what's the best way (and cheapest) way to get Ikea furniture? When there's no Ikea near you?

[MommyDOK]

I live about 4 hours from an IKEA.  I thought it would be worth it to rent a truck and drive up and get a bunch of stuff.  But I'm looking at prices and it's going to cost over $1000, which would negate the purpose of going up there to get furniture.  Anyone done this?  Any recommendations?

ANd since there is no IKEA in my state, I don't have to pay sales tax, if I do shipping through them, but wondering how I manage that w/ my own truck.  Thanks for any help. 

[Mosaic]

Lots of people near me would rent a truck and drive 4.5 hours to go to Ikea. I also know of friends that got together and shared the cost of the truck for an Ikea trip.

You may want to look at one-way rental costs, if you haven't already.

[mumkimum]

Our closest Ikea (around 3 hours away) actually offers decent delivery fees - it was around $100 to have them deliver a certain amount.  We purchased it in store, they set it aside and had deliveries coming to our city weekly.  We called them first to find out how it worked, and it ended up being the best deal (way cheaper than renting something - the $100-110 fit 12 boxes/units with a sofa = six boxes, other stuff being 1 or however many boxes actually made it up).  Even if they don't go out to your city, there might be some halfway place they do deliver to that would be a savings for you.  

Depending on what you're getting, a big van could fit what you need and cost less than a truck(Uhaul has them in our area).  I do think a lot of Ikea's have relationships with shipping places or truck rentals to make it convenient for people to do what you want to - again, I'd call and check with them.

[Denvergirlie]

$1K for a 1-2 day truck rental? You need to call around, that's an outrageous amount for a truck rental. Call Ryder, they don't do drop off's in other locations, but you rent and return to same location, then it's down right cheap. Also, can look into a cargo van or the like.

[MommyDOK]

Wow, that's so cool.  Where do you live?  And what IKEA do you use?  I called the Ikea nearest me (chicago) and she said she had never heard of anything like that. 

THanks!

Originally Posted by mumkimum 

Our closest Ikea (around 3 hours away) actually offers decent delivery fees - it was around $100 to have them deliver a certain amount.  We purchased it in store, they set it aside and had deliveries coming to our city weekly.  We called them first to find out how it worked, and it ended up being the best deal (way cheaper than renting something - the $100-110 fit 12 boxes/units with a sofa = six boxes, other stuff being 1 or however many boxes actually made it up).  Even if they don't go out to your city, there might be some halfway place they do deliver to that would be a savings for you.  

Depending on what you're getting, a big van could fit what you need and cost less than a truck(Uhaul has them in our area).  I do think a lot of Ikea's have relationships with shipping places or truck rentals to make it convenient for people to do what you want to - again, I'd call and check with them.

[mumkimum]

We're near cleveland in ohio - and I'm talking about the pittsburgh ikea.  They get a lot of business from here so they've had things like that in place for awhile.  And there's lots of info and assistance around the checkouts for taking your stuff home - places to call if it doesn't all fit, etc.  

Have you checked both (there are 2, right?) chicago ikea locations?  Assuming one isn't significantly farther away from you than the other.

[mum4boys]

It would be a lot cheaper to rent a truck once there even with paying for gas on the other vehicle that you would drive up.

I have found lots and lots of Ikea furniture on craig's list for really cheap.

[zebra15]

Instead of renting a u-haul type truck depending on what you are getting why not try looking at a one-day rental from a car rental place. They rent vans and pick ups etc.  Possibly that type og vehicle would do the job and be much cheaper than a uhaul.

[ArtsyMomma]

It really depends what you are getting. Don't forget most of the furniture is 'flat-packed'. DP and I go to ikea (3 or 4 hrs) and can usually fit everthing we want either inside a car, or tied to a roof rack. Uhaul rents pick-up trucks and vans for like $30 a day.

[texmati]

flame me, but I would get used furniture on cl before buying new ikea stuff any day. I don't find that it's meant to last at. all.

[redvlagrl]

Our nearest Ikea (2 hrs) delivers for $120 for up to 3 (i think) pieces. Choose carefully. Some of the stuff is terrible (billy bookcases, for example), but the solid wood stuff is good.

[sunnysandiegan]

I love Ikea products! Not everything is terrific, though. My general rule of thumb is no moving parts (unless it is the higher quality/price items there) and we've had great luck with everything we've purchased.

Depending on what you are buying, you may just be able to use whatever vehicle you own. For many years, I only had access to Ikea when I flew across country to visit my mom. I managed to buy plenty. LOL Then, Ikea came to the greater Los Angeles area and it was 2-3 hours by car. I have always had a small car and I still managed to buy furniture. Fold-down seats, empty the car of all non-essentials, evaluate the packaging before purchasing, etc. Most everything is flat-packed, so you can really fill a vehicle!

