You are not really going to question if a fully assembled couch or dresser would fit into your Ford Fiesta. But with the self-assembly pieces, for which IKEA is so well known, you can very often take furniture home with you in your car.
However, various circumstances may get in the way of this easy solution to transporting your new piece home. Below, it is explained how to best ready your car for a trip to IKEA as well as what research to do beforehand.
Much of IKEA’s furniture will fit in the average-sized car, although the back seats will likely need to be down. This is part of IKEA’s marketing strategy. The vehicle and item in question will ultimately determine if the item can be taken home in the car. Packaging dimensions are available online.
IKEA Furniture Can Fit in Cars
Convenience Is Crucial to the Brand
The average length of a car is about 14.7 ft and the average width of a car is about 5.8 ft. These are the approximate measurements taken into consideration when IKEA designs the packaging of their merchandise.
IKEA offers a delivery service for which they charge a fee. However, they are not going to design their items in such a way that it precludes their customers from taking their purchases home with them.
While this would, theoretically, increase their profit, in reality, it would lose them too much business and would eliminate one of their stand-out features.
Factors Influencing if IKEA Will Fit in Your Car
Yet, despite IKEA’s actions to ensure that their products can be taken home by their clients, the item or items you purchase as well as the car you are using may impact whether the furniture can fit in your car.
Your car may not be the average size referenced by IKEA. Even if your car is, it may not have seats that go down or the space in the back may differ from the norm.
The item you buy can also make or break your plan to fit furniture into your car. For example, a bed frame or a wardrobe would take up much more space than a single chair or a crib.
As far as the sizing of the product, IKEA packages their furniture in a way that makes the boxes as flat as possible. This process is called flat-packing and makes transporting these packages much easier.
To make a flat package flat, though, width and length must often be increased, which may make fitting items in your car harder.
You most likely do not have to worry, though. If your car is of average size and if the seats can be lowered, you should be able to transport most of your IKEA purchases home in your own vehicle—although it might have to be one or two items at a time.
IKEA Lists Package Dimensions
If you are worried about fitting an IKEA item or items into your car, it is possible to look up the dimensions to make absolutely sure that you are able to transport them before you head to the store to make your purchases.
- Find the item you would like to bring home.
- Click on its name.
- Scroll past its photos to the “Measurements” section. Click on this.
- Scroll down further to the “Packaging” dropdown menu.
It is possible that the item comes in a few different packages. If it does, the packaging section will tell you how many, what specific parts are contained within them, as well as the dimensions for each package.
I have compiled an extensive list of the average sizes and numbers of boxes for each furniture category.
Tips for Taking Home IKEA Furniture
Looking up the dimensions of the package beforehand is a great way to save time and trouble at IKEA. First, though, you must measure your car, since estimating or guessing would not be wise in this situation.
To measure your car, put the seats down and measure the length, width, as well as height available to you.
Another way to save space while transporting IKEA furniture is to only bring yourself or one other person. Although IKEA is a fun place to visit with friends or family, the inability to put your seats down will cost you a good amount of space.
No matter how thoroughly you empty out your car, fitting an entire room of furniture will most likely not work. It is wise to take multiple trips in this scenario or perhaps ship the biggest pieces to your home (be sure to make the purchase in-store, though, as online orders sometimes have delivery issues).
To save on gas and time, instead of making multiple trips or shipping the items, it is possible to rent a trailer and use this. Before deciding on renting a trailer, though, make sure that the price of the trailer does not exceed the gas money needed for two trips or the shipping cost.
If you foresee yourself having to place items so that they are sticking out of a window or are likely to hit yourself or a passenger the way they are positioned, it is wise to take a second trip or have the item or items delivered.
The same goes for if your rear window cannot be seen out of and you do not have a backup camera.
Safety must always take priority.
Assembled Furniture Less Likely to Fit
To save time on assembling furniture, you may be able to take home the item as-is. Unfortunately, unlike packaged IKEA furniture, assembled furniture is a shape that is less conducive to fitting in your car.
One way to see if this will work is to visit the website and look for the dimensions of the item assembled. This should be the very last picture under the name of the item. This should let you know if the item will fit in your car.
It is very unlikely, though, that a large item such as a bed frame will fit in your car. For items such as these, shipping or fitting them in flat-packed, separate boxes will have to do.
There are also circumstances under which you may wish to return your assembled item. While you don’t need the original packaging to make the return, it might be in your best interests to disassemble the item and put it back in some kind of box to fit it in your car.
Sources
https://www.ikea.com/au/en/customer-service/services/will-it-fit-in-my-vehicle-pube0aff5f0
https://www.thezebra.com/resources/driving/average-car-size/