Hiring a replacement work ute: what to check first

A tray (flat, often with drop sides) is easier to load from the side and takes long or awkward gear. A tub (the styleside body) keeps smaller loads contained and out of the weather with a cover.

A single cab gives you the longest load space. A dual cab seats a crew of up to five but trades away load length. If you're carrying an apprentice and sheet materials, you'll feel that trade-off.

Measure the gear that normally lives in your own toolbox, or just list it, and ask for the hire toolbox's internal dimensions. Check that it locks. A ute without one means loading and unloading your tools every night, or leaving them in the cab.

Every Drivable work vehicle comes with a toolbox fitted, so your tools are secured during the hire.

Payload is how much weight the ute can carry: its gross vehicle mass (GVM) minus its own weight. Everything counts towards it, including passengers, the toolbox and what's in it, racks and accessories. A ute that's fine for a sparky's kit can be over its limit with a load of pavers. Add up a typical day's load and compare.

If you tow a trailer, ask for the braked towing capacity, check the ute has a tow bar and the right plug for your trailer's lights and brakes, and remember the gross combination mass: the most the ute and the loaded trailer can weigh together. A full tray and a full trailer can hit that limit before either one reaches its own.

Ladder racks or a roof rack save a lot of strapping and second trips if you carry ladders, conduit or long lengths of timber. Ask whether they're fitted, and what they're rated to carry.

In NSW, a standard car licence (class C) covers vehicles up to 4.5 tonnes GVM. Most utes sit well inside that. If you're looking at a larger cab-chassis truck instead, check its GVM against your licence.

Call your insurer before you hire anything. Ask whether your policy, or the other driver's insurer if you weren't at fault, covers a replacement vehicle, for how long, and what they need from the hire company. Some insurers have their own arrangements, and it's much easier to sort out before the hire than after.

Ask the workshop for a realistic date, then add a margin, because parts delays happen. Hiring by the week or month is usually simpler than extending day by day. Drivable hires work utes by the day, over a weekend, by the week or by the month.

• Tray or tub, single or dual cab: which fits your load and your crew?
• Toolbox: is one fitted, does it lock, and does your gear fit?
• Payload: does a normal day's load, people included, fit under it?
• Towing: capacity, tow bar, plug, and the combined limit.
• Racks: fitted, and rated for what you carry?
• Insurance: what does your own insurer cover?

See the work utes and their spec tables, or read about ute hire in Sydney.