House removal Van Verse Lorry…

If moving house isn’t stressful enough, there is another consideration, do I need a 3.5t removal van or a large lorry.

We own and only run 3.5t house removal vans, now our vans will not be suitable for some home movers and we will always explain to our customers that if we feel that a lorry is best suited to their own house removal requirements.

We operate mainly within the Peak District, Chesterfield and Sheffield and unfortunately a lot of the access roads can be narrow, so our luton vans are perfect for these types of jobs.

What is a 3.5t luton van? 

A 3.5t luton van is a commercial vehicle that can be driven on a car driving licence and doesn’t not require a tachograph.

The 3.5t means that the entire vehicle including your furniture must not exceed 3.5ton or 3500KG.

Now this might seem a lot but in reality you can only carry a payload of around 1000KG as many empty luton vans will weigh around 2500KG.

Unfortunately this does mean that the van can be overloaded quickly and may require a couple of vans to complete a larger removal.

What is a lorry…?

A lorry is a large vehicle that is designed to carry large and heavy loads. They vary in size, power & payload.

The most popular house removal lorry is either a 7.5t ( 7500KG gross vehicle weight or a 18Ton ( 18000KG gross vehicle weight ).

There are huge benefits with using a company who operate a HGV, especially if your house removal is large. 

The benefits of using van(s) verse a lorry…

The benefits of using a 3500KG van is the size, nobody wants to arrive at their beautiful new home and fall out with your new neighbours by blocking the road, their driveways and pavements due to the size of a HGV.

A HGV could be around 40FT long verse a 18ft 3500KG van.

• A 3500KG van can be extremely manoeuvrable and can access narrow lanes, driveways and cul de sacs. 
• A 3500Kg can be used to split removals up for instance, 1 luton van can carry the furniture and boxes and the 2^nd van can carry garden plants and garage/shed items. This keeps the dirtier items away from the household items. Providing your chosen removal company has multiple vans.

The benefits of using a lorry verse a van(s).

The major benefit of using a HGV lorry over smaller vans is they can generally get all of your belongings in 1 load. This means only making 1 journey and hopefully makes your move smooth and hassle free.

As discussed earlier the major negative of using a removal lorry is the sheer size of a HGV, if your driveway, access roads or have low hanging tree will cause access issues then may be Luton vans will suit you better.

What size house best suits a van or a lorry?

Now this question is very vague, as some 2 bed houses can have as much as a 4 bed house and vice versa.

A 4 bed property may only have the contents of a 2 bed property, so this is the reason why we endeavour to view every house removal and then give our best recommendation for your particular house removal requirement.

Generally a 1, 2 or 3 bed properties can easily be completed using 2 or 3 Luton vans, a large 3 bed, 4 bed or more will be much better using a company who operate HGV’s.

If we feel a HGV is best suited to your requirements, we work very closely with numerous very professional companies in the area and consider them to be our partners rather than competitors.

Lorry or a van for long distance removals?

Again this is a vague question and can create multiple options, depending on the size of your house removal.

Quick benefit of using a lorry than a van is…

• A lorry can carry a lot of volume and weight in one load.
• 18ton HGV’s will very rarely be over loaded and this is huge problem for 3500KG vans, as a 3.5ton van only has a payload of around 1000KG unlike a 18ton lorry which can carry around 8000KG.
• Any vehicle that weighs more than the gross vehicle weight stated for the particular vehicle is classed as overloaded and if stopped and charged, the vehicle will be impounded and along with your furniture and goods until the weight is back to legal status.

The downside with a HGV on long journeys is the legal operating hours a driver is allowed to drive the lorry.

The drive res required to take breaks at set intervals and can not drive for longer than 9 hours in 24hours. This can make a long distance removal quite expensive, plus fuel costs are much higher.

Unlike a 3.5ton removal van, which can be driven unrestricted of driving hours and can drive for aslong as the driver deems safe.

For smaller removals, a long distance removal can easily be completed using 1 or 2 vans depending on your move size.

We hope we have cleared a few of your questions and please do not hesitate to call us or email to discuss any other queries.