Traditional rental desks sell days. If a delivery run takes ninety minutes, a 24-hour rate plus a fuel policy plus an excess waiver is poor value, and returning the van by 17:00 forces the job into someone else's schedule. Hourly hire removes that mismatch: you book the window, you pay for the window.
Two ways to hire
- Self-drive from £18/hr — you drive, your licence is checked online before collection.
- Van + driver from £18/hr — a vetted driver comes with the vehicle as one bundled rate.
- Driver only from £14/hr — a licensed driver for a vehicle you already own or lease.
Which vehicle class do you need?
| Class | Payload / volume | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Small van | up to 500 kg · 4 m³ | Parcels, single items, studio moves |
| Medium