Funeral transport can be a formal or fruity as you like.

The standard is shiny black hearse – with or without limos for the family. There are other options available like a motorbike with hearse sidecar, a white VW campervan hearse, a Buddhist temple hearse, a Hollywood style stretched Cadillac, a dramatic glass sided carriage pulled by plumed horses and even a vintage lorry that can provide a ‘stage’ for decoration – eg for goalposts and team colours.

Like every other aspect of funeral planning, you can do it yourself if there’s an estate car around or simply hire or borrow a van.

Funeral directors can organise transport for you and provide drivers who will also double as coffin bearers to carry the coffin from the hearse into the crematorium, church or to the graveside.

See our Marketplace for suppliers and ideas.

World record maker

Paul Sinclair of Motorcycle Funerals broke his own world record – again – in 2013 for the fastest motorcycle hearse. See it on film: quick 46 second clip. “We only hire out high performance and properly engineered full length hearses,” said Paul, explaining why this is more than a stunt. “Some funeral directors have been embarrassed and frustrated by non-rigid hearses. Our high speed test demonstrates that our vehicles are well up to the job.”M