TO AVOID THE ROBBERS POSING AS FAKE POLICE AROUND PLACES LIKE MADRID AND BARCELONA - TRYING TO PULL YOU OVER AND THEN ROB YOU!!!  some of them are even in FULL POLICE UNIFORM!!