Van Rentals-Help

mottshoople · #1 06-27-2011, 10:00 AM

Not sure if this is the right section, so I apologize if it's not.

Here's the situation: I've been asked by a friend from the UK to help set up a small tour. One of the things he is looking for is a passenger van that can seat up to nine comfortably (5 band and 3 female back up singers). They don't need a trailor, backline is being provided by the venues. I'm trying to find a reasonably priced rental, but I have no idea where to start. I've looked on a site called Bandago which claims to specialize in vans for bands that are priced low. Has anyone used this company? Besides a daily fee, do they charge by the mile? Can anyone reccomend a place? It would be on the east coast-Boston to MD.
Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Mark

Top_Ten · #2 06-27-2011, 12:02 PM

I've used Bandago and can recommend them highly. Just give them a call and talk to Keeley (like the compressor!) -- she will answer all of your questions. Tell her Aaron from the Bye Bye Blackbirds sent you!

BTW -- +1 on your handle. Just saw Ian Hunter in San Francisco at the Fillmore -- really great show.

mottshoople · #3 06-27-2011, 12:17 PM

Top Ten, thanks for the info. Would you say they are reasonably priced?
Ian's great and has still got it. He just turned 72 and rocks like a man of 25. He's going out again in the fall, but I think the farthest west he's going is Chicago, unless he gets some decent offers. Check out his official site (public disclaimer: a friend and I run the site for Ian) for more info as it gets posted.

Top_Ten · #4 06-28-2011, 05:00 PM

It's not cheap, but it's a good price for what you get. Comparable to just renting a regular van, but the Bandago vans are much better set up for touring bands.

swing low · #5 07-09-2011, 02:19 AM

Did anyone rent a bass from the bass rental company </title> <meta name="author" content="Besitzer"> <meta name="editor" content="html-editor phase 5"> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" link="#FF0000" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#FF0000"> <html> <head> </head> <title> Welcome to berlin-strings ?
I wonder, if You can get a double bass for touring (Amsterdam, Brussels etc..) there and if it´s affordable. They seem to rent basses for classical music though..
Mark

crijan · #6 07-15-2011, 07:26 AM

I own a small van and pull a trailer behind it for driving gigs. I've priced using a rental van from Bandago and it would actually be cheaper for me to rent than to own, except that Bandago doesn't have any offices is my area of the country.

mottshoople · #7 07-15-2011, 07:34 AM

crijan,

Thanks. That's a good bit of info. The band is coming over from the UK and only needs a vehicle for two weeks or so. So, buying was never an option, but that is interesting that it's cheaper to rent than own.

petersimon786 · #8 12-02-2011, 12:36 AM

My boyfriend and I are planning to travel across USA later this year but we're having great difficulty in finding somewhere that offers LONG TERM rental on car/mini-van hires. Looking for roughly 3 months, August to November this year.

van rental

fhm555 · #9 12-02-2011, 02:54 AM

Didn't dig any deeper, but would this help?

Truck Rental | Moving Trucks | Rent a Truck | Rentals | Ryder

We used to rent medium size box vans from them for a trade show producer I worked for. We'd get them for 3 to 5 days usually, but did some shows where we had them for a couple weeks. They also have some kind of cargo van they say can get up to 25 MPG.

Last time wifey's truck was in the shop we ran a little ford SUV from Enterprise rent-a-car for a full month. Insurance paid it but I think the bill was knocking around 2K.