How many crates?
Work out how many crates of beer to buy, and whether they fit in your car.
1. How many crates do you need?
According to the vanMelzen Sum, the ultimate formula for every party.
2. Will they fit in your car?
Enter your Dutch licence plate (kenteken). We work out how many crates fit in your boot, and how many with the rear seats folded.
Popular cars
The most common cars in the Netherlands, and how many crates of beer they take. See all cars.
| Model | Boot | Seats folded |
|---|---|---|
| Volkswagen Polo | ±5 crates | ±16 crates |
| Volkswagen Golf | ±6 crates | ±18 crates |
| Toyota Yaris | ±4 crates | ±13 crates |
| Opel Corsa | ±4 crates | ±16 crates |
| Kia Picanto | ±4 crates | ±14 crates |
| Ford Fiesta | ±4 crates | ±15 crates |
| Toyota Aygo | ±2 crates | ±11 crates |
| Peugeot 107/108 | ±3 crates | ±11 crates |
| Renault Clio | ±6 crates | ±15 crates |
| Ford Focus | ±6 crates | ±19 crates |
Frequently asked questions
How many crates of beer do I need for a party?
The vanMelzen Sum tells you: crates = 2 · ⌈(beer drinkers / 2 + 2) / 2⌉, always rounded up to an even number; for up to two beer drinkers, one crate each. For 20 beer drinkers that is 12 crates, for 50 beer drinkers 28.
How many crates of beer fit in an average car?
The boots of the twenty most common cars in the Netherlands hold ±3 to 6 crates of beer. With the rear seats folded, that goes up to ±11 to 16. A small city car like the Kia Picanto takes ±4 crates, a roomy estate like the Škoda Octavia Combi ±10.
How big is a crate of beer?
A standard Dutch crate (krat) with 24 bottles of 30 cl measures about 40 × 30 × 26 centimetres. That's just over 31 litres per crate.
How much does a crate of beer weigh?
A full crate with 24 bottles of 30 cl weighs about 17 kilos. Ten crates already add up to around 170 kilos of load.
How many crates am I allowed to carry?
That depends on the payload: the maximum permitted mass minus the kerb weight, both registered with the RDW (the Dutch vehicle authority). Passengers count too. Enter your licence plate and we'll work it out for your car.
Does this work with foreign licence plates?
No, only with Dutch licence plates (kentekens) registered with the RDW. With a foreign car, look up your model in the overview of all cars.
Why do fewer crates fit than the litres suggest?
Boot capacity is measured with 1-litre blocks that also fill corners and wheel arches. A crate doesn't fit there, so we count 50% of the stated capacity.
Do you store my licence plate?
No. Vehicle data comes live from the public RDW database. Even when you send feedback, we only keep the model details, not the licence plate. We count visits anonymously with Umami, a cookieless analytics tool on our own server: no cookies, no personal data and no licence plates.
Read more about the calculation on how we calculate.
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