Backloading vs a dedicated truck: which interstate option suits you?

Almost every interstate quote we send includes two or three options, and the question we hear most is simple: which one should I pick? The honest answer depends on three things, in this order: how fixed your dates are, how much you are moving and how you feel about your belongings sharing a truck with other people's.

This guide walks through each option the way our coordinators explain it on the phone, with sample prices from our busiest route, Brisbane to Sydney. Prices are illustrative only and vary with access, season and inventory.

How a dedicated truck works

A dedicated truck carries your load and nothing else. It is loaded once at your home, driven straight to your new address and unloaded once. Pick-up and delivery dates are fixed when you book. On runs longer than 1,500 km we roster two drivers so the truck can keep moving within fatigue laws.

Because the whole truck is yours, you pay for the whole trip: fuel, tolls, drivers and the empty run home. For a three-bedroom house from Brisbane to Sydney, our sample range is $3,950 to $4,700.

How backloading works

Every truck that delivers a family interstate has to come home. Backloading sells the space on that return run. Your belongings are wrapped, labelled with a coloured lot tag and loaded into a strapped section of the deck. Two or three other households share the truck, each in their own section.

You pay for cubic metres rather than the truck. The same three-bedroom house on a backload is a sample $2,390 to $2,990. The trade-off is time: pick-up is booked within a two to three day window, and delivery within five to seven days.

Where containers fit

Container moves sit in the middle. Your load goes into a sealed steel or timber container that travels by road or rail. They are popular for long routes such as Brisbane to Perth, where rail can cut the cost substantially if you can wait an extra week or two.

Choose a dedicated truck if

• Your settlement or lease dates are fixed and cannot move.
• You are moving a full family home of 45 cubic metres or more.
• You have high-value furniture, artwork or a piano that you want handled as little as possible.
• You need your belongings the day after you arrive, for school or work starts.

Choose backloading if

• You can live out of a suitcase for a week at the new end.
• You are moving a unit, a share house room or a part load.
• Saving 35 to 50 percent matters more than a fixed delivery day.
• You are happy to declutter first, since every cubic metre counts.

A backload is not a cheaper version of the same service. It is a different service with a different promise about time.

The questions to ask any removalist

Whichever option you choose, ask how your load is separated from others, whether there are depot transfers, how the inventory is checked, and whether you can track the truck. We answer all four in writing on every quote, and every interstate truck we run has live GPS tracking.

If you are still unsure, run both options through our route explorer, then call the office. A coordinator will look at your dates and inventory and tell you honestly which option makes sense.