Tiny car, big furniture?

September 5, 2015 8:06 AM

I live alone in West LA. I have a tiny car with no trunk to speak of. I would like to start shopping for some used furniture, but it won't fit into my not-trunk. Everywhere else I've lived, I've known friends or family who have access to pickups, SUVs, etc and coordinated with them when I needed furniture moved. Not here. How do people manage this single-handed?

So far everything I've purchased since moving here has, by necessity, been from vendors that offer delivery service (Ikea, Amazon, etc). But what about Craigslist or yardsales, etc? Find item, then taxi to Uhaul, rent truck, load, unload, struggle to move bulky object up narrow stairs, return truck, taxi home seems like a pain if it must be repeated for more than one piece of furniture. Getting multiple pickups arranged in one day on Craigslist seems unlikely without a LOT of luck. Obviously people who don't own trucks/SUVs buy used furniture, but.. how? Are there services that offer small-volume furniture moving cost-effectively? More convenient ways to rent a truck for a short time? I feel like this is a thing that should be obvious but I've been able to avoid learning about it 'til now.

posted by Alterscape to Shopping (24 answers total)

Home Depot, (and maybe Lowes), offer truck rentals by the hour.
posted by Sunnyshe at 8:10 AM on September 5, 2015

There are typically people on Craigslist who will move furniture in their pickup truck for $25/hour. Otherwise just post in the odd jobs section or whatever and you'll find plenty of folks.
posted by Slinga at 8:17 AM on September 5, 2015

My roommate and I once tried to rent a truck from Home Depot for exactly this purpose and they claimed they only rented trucks to people who needed to get stuff home from their store. Whether it was BS or not, we didn't feel like having an argument with them about it; we ended up renting a pickup from the local UHaul just as you describe.
posted by dorque at 8:20 AM on September 5, 2015

Craigslist works, but there's also a new app called Lugg that's sort of like Uber for moving furniture. Or buy used IKEA furniture, and then you can disassemble it and fit it in your car (or buy other new flat-pack furniture that's designed for constant moving).
posted by three_red_balloons at 8:24 AM on September 5, 2015

TaskRabbit! I haven't given them a try yet so can't speak from personal experience, unfortunately. But I am intrigued by their service and moving furniture is exactly what I would consider using them for.
posted by Goblin Barbarian at 8:27 AM on September 5, 2015

We use zipcar for this. You pay an annual fee, then rent a variety of cars, including cargo vans and pick up trucks by the hour. Usually runs 10 to 14 bucks an hour, gas and insurance is included. They have them in a lot of locations so you check to see if there's one reasonably convenient for you before you join.

Yard sale type finds are exactly that - find a piece, ask them to hold it until you can come back with a truck, and come back with a friend (or a day laborer). Craigslist finds are similar though it may be more convenient to find mutual time.
posted by Karaage at 8:31 AM on September 5, 2015

Seconding Zipcar. Also, hiring delivery people from Craigslist.
posted by Miko at 8:38 AM on September 5, 2015

When you say "shopping for used furniture", do you mean going to a used furniture store? Most used furniture places have phone numbers for delivery folks. If you're buying off CL, then go with the above suggestions.
posted by pazazygeek at 8:56 AM on September 5, 2015

Enterprise has a commercial arm and rents cargo vans. Not too much either. I have used this moving to an impossible place when there were no trucks nearby. If you plan, it is remarkably cheap. Talk your sellers into holding on til you get a couple of big pieces lined up. U Haul has cheap daily rentals. The cargo vans get relatively good gas mmileage
posted by Oyéah at 8:58 AM on September 5, 2015

I know a guy with a truck, dolly, pads. Reasonable rates, but you need to supply the muscle. MeMail me for info.
posted by Ideefixe at 9:02 AM on September 5, 2015

I used task rabbit to move my couch and it was great. I think I paid $40 +$10 tip for a small couch moved about a mile down the road. You could check if any of them work on-call for spontaneous finds. I originally planned on posting it here in Jobs but didn't have time. Also, people might be willing to hold something as long as it's paid.

(Let me know if you need a hand!)
posted by Room 641-A at 9:33 AM on September 5, 2015

U-Haul has vans for rent by the day.
posted by yclipse at 9:38 AM on September 5, 2015

Find item, then taxi to Uhaul, rent truck, load, unload, struggle to move bulky object up narrow stairs, return truck, taxi home

If you already own a car, why are you using taxis to go to and from the truck rental place? Driving your own car will be faster and cheaper. (The rest of the steps are just as much of a pain as you describe, of course.)
posted by Dip Flash at 10:22 AM on September 5, 2015

Beware Uhaul, if there is a cross town trip the miles can add up to pricey.
posted by sammyo at 10:41 AM on September 5, 2015

Penske > U-Haul, but yeah, it's still annoying.
posted by wintersweet at 10:48 AM on September 5, 2015

A car service with minivans.
posted by brujita at 10:49 AM on September 5, 2015

We've basically furnished our whole house using a ZipCar Toyota Tacoma to pick up stuff from Craigslist and auctions.
posted by octothorpe at 11:23 AM on September 5, 2015

To answer the question re: why taxi/uber to the uhaul place: the uhaul places I'm aware of in west LA (specifically the one at Lincoln and the 405) don't have even short-term customer parking. When I moved here, I ended up having to beg the manager to park the car I'd just unloaded from the UHaul trailer behind the truck somewhere while I drove the truck to my apartment and unloaded the boxes. Maybe my experience was atypical but the idea of dealing with that particular uhaul again raises my blood pressure.
posted by Alterscape at 11:32 AM on September 5, 2015

I once bought a dinette at Goodwill, and guy who worked there helped me tie it securely to the top of my car to take it home. Since you can't always be sure there will be someone around who knows how to do that it would probably be a good idea to know how to tie it securely yourself, and of course carry rope and a tarp in your car when you go.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 2:20 PM on September 5, 2015

I wondered how people with tiny cars manage as well. I use a utility bike trailer like these Bikes at Work trailers.

Let me know if you're interested, and I can help you brainstorm ways to find someone in L.A. with a heavy-duty bike trailer to lend.
posted by aniola at 9:34 PM on September 5, 2015

Most items of furniture can also be hauled on the much more widely-available children's trailer. (Burley trailers, for example)
posted by aniola at 9:35 PM on September 5, 2015

three_red_balloons: Craigslist works, but there's also a new app called Lugg that's sort of like Uber for moving furniture.

Lugg looks interesting, although its service area is currently only San Francisco.
posted by bluecore at 11:38 AM on September 6, 2015

Ah, sorry about that, mistakenly thought Lugg was also in LA. I've used a "man with a van" in the past for things like sofas (here's one...I've always found these movers on CL). How much do you have to move that can't be disassembled? At some point, hiring a mover for each individual thing would probably be more expensive than just buying new stuff in IKEA that comes in a flat box you can squeeze in or on your car... I've paid between $35-70 depending on what I was moving. If you do hire someone like this, factor in traffic (find someone selling something on CL in your neighborhood), because man with a van guys charge by the hour.
posted by three_red_balloons at 4:14 PM on September 6, 2015

If you are looking for a longer term solution, for most cars you can get a hitch receiver and install yourself for $2-300. Even a tiny car like the Nissan Leaf has a kit. Then you can rent a trailer which is cheaper since you usually don't pay milage extra in them. ETrailer.com is a good resource for what is available for your vehicle. Bonus is you can get a bike rack to fit in the receiver and haul a few bikes around.
posted by Yorrick at 11:59 PM on September 7, 2015