Taking hired van abroad

[elise2000]

Hi All

We're in the process of buying a holiday home in Croatia - we will need to be be transporting a lot of stuff down there (building materials/kitchen/furniture).

Any recommendations of van hire companies who will let the van be taken abroad?

After a large van (Sprinter/Traffic etc), and will be driven about 3k miles on each trip.

The van would need to be collected from a depot/dropped off to us in the Bristol area.

Cheers

Andrew

[Truckosaurus]

When looking at the small print last time I rented a van they seemed perfectly happy to allow continental rentals if you paid extra for insurance and breakdown cover (and probably mileage) so I'm sure any of the big names will be the same, you'll just have to speak to a real person rather than online booking.

[Robertj21a]

Depending on the number of trips, might it be easier to buy/lease a truck and then sell it ?

[elise2000]

Truckosaurus said:

When looking at the small print last time I rented a van they seemed perfectly happy to allow continental rentals if you paid extra for insurance and breakdown cover (and probably mileage) so I'm sure any of the big names will be the same, you'll just have to speak to a real person rather than online booking.

Thanks - most of the online quotes said no, so will try calling.

[elise2000]

Robertj21a said:

Depending on the number of trips, might it be easier to buy/lease a truck and then sell it ?

I thought about this, but would want something newish/reliable so this would work out more expensive/risky than hiring a van that's being regularly maintained by a rental company (in theory!).

[tex200]

https://europe.ryder.com/locations/uk/uk/bristol

I would try Ryder - they have a Bristol depot.

I have to say though that some of their vans do have a well used look to them! Although the plus side to this is that it's quite hard to make them cosmetically worse during your rental period 😀

[Hugo a Gogo]

surely you can buy building materials down there? or hire tools etc?

[Myles Peraua]

We used to van the bikes down to the 'Ring regularly, there was never any issue taking them abroad, but make sure that you include all the (potential) drivers on the foreign part of the insurance.

[elise2000]

Zulu 10 said:

I went through this process two years ago after we bought a place in south west France.

I was getting rental quotes of around £950 all in for 1500 miles/14 days with a Jumbo Transit.

Instead we opted to buy an ex-City Link Jumbo Transit for £8400 - at the time it was 4 years old and had 67,000 on the clock.

We sold it 18 months later for £6700 with 84,000 on the clock.

I had serviced it thoroughly, bought two new tyres, and did a few odd jobs like wheel bearings, so with insurance for £220 (Aviva fully comp including Europe), and RFL, I reckon the total cost including depreciation was around £2700.

For that we did eight return trips to our house, numerous trips to the nearest city, builders' merchants, tip etc.

We even went on honeymoon in our bright yellow Transit.

Yes I guess the numbers can stack up. Hopefully only 4-5 trips over a year would be required in it, so borderline whether it would work for us.

Also the initial outlay of buying the van wouldn't be great!

Cheers

[elise2000]

tex200 said:

https://europe.ryder.com/locations/uk/uk/bristol

I would try Ryder - they have a Bristol depot.

I have to say though that some of their vans do have a well used look to them! Although the plus side to this is that it's quite hard to make them cosmetically worse during your rental period ??

Thanks for the link - gave them a call and they won't let vans leave the country though.

[elise2000]

Hugo a Gogo said:

surely you can buy building materials down there? or hire tools etc?

You can, although a lot of things are substantially cheaper over here. And with the amount of tools required it wouldn't work out viable.

[elise2000]

Myles Peraua said:

We used to van the bikes down to the 'Ring regularly, there was never any issue taking them abroad, but make sure that you include all the (potential) drivers on the foreign part of the insurance.

What companies did you use? The majority of the ones I've tried have said no.

[Hugo a Gogo]

worth bearing in mind that even companies that do offer freedom to drive to Euro lands often have stricter rules for Eastern Europe, ie Croatia

[elise2000]

Hugo a Gogo said:

worth bearing in mind that even companies that do offer freedom to drive to Euro lands often have stricter rules for Eastern Europe, ie Croatia

Good point, cheers

[Myles Peraua]

elise2000 said:

Myles Peraua said:

We used to van the bikes down to the 'Ring regularly, there was never any issue taking them abroad, but make sure that you include all the (potential) drivers on the foreign part of the insurance.

What companies did you use? The majority of the ones I've tried have said no.

Good question, was a few years back now. Sorry ut I can't remember names, I do recall sometimes using a firm in Maidstone, which I think was part of a bigger franchise. If it's for bikes, make sure the van has tie-down points too, they don't all have them!

[hman]

Thrifty were the company I last used to take a van abroad - other companies like enterprise wouldnt allow the van out of the UK

[steve-5snwi]

As above thrifty have a check box when booking online for taking it abroad.the issue might be 3000 miles though