This question baffles me because it seems like a total non-issue to me as a European. How do Americans get stuff for their house around? Do you not have delivery or truck/van/trailer rental services, and are all your appliances (and not just fridges/freezers which are apparently hilariously big in the US) so American-sized that you can't fit them in an average family hatchback/crossover/SUV? Or do you regularly move all of your stuff from one house to another?

Dude, as an American I had all of my appliances delivered. The Home Depot guys showed up with a box truck. It’s free delivery too so why would you even need a truck…. In fact, you can get a lot of stuff delivered for free or very cheaply from Home Depot.

The truck in this picture is so shiny it’s clearly a vanity vehicle. I’m guessing it’s owned by a member of the US armed forces judging by the star on the side? American military personnel are known to bring their vehicles with them from the mainland, to Japan or Europe.

You rent a truck or pay for delivery just like 80% of North Americans do.

Also how often do you need to haul furniture, the rental cost will never come close to the price difference between a car and a truck.

I hate that you're being downvoted for asking a genuine question about cultural differences. Do better, Lemmy.

Yes companies deliver. This makes me wonder about something I've never thought of: do American shops not do this?

Aside from the free delivery of appliances others mentioned, I believe it is an EU law that a store that delivers whitegoods must also take the old one and properly dispose of it.

I ordered a new fridge lately. The delivery was free (I paid the extra €25 to have them install it and plug it in) and I had to clean the old fridge out before they arrived, but they took the old one down the same 3 flights of stairs they carried the new one up.

UK here. Yes you order an appliance and it gets delivered, and in some cases installed, by the retailer. If you have a plumber or kitchen fitter maybe they will collect it for you in their van. I'm sure you could save a bit of money on shipping if you collected it yourself, but not many people have the means to do so. And this way, if it's damaged in transit, the retailer are liable.

Hire a trailer? That's what I do here in Australia with my small car. It can tow a trailer with appliances and furniture just fine.

You can also hire small removalist trucks that you can drive with a standard license if you have a lot of stuff.

Lithuanian here. My brother in law brought a refrigerator and a standard size washing machine in his ~2006 Mazda 3.

Seats can be folded or sometimes removed altogether, you can drive with your trunk not fully closed, just make sure everything is secured well and anything protruding from your car is marked with reflectors or bright coloured strips of cloth.

Basically, yes. Appliances are delivered and installed, usually free of charge (read: the price of delivery and installation is just calculated into the price of the appliance). Same for furniture.

Most home improvement stores either offer a (paid) delivery service or you can rent a small van/truck to get your larger purchases home.

Trailer hitches are quite common too, allowing you to tow a simple trailer (which you can either buy or rent):

Uh... Ever heard of trailers?

..how much house work do you ACTUALLY do? You can't pay an extra $50 for delivery for that new washing machine you buy once a decade? I owned a house for fifteen years before downsizing and moving into condo life, and never once thought to myself gosh I wish I had a 6 ton gigantic truck to get stuff for my house around.

In Sweden many lumberyards, furniturestores and shops for appliances got trailers you can borrow for free. For people living more remote it's amazing what you can pack into a Volvo. That and you likely have a neighbour with a trailer.

Most household appliances I have ever bought fit in a Polo or similar sized cars, if you wrap the back seat bench.

For > 1.8 m and < 50 kg stuff I use a rack.

To be fair – the older generations of Polo were on the smaller side of compact cars. I've used VW Polo Variant, Mitsubishi Wagon R, Mercedes A, Hyundai I 10 and modern Polo myself.

If my car is too small, I ask family/friends/neighbors or rent a van.

Most shops that sell big appliances offer a delivery service as well.

I am not even european but all of my big appliances (refrigerator, stove, washing machine) were delivered to my home by the store I bought them from, either free of charge or super cheap, I can't remember. I've also bought bricks amd had them delivered to my doorstep.

Wagons can hold a huge amount of stuff. For everything else there's trailers available at most manned fuel stations and also loaner trailers available for chains selling large items.

If we do want a transport vehicle it will almost certainly be a van. Trucks are very rare where I am in Sweden.

Actually, we do have trucks and SUVs and pickups, too. Though they are usually a bit smaller than an F150 or RAM 3500, so we often use trailers if we need to transport larger items.

Folks living in the center of big cities (which I personally believe are a bit overrepresented in this sub) often live in flats where stuff like dishwashers and washing machines are already provided, so they don't need to transport that, or even don't need/have a car at all. For those, there are delivery services and light trucks that can be rented.

I think they are called hatchbacks in english(Kombi meine ich). You can fit most appliances into there when you fold the seats. That's how my parents always transported large things. For even larger things we just got a trailer.

Since I don't have a car I usually just get things delivered. And the guys who deliver it just drive vans.

Yeah, part of the business.

They often charge based on delivery distance or area, but we're not a massive country. Odds are you're within 10 miles of the shop.

We get large appliances delivered. Stuff like washing machines or smaller refrigerators easily fit in medium or large hatchbacks. I've comfortably transported a washing machine, crapload of fruits and veggies from the countryside, and my 20 kg dog in my Renault Laguna hatchback once.