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Hiring a Luton van in 82


lynda777

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iiiiiinteresting.....

I have a large bulky item to bring down from Scotland and have been looking at van (swb transit sized) rental. In Aberdeen, I could hire a van from europcar or hertz for a week, do the run and return it for about £200-£250 or so. As I am in France now, this would mean flying to uk, hiring the van, doing the job, then flying back again. The obvious solution would be to hire the van here in France for the journey but I have found the cost to be silly. The basic rental costs are similar, but French rental companies all seem to charge  mileage surcharge. A weeks rental only includes a certain amount of kilometers, and exceeding this incurs a 20cents per kilometer surcharge, which on the trip to uk and back, would put the rental cost up hugely.

UK rental firms all state unlimited mileage, although I think there is a small surcharge for taking the van outside the uk with some places.

I will look into SuperU and see what they say about the costs.

 

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[quote user="dave21478"]

iiiiiinteresting.....

I have a large bulky item to bring down from Scotland and have been looking at van (swb transit sized) rental. In Aberdeen, I could hire a van from europcar or hertz for a week, do the run and return it for about £200-£250 or so. As I am in France now, this would mean flying to uk, hiring the van, doing the job, then flying back again. The obvious solution would be to hire the van here in France for the journey but I have found the cost to be silly. The basic rental costs are similar, but French rental companies all seem to charge  mileage surcharge. A weeks rental only includes a certain amount of kilometers, and exceeding this incurs a 20cents per kilometer surcharge, which on the trip to uk and back, would put the rental cost up hugely.

UK rental firms all state unlimited mileage, although I think there is a small surcharge for taking the van outside the uk with some places.

I will look into SuperU and see what they say about the costs.

[/quote]

When we booked the car we had to give an estimate of the milage we would do and the price took that into account. We actually did extra, but it was quite a small extra charge and still worked out well. Sorry, I don't know if the vans are the same but I think they are.

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[quote user="raindog"]Hire a van. Get in it and drive. That's what i've always done.....
[/quote]

Raindog, haven't done the drive in a van loaded with heavy furniture.

But I have spent 28 hours in a fast car including a ferry crossing from Dublin port to Holyhead, crossing Wales and England to Dover, from there to Calais via the Eurotunnel and then south close to Beziers.

Romantic? Maybe, even though only one of us was awake at any one time!

 

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Thanks for the useful replies.

Hiring a van/small truck in Ireland seems to be quite expensive and quite difficult as many won't cover you for Europe. 

We already had the thought of dumping the furniture and buying more but we still have a lot of boxes of personal items, books, toys, pictures, etc., that would be hard to throw away.  In any case, you have to pay to dump anything in Ireland.

Yes, I have driven many times from 82 to Ireland, sometimes even via the UK to visit relatives (taking up to a week).  I admit its a tediously long way but I enjoy driving and we try to break the trip up with small excursions, such as a trip to the War Cemetery to visit Great Uncle George. 

Currently looking at buying cheap van.

Life is just one big holiday. 

 

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Lynda

You will find that there are few cheap vans in SW France that will get to Ireland and back anyway!!

 Try ADA they have concessions all over the south west look in your phone book Pages Jaune.  ADA allow use abroad  and do very good mileage based packages.  I am not at all sure that Super or Hyper U allow use outside France and they are not as cheap as the prices on the vans would suggest for long hires.  ADA do all types of vans but watch the height if you are using Speed Ferries or a similar vessel.

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[quote user="dave21478"]

iiiiiinteresting.....

I have a large bulky item to bring down from Scotland and have been looking at van (swb transit sized) rental. In Aberdeen, I could hire a van from europcar or hertz for a week, do the run and return it for about £200-£250 or so. As I am in France now, this would mean flying to uk, hiring the van, doing the job, then flying back again. The obvious solution would be to hire the van here in France for the journey but I have found the cost to be silly. The basic rental costs are similar, but French rental companies all seem to charge  mileage surcharge. A weeks rental only includes a certain amount of kilometers, and exceeding this incurs a 20cents per kilometer surcharge, which on the trip to uk and back, would put the rental cost up hugely.

UK rental firms all state unlimited mileage, although I think there is a small surcharge for taking the van outside the uk with some places.

I will look into SuperU and see what they say about the costs.

 

[/quote]

 

are you sure that is the price? I've done this twice, 2 different firms (kendalls camberley, and affordable rentals) and each came to the £500 mark all in

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yes, I have had those sorts of prices quoted by several uk companies for a hire long enough to do the round trip.

That is for the rental only though and doesnt include fuel or ferry costs etc.

to be honest, im back to looking for a cheap van to buy as the hassle factor and cost of all the traveling using a UK rental is way too high, and I cant find anywhere here in France to do a reasonable price.

A one-way cheap flight, a cheap used van and a one-way journey back the france seems to be the best bet at the moment, plus I can maybe earn a little back from the sale of the van for parts/scrap here.

 

 

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