That said, you have put all the furniture together yourself. It gets old if you buy a ton of stuff all at once. Buying used is easier because it is already put together for you. Tighten everything up and wipe it down and suddenly it looks nearly-new again!

[JudiAU]

Ikea is great for lots of things but IMHO pretty much nothing would be worth renting a truck, unless you where renovating a kitchen.. Odds are whatever you wanted would be out-of-stock and they won't confirm over the phone.

[JudiAU]

That is hilarious. We love Billy bookcases and have I don't know ten of them? Genius product. We have a whole packed wall of them plus a whole corner with another six with custom door option. Almost all of our toys are stored there.

[GuildJenn]

Originally Posted by sunnysandiegan 

I love Ikea products! Not everything is terrific, though. My general rule of thumb is no moving parts (unless it is the higher quality/price items there) and we've had great luck with everything we've purchased.

That's our experience. We have about 12 of the Billy bookcases & love 'em - they're in a colour no longer offered and our friends and we had an agreement that if one of us caved to switch finishes the other got to buy the old ones, and we held out longer. They haven't sagged a bit and some have been through three moves. We have some expedit units for toy storage.  We also have chairs and a dining rm table we got from Craigslist, coffee table and bench, some other storage units - all good. The only two items I've owned with drawers didn't do as well.

Our Ikea offers delivery for about $90 for up to I think 15? items.

[ArtsyMomma]

We have quite a bit of IKEA furniture also, and it has held up much better than the stuff I bought at the local furniture store, and it was a fraction of the price. We have desks, benches, wall mounted tables....

[wombatclay]

Our house is "IKEA'd" LOL and it's lasted through three kiddos and two moves so far... it's serious value though I agree, you need to go to a store and actually handle the product to decide if it's going to work for you.  I find the children's stuffed toys to fade in the wash pretty quickly, and the particle board items to sag/splinter, but for the most part we have no complaints.

We live about 5 hours from two different IKEAs and visit two or three times a year.  We can fit a fair amount in our minivan, but for one shopping trip we rented a Suburban from the local car rental place (this was when we were fitting three carseats across in a subaru wagon so cargo space was really limited even for flat pack).  If you're good at packing a vehicle, this might be an option for you too.  One way rentals are going to be more expensive than "in town", but you shouldn't be spending more than 70 dollars a day plus gas for a small Ryder or UHaul... of course, a 4 dollars a gallon that gas might add up.  When we looked into having a klippan sofa shipped to us (from the Philly IKEA or the Elizabeth NJ IKEA to central NY) the IKEA mediated shipping costs were over a thousand dollars (for freight!)... at that time we learned that there are people who will go to their local IKEA, pick up a pre-paid item, and ship it privately for an additional fee.  It wasn't a big enough savings for us at the time, but it may be worthwhile for you depending on where you are/what you want to get... it's actually a pretty common cottage industry in Alaska since there is no Alaska IKEA and IKEA wont ship there.  My brother and SIL love IKEA and often work with one of these private shippers (through craigslist I think?) to get furniture to their home.  LOL

~~~~~~~~Oh, the website should give you the product dimensions when packed... DOUBLE CHECK the space in your vehicle if you go that route... just a few weeks ago we had to unpack a bunkbed frame in the parking lot because it was literally a quarter inch too tall in the box to fit under our bench seat.

[amandaleigh37]

Be *very* careful if you do this. I have driven >1 1/2 hrs and purchased MANY items from IKEA over several years. On the last trip, I bought a few shelving units and a cubby storage unit. Because of the way everything is packed, it is not possible to inspect them before you leave... 2 of my items were damaged. It took many phone calls and complaining "up the ladder" to get them to send me the replacement parts - they kept telling me I had to drive back to the store to exchange it, which I thought was ridiculous.
So personally I will never buy furniture like that again unless I open the boxes before I leave for home and make sure nothing is cracked or damanged!

[applebutterlady]

I agree.  We have a few Ikea items, they were cheap enough, but also, have not held up well.  What we've found is that bc everything is piece-meal..buy the cabinet, extra for the door, extra for hinge, extra for this or that...it adds up, and Craigslist/used furniture stores or HOBO--in Chicago area (Home Owners Bargain Outlet...kinda like a Big Lots for house stuff) is cheaper price wise while being great quality.  We redid the kitchen, and the cabinets from IKEA were more than actual hardwood, already built nice ones from HOBO.