How to Pack a Car When Moving Home

Whether you are moving out of your home for the first time, you do not have enough things to justify paying for a professional removal service, or you have some fragile and valuable items that must go in your car with you to your new home, you need to know how to load a car safely.

Some of the great tips in this guide will also help you if you are thinking of moving home by taxi, which is more common than you might imagine.

You may also like to read: Moving Home By Car – Safety, Packing, Games, and More. In this guide, we concentrate on long-distance moves where your household goods are being taken by a removal firm but you will travel to your new home by car. Here we suggest some great ways of keeping everybody entertained on the journey as well as how to pack the things you will be taking in the car.

How to Get Rid of Stuff When Moving Home by Car

First off, you will unlikely be able to fit everything you want to take in your car.

As with a conventional home move, you should first get rid of any possessions that you no longer need, or want, or it would be impractical to transport them anyway, like pieces of furniture.

Not only will this reduce the number of items you need to pack, but a fully loaded car is also less fuel-efficient, and potentially more dangerous to drive.

You may even make enough money when selling your surplus items to pay for the fuel for your home move.

If your car-based home move is because you are moving into a flatshare or college digs, check to see what items are already there, or what your flatmate is taking.

There is little point in having two coffee machines for example.

Even if you have a super comfy mattress on your bed, it may not be possible to take it with you.

For some items, you will need to decide whether the impracticality, or cost, of moving them, outweighs the replacement cost.

Consider getting rid of heavy items like books too. Not only will weight affect fuel economy, but the handling of your car, and will increase wear and tear of tyres for example.

Use up any foodstuffs that you have in your cupboards. It will take up valuable space in your car and can easily be replaced as most towns have 24-hour supermarkets these days.

The same applies to toiletries and other consumables. Every square centimeter will count in your car, so if an item is relatively cheap, or easily replaced, why bother taking it with you?

You may also like to read: Moving Home With No Furniture. Moving home with no furniture will save you a fortune in removal costs. In this guide, we suggest several alternative ways of moving home if you are not taking any furniture with you.

How to Pack for a Move Using a Car

Contrary to normal home moving advice, don’t use boxes.

They are inflexible so cannot squash or wrap around the irregular shapes of your car’s interior.

If you must use boxes, for fragile items, for example, use small ones.

Vacuum packs are great for transporting clothes and blankets as they reduce the area that the item takes up considerably, they are relatively cheap too.

Backpacks and suitcases can be used too. Don’t be tempted to fill large suitcases with books though as they can be too heavy to lift, use small boxes instead.

Filling bin liners with clothes is great as they can then be pushed into tight spaces.

It may be inconvenient to have to iron the items when you get to your new home, but if you roll the clothes when putting them into the sacks, they will take up less room and will crease less.

Use clothing to protect fragile items, it will save packing material costs and save space, as you are taking the clothes anyway.

Don’t take anything with you empty, things like waste bins, laundry baskets, handbags, carrier bags, and rubbish sacks, they can all be used to transport items to your new home.

Remember to keep a bag of essentials with you on moving day.

This should be kept in an easily accessible place in your car and will contain food and drink, medicines, money, and anything else you must have with you.

You may also like to read: 12 Space-Saving Packing Tips. Space will be at a premium in your car so in this guide, we share 12 tips for saving space when packing.

How to Prepare Your Car for a Home Move

Your car will handle differently, feel different, react differently, and be under extra strain once it is loaded.

For that reason, you should ensure that your vehicle is in optimum condition, especially the shock absorbers and tyres.

It is best to give your car a full service a couple of weeks prior to moving day so that there is plenty of time to get any remedial work done.

At a minimum, these checks are worth making:

• Check the car fluids: oil, water, washer fluid, and fuel.
• Adjust headlamps if necessary, as any weight in the car will affect the beam
• Check tyre pressures, which can usually be found inside the filler cap, on door edges, or in the vehicle handbook.
• Tyre treads and signs of bulges, cuts, or cracks should also be checked and the tyres replaced if required.
• Take out the spare wheel if it is in the boot of the car. You can fill that space with other things. You will need easy access to your spare wheel if you get a puncture, you do not want to have to unpack all your worldly possessions onto the side of the road whilst you change the tyre. Put your tyre where it is easily accessible.
• Don’t forget to keep the tyre changing tools accessible too.
• Keep your roadside emergency kit in an easily accessible place. There is no point in having high visibility tabards or warning triangles in the car if you have to spend twenty minutes on the roadside unpacking things to find them.

Important: The braking distance of a fully-loaded car can increase considerably due to the momentum of the load.

Not only that, but the load may shift forward causing the driver injury.

Slow down, take corners slower, and leave greater stopping distances when your car is fully loaded.

An overloaded car will be unstable to drive.

The load capacity of your car includes any passengers and fluids. Here is an example:

If your car has a load capacity of 454 kg, carrying 2 x 86kg adults, and a full tank of fuel (an average 56 ltr tank weighs 42kg), you can safely carry a load of 240kg.

Be aware also of the load-bearing capacity of your tyres.

This link to the Goodyear tyre website will show you where to find the load rating of your tyres. 

Lifting Objects in and Out of Cars Safely

As always when moving home, safety comes first.

There are specific techniques for putting things into a car, and then taking them out again.

Although you should not put any heavy items into your car, injuries can occur just from the action of lifting or twisting.

Injuries are most likely to occur when removing stuff from your car.

How to safely load things into a car:

• Test the weight of the item before lifting
• Lift with your knees, not your back, and keep your knees bent whilst lifting
• Keep the object as close to your body as possible
• Use the bumper or side of the car to brace yourself

How to safely unload a car:

• Stand as close as you can to the car
• Lower yourself to lift an item with your legs and hips
• Keep your head straight and look forward not down
• Use both hands to move the items toward you before lifting
• Keep the item close to your body
• Extend your legs and keep your back straight when lifting
• Use the bumper or any ledges to take the weight of the item to allow you to adopt the correct Stand as close as you can to the bumper with your knees slightly bent.
• Avoid overstretching to reach items.

You may also like to read: How to Pack Fragile Items for Moving. One thing you should avoid is cutting corners packing any fragile items you intend to take in your car. In this guide, we share tips for every fragile item found in the average home.

Best Way to Pack a Car for Moving Home

A badly loaded car will affect steering and braking and may result in an accident.

Heavy items packed high may result in the vehicle turning over if a corner is taken too fast.

Follow these tips to ensure you take as many safety precautions as possible whilst maximising loading space.

• Clear all non-essential stuff out of your car to make more space.
• Keep front windows clear of items so that you can see out of them
• Do not obscure the view from your side mirrors
• Consider a sheet of plywood or a large item placed behind the front seats to act as a bulkhead. This will prevent any items from shifting forward and striking the driver if you have to brake heavily or are hit from behind.
• If you have a cargo net or cargo strap points, use them.
• Load the car evenly.
• Put the heaviest items low and towards the centre of the vehicle
• Pack your essential stuff into the car first, if you run out of space it means the less important things will be left behind.
• If the rear seat folds flat then that may help to get larger items into the car.
• Load large items first so that the smaller items will fit around them and hold them in place so they cannot move about when travelling.
• If your TV will not fit in the boot of the car, put it on the floor behind the passenger or driver’s seat. Ensure your TV is packaged properly so that the screen does not get damaged.
• Pack the car as tightly as possible so that there are no loose items.
• Wedge bags of clothing into any gaps to stop any load movement.
• In case you have to leave the car unattended at any time whilst it is still loaded, put high-value items in bin liners and bury them low amongst your things.
• Label expensive items such as laptops as books so that they are less appealing to would-be thieves.

If you have loaded the car so that you have no view out of the rearview mirror, always ask someone to guide you back when reversing to prevent any accidents.

You may also like to read: Alternative Packing Materials For Moving Home. In this guide, we suggest items that are commonly found around the home that you can use to protect and pack your things when moving home by car.

Advice for Students Moving Out for the First Time

If you are moving to college or university you could save space in the car by only taking seasonal clothing with you.

Then just swap over your clothing for the next season’s wardrobe the next time you come home.

Speak to the college about the available space you will have in your dorm, there is no point in taking bookshelves only to have to reload them into the car because the dorm has no room for them.

Find out whether the university or local library has the books you need, it will be easier than boxing and moving your own collection of books.

Don’t take things ‘just in case’. They can always be posted to you later if you really need them.

Talk to the university or college to see if there are any restrictions on what you can take, and additionally what they recommend you do take.

You may also like to read: Everything You Need to Know About Moving to College. In this guide, we share some great tips to make moving to college or university easier and cheaper.

Moving Home With a Trailer or Roof Box

To increase your carrying capacity or to take a larger item, you might need a trailer or roof box.

If you have never towed a trailer there is some invaluable advice regarding speed limits and licence requirements at the gov.uk website.

For safety tips on driving with a trailer visit the National Trailer and Towing Association website.

Good advice: It would be prudent to check that your items are covered by insurance should your car be stolen or the items damaged in an accident.

Moving home with a car can be a cheap way to move home but will only be suitable for certain types of home move.

Pack only what you have to take, use every piece of available space in the car, but ensure your home move is carried out safely, and that you are insured to cover all eventualities.

Be sure to visit our home moving blog which is packed with tips to make moving home easier, cheaper, and safer.

Drive safely and good luck in your new home.