Hiring a van...

[Paul FilmMaker]

So I'm looking around for van hire price. It's just to move filming kit from A to B and would need to keep it on the street overnight. I have about a zillion options so this is purely trying to figure out from your experience which is the best one. This is from SW (just on the M25) through to Central London. May seem excessive but we have a lot of kit.

Last time we rented one, it was broken into. Although it was empty, we had insurance but an excess of about £250.

What's your experience of the best price?

 

[Frank the Insurance guy]

filming kit from A to B and would need to keep it on the street overnight.

Hi Paul - just be careful with your insurance. Most insurers will exclude theft of your kit from unattended vehicles overnight (unless in a secure locked garage or compound etc).

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Enterprise are the best on price as Frank has pointed out you are not insured for the goods. It would be difficult to get cover for an unattended van with factory security

 

[Karimbo]

enterprise excess is £1000. make sure you pay for excess insurance or byuy a third party excess insurance.

stick a sheet on the van doors.. hired van, contents removed overnight,

van thefts shot up post lockdown and during lockdown because the demand for courier use was so high. and obviously nobody was making vans. Not sure if that is still the case. I hired a van from enterprise and they supplied a steering lock and I told me the insurance is void if this steerling lock isn't used.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

enterprise excess is £1000. make sure you pay for excess insurance or byuy a third party excess insurance.

stick a sheet on the van doors.. hired van, contents removed overnight,

van thefts shot up post lockdown and during lockdown because the demand for courier use was so high. and obviously nobody was making vans. Not sure if that is still the case. I hired a van from enterprise and they supplied a steering lock and I told me the insurance is void if this steerling lock isn't used.

Their excess is now £2000 Unless you are doing the whole insurance on your own businesses vehicle insurance don't use the third party company.
Just pay the £35 a day to Enterprise to bring down the excess to £100
These things cost money and trying to control the budget to tightly will always come back to bite you

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Why not pay for a security guard for the night, far cheaper than the costs involved in loosing all the equipment and time

 

[Paul Norman]

I always tend to use Entreprise, due mostly to good experience over a great many years with both vans and car that I have hired.

Beware going the 'best price' route.

I did this once, and spent a day driving around in a van that was not legal. I had to get my stuff done before sunset as it had only one headlight working. That, together with a list of other items.

If you are going to leave the van out over night (as most of us might have to) then upgrade the insurance to reduce the excess.

 

[Karimbo]

I always tend to use Entreprise, due mostly to good experience over a great many years with both vans and car that I have hired.

Beware going the 'best price' route.

I did this once, and spent a day driving around in a van that was not legal. I had to get my stuff done before sunset as it had only one headlight working. That, together with a list of other items.

If you are going to leave the van out over night (as most of us might have to) then upgrade the insurance to reduce the excess.

They are always first owners of their vans. And they won't let you down. They have stock and you probably won't face a situation where you show up for your van hire and they dint gave anything for you.

I needed van for short hire a long time ago (zipvan) and it wasn't available when I showed up. I was in such a huge panic because I needed the van to drop off equipment about 4 miles from where I am (for clients event)

They didn't even have a "don't worry, we got you, well bring you a van to you" they offered to cancel my reservation so I can hire another van from elsewhere. It was a weekend and they didn't have other vans available. Ended up having to get a 7 seater uber and had to tip him big to carry goods.

After that I just hired vans for the whole day through enterprise

 

[DontAsk]

Another favourite is when you book a tail-lift, but it’s not available on the day. Getting a piano into a 7.5 tonne van, with no tail-lift, having already carried it down from a second floor flat, was not fun.

 

[Paul FilmMaker]

Another favourite is when you book a tail-lift, but it’s not available on the day. Getting a piano into a 7.5 tonne van, with no tail-lift, having already carried it down from a second floor flat, was not fun.

I wouldn't take the risk of moving my piano without help. If I accidentally dropped it, I'd end up feeling a bit flat...

Otherwise, for the Enterprise thing, thanks for all the advice and will go with them. £135 a time is pretty good (with excess insurance) and will naturally never leave anything in it overnight. Filming insurance is so insanely expensive we don't use it. It's cheaper to have stuff stolen than taking out filming insurance and we just keep a cash float in case of thefts.

 

[Paul FilmMaker]

I wouldn't take the risk of moving my piano without help. If I accidentally dropped it, I'd end up feeling a bit flat...

Otherwise, for the Enterprise thing, thanks for all the advice and will go with them. £135 a time is pretty good (with excess insurance) and will naturally never leave anything in it overnight. Filming insurance is so insanely expensive we don't use it. It's cheaper to have stuff stolen than taking out filming insurance and we just keep a cash float in case of thefts.

That's kit insurance, btw! Not the legally required insurance which obviously we do have!