Long distance man and van

Typical jobs

• Bringing a wardrobe bought in Cardiff back to Newcastle
• Moving a one-bedroom flat from south London to Manchester in a Luton van, loaded in the morning and unloaded the same evening
• Taking a student's room contents from Bristol to Edinburgh in a shared van already heading north
• Carrying a sofa and a dining set from Brighton to Leeds as a part load on a driver's return trip
• A two-day move from Kent to Inverness with an overnight stop and unloading the next morning

Per-mile pricing. Some drivers quote an hourly rate plus a mileage charge: Compare the Man and Van asks its drivers to set both for exclusive bookings. Others give one fixed price for the route. Ask each firm to show the miles, hours and any overnight costs inside its figure. On long routes the price per hour falls: AnyVan's figures show its equivalent hourly rate falling from £63 for jobs under 2 miles to £27 at 200 miles or more, because driving time dominates.

The return journey. A van that drives from London to Manchester and back empty has to charge for both legs. Part loads and shared loads cost less because the driver fills space on a trip already booked, or carries your things on the way home from another job. Konnect You puts part-load and return-load moves at 15 to 30% below a dedicated van (September 2026), in exchange for looser collection and delivery dates. AnyVan builds its prices this way, matching each job to a van with spare space on the route.

Drivers' hours. Vans up to 3.5 tonnes used for business come under the GB domestic rules. GOV.UK limits driving to 10 hours a day and duty to 11 hours in a working day, and work on the load, such as loading and unloading, counts as duty time (checked October 2026). London to Manchester is about 200 miles, which one driver can load, drive and unload within a duty day, though not usually with the drive home as well. London to Edinburgh is about 400 miles, so a one-driver job with loading at both ends needs an overnight stop or a second driver.

Overnight stays. When a job runs over two days, the firm adds the driver's room and meals or a second day's rate. Fantastic Services notes that beyond roughly 30 to 50 miles, fuel, driver time and sometimes an overnight stay start to matter, and that a move of 200 miles or more can add several hundred pounds (September 2026). Ask if your goods stay on the locked van overnight or go into a depot.

Get one fixed figure for the whole route in writing, with the collection date, the delivery date or window, and what happens if the van is late. On a shared or part load the delivery window can run to several days, so agree it before you pay a deposit.

Ask how many drivers will do the job, how the firm will stay within the GOV.UK hours limits, and where the van stops if the move runs over two days. Check that the price covers stairs and a long carry at the far end, because the driver will not have seen that property.

Konnect You notes that some firms charge depot to depot, so the clock runs from the moment the van leaves its base (September 2026). Ask where the firm is based and whether its travel to you is in the price. A firm based near either end of the route has less dead mileage than one in between.

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