The DIY move is one of those decisions that looks obviously cheaper until you cost it properly. Here is the arithmetic, plus the mechanical and licensing details that catch people out.
What you can legally drive
This is the first thing to check and the thing most people get wrong.
If you passed your test after 1 January 1997, your standard category B licence covers vehicles up to 3,500 kg maximum authorised mass. That is the gross weight — vehicle plus load — not the vehicle empty.
If you passed before 1997, you have grandfather rights to category C1, which takes you to 7,500 kg.
The practical consequence: a Luton van with a tail lift typically has an unladen weight around 2,100–2,600 kg. At a 3,500 kg MAM, that leaves you between 900 and 1,400 kg of payload. That sounds like plenty until you start loading books.
Books are the problem
A standard removal box full of books weighs 20–25 kg. Fifty boxes of books is over a tonne, and fifty boxes is not an unusual number for a family home.
Overloading a van is an offence, it invalidates your insurance, and it materially changes the handling. An overloaded van understeers, takes dramatically longer to stop, and puts the rear axle beyond its rated load — which is how you end up with a failed wheel bearing halfway up the M1.
If you are moving a household with a library, the honest answer is that a single 3.5 tonne van will not do it in one trip regardless of whether the volume fits.
The cost comparison
Hire rates for a Luton van in London, 2026, run roughly £90–£140 per day plus mileage on some contracts. Add:
| Item | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Van hire, one day | £90–£140 |
| Fuel (60 miles, laden, ~22 mpg) | £35–£45 |
| Insurance excess reduction | £15–£30 |
| Congestion Charge (if applicable) | £15 |
| ULEZ (if the van is not compliant) | £12.50 |
| Blankets, straps, trolley hire | £25–£40 |
| Subtotal | £190–£285 |
That is the real DIY figure for one trip, before you count your own time or the pizza you owe three friends.
A two-person professional crew with a vehicle for a one-bedroom London move typically quotes £400–£650. For a two-bed, £650–£1,100.
So the gap is real but narrower than the headline hire rate suggests — and it closes entirely if you need two trips, which most people underestimate.
The mechanical bits nobody mentions
Tail lifts have weight limits and a cycle time. A 500 kg tail lift takes 25–30 seconds per cycle. On a move with forty items that need lifting, that is twenty minutes of standing still.
Luton bodies are tall. Overall height is typically 3.1–3.4 metres. Car park height barriers are usually 2.1 m. Multi-storey access is out, and a surprising number of London residential entrances have restricted headroom.
Rear-wheel drive vans behave differently unladen. A rear-drive Luton with an empty box is light over the driven axle. In the wet, on a hill start, it will spin up. This surprises people on the return leg.
Check the load restraint points before you leave the depot. Some hire vans have them, some have four rated points, some have a plywood lining with nothing behind it. Straps anchored to nothing are decorative.
Where the DIY option genuinely wins
Short moves under ten miles, single-room volumes, and situations where you have flexible timing and three able-bodied helpers. Under those conditions DIY is meaningfully cheaper and the risk is low.
Where it genuinely loses
Anything involving stairs above the second floor, anything with a piano or a large appliance, anything on a fixed completion date where a delay costs money, and any move where the destination is not ready.
That last one is more common than people expect. Chains break, completions slip, and the van is booked for a day when there is nowhere to unload. At that point you need somewhere to put everything, and hire vans have to go back.
This is where a firm that also operates as a storage company london side has a structural advantage over a pure removals outfit — if the destination is not ready, the load goes into a unit rather than back onto your driveway. Worth asking about before you book anything, because the moment you need it, you need it immediately.
The verdict
Run the numbers honestly, including a second trip and your own time at whatever you value it. For most one-bedroom moves inside London the DIY option saves £150–£250, which is real money.
For anything larger, the saving evaporates against the risk, and the risk is concentrated in exactly the scenario nobody plans for: the day the completion slips and you are standing on a pavement with a fully loaded van and a return deadline.
