[Closed] International white van man

I tried when i moved, (more than 15 years ago.) even getting insurance for a van big enough to move with, when taking overseas was interesting. Paying to get it repatriated (not much use for a UK registered RHD rental van in Europe) was about £500 plus a per mile charge, and could only do it with one company. Would have cost me about a a grand all in.

I've heard of a few other UK immigrants here having tried over the years, they've either failed to even find a company that'll do it, or been put off by the price. Apparently, even doing from mainland Europe isn't easy, or cheap.

Personally, i ended up doing some juggling with ferries and flights. Van ended up where it needed to be. Saved me about 600 quid for two days "work" (18 hours on a ferry and about 6 hours of driving, then a flight.)

I have tried when moved back to France and it was not possible . Ended up flying to my home , renting a van for a week , drive back to uk , load and drive back to france .

And doing that was still cheaper than crossing as a foot passenger to calais , renting a van there , drive to uk and drive back to france , and leave van in my home town .

the price to collect A and drop B is ridiculous .

keep the strict minimum and sell the rest ;

What's the car market like in Malta? Friends of mine bought a van just to move, then sold it when they got to France for a profit but they had to do some research to get one that was in demand down there

ghostly - Malta is RHD so thought it might be worth a shout.  Looks like it'll be everything in the container which is a bit of a pain because I'll be using the flat for a couple of years as a holiday flat and wanted to move a few of the bigger things over before I go permanently

I keep singing “International Bright Young Thing” by Jesus Jones each time I scroll past this thread title. 😀

I hired a 7.5 tonne truck (I have grandfather rights to drive this on my car licence)  from a UK company a bit more 'flexible'/ dodgy than the likes of Avis etc....and moved house from Sheffield to Lyon...It was a reet adventure....

It was a bit of a bind to turn around 2 days later though to take it back to Sheffield.....

The above is not much help for you I am afraid, but have you tried Shiply? You might strike gold and find a lorry heading there with Space.

I keep singing “International Bright Young Thing” by Jesus Jones each time I scroll past this thread title

Good to know its not just me :).

Rental companies don't want a vehicle registered in one country being left in another. They will send someone out to pick it up. A mate used to work for Hertz. If a car was being returned anywhere other than the original depot they would travel two-up in one car and go collect the rental.

I'd have thought buying a half decent motor in the UK and registering it in Malta and then selling it to be the easiest and cheapest option.

Even if you see the van for a bit less than you paid it be cheaper than renting and leaving it in Malta.

Having been to Malta  most of the motors out there are complete shitters. Anything half decent should sell easily enough.

Can’t you get a mate to drive it back?

Once met two very sketchy lads who were taking a Convertible Golf to Malta, the car was stolen and on dodgy plates, they had someone in Malta who was going to ring it.

i sold a spare only Transit van on ebay a few years ago . Guy who bought it was from Lithuana . he told me he was going to fill the van up with car spares and drive it all the way there .

I did mention to him that the floor was rusty , failed its mot on it .

he paid cash and made sure I filled all the dvla papers correctly . Never heard if he made it or not .

A mate who used to live in France would buy his vans / tippers in the UK and use them in France. He said it was cheaper than buying a LHD over there. Had to deal with driving a rhd van all the time but still worked out better for him.

If you think of the business cost of getting a car back from Malta to the uk its pretty mental! You’d have to fly someone out there, pay them wages and expenses, ferry crossings, toll roads, hotels etc etc. It’d mount up so much it’d be unreal.

I’d have thought buying a half decent motor in the UK and registering it in Malta and then selling it to be the easiest and cheapest option.

Even if you see the van for a bit less than you paid it be cheaper than renting and leaving it in Malta.

Having been to Malta most of the motors out there are complete shitters. Anything half decent should sell easily enough.

I'd have thought so too, but a 10 year old van with 115k on the clock costing >£1k attracts an import tax of just under £2k if you've owned it for less than 2 years.  That said, shipping estimate for moving all the stuff I want to keep is just over £2k so maybe buy van, move everything I don't need here earlier and take hit on van is the way to go.  Am now monitoring van prices on maltapark.com (Malteser version of gumtree)

I keep singing “International Bright Young Thing” by Jesus Jones each time I scroll past this thread title

I wasn't but am now - thanks for that

Ah-ha a 2009 transit is going for £6500 and a 2008 for £4500, no mileage but that looks promising for resale

Sell in Italy?

Avoid the tax but would have to sell cheap as rhd

Where are you heading from?

London to Malta is 1800 miles, quick calc of about 350 quid (28-30mpg so probably optimistic)in fuel then you need to add tolls etc. to that

Insurance?

Ferry/Tunnel to Europe and off the other end?

got to be getting closer to a grand, throw in a couple of night accommodation?

any losses on the van price for resale?

How close is that to the hassle free option?

We used a "man with a van"/small removal company to move to Holland. Didn't cost as much as you might think and we didn't need to worry about loading and unloading, returning the van etc.

Could you fly to Malta, buy the van there, insure and drive the home leg 1st van empty, then return with the full Maltese registered van, and sell on after that? No import tax, Maltese history, etc....

When you going?

You rent the van to get your stuff to Malta and cover the return ferry costs. I'm sure you could find someone willing to join you who could get a few days MTBing in Malta and then drive the van back covering fuel costs for the return journey. MTBing holiday in Malta for someone for the cost of fuel one way only, what's not to like!

I'll drive it back for you.

Make sure there's room for the YT and grub for the return.

Cover the fuel/ferry, nothing more.

Have a look at the man and van options, try ebay, and there are bid sites where people can bid for jobs. There is  a whole industry of independent hauliers. Most run 3.5 t sleeper cab curtain sliders on Polish plates, too and fro the whole of Europe. Now I have mentioned it you will see them all over the place. Going in that direction they will more likely be empty..