Advanced options
A Luton van (the box with the over-cab peak) holds ~19-20 m3 and drives on a normal licence: the standard DIY move. Long-wheelbase Transits carry ~11 m3. Multiple trips only work locally: past 30 miles, the bigger vehicle or the removal firm wins. Boxes stack, furniture doesn't: dismantle beds and tables and the same load shrinks noticeably.
What The Removal Van Size Calculator Works Out
- Estimated volume: the industry's standard cubic-metre figure for your home size, adjusted for how full the cupboards are. A lived-in one-bed flat packs to 15-20 m3, a two-bed 25-30, a three-bed 35-40 and a four-bed family house 50 or more.
- DIY option: how many Luton van loads (about 19 m3, the largest box van an ordinary car licence covers) or long-wheelbase Transit loads (about 11 m3) the volume needs.
- Or one trip: whether a single Luton does it, or whether you are into a 7.5-tonne truck, which needs the C1 entitlement that pre-1997 licences carry and later ones must earn, or a removal firm.
- Garage, shed and garden (advanced): the volumes above assume the house only. A shed and garden furniture add about 3 m3, a full garage about 8 m3, and both are the items most people forget until the van is full.
- Dismantling (advanced): beds, tables and flat-pack taken apart, boxes stacked to the roof and soft furnishings used as packing shrink the load by around 10%.
- Hire van and trips (advanced): choose the van you can actually hire and drive, and the calculator works out trips and hire days. Locally two trips a day is realistic; past about 30 miles each repeat trip is an afternoon, so one trip a day is assumed.
- Boxes to pack (advanced): roughly 1.6 medium boxes per cubic metre, so 30-40 boxes for a one-bed and 60-80 for a family house. Packing always starts later than it should.
- Fuel for the move (advanced): trips x distance x 2 for the return legs, at your van's mpg and the current average diesel price. Hire Lutons manage 22-28 mpg empty and less loaded.
- DIY hire estimate (advanced): daily hire x hire days plus fuel. Add the insurance excess waiver, tolls, parking suspensions and the pizza-and-beer payroll before comparing with removal quotes, and book early: hire vans sell out at month-ends and bank holidays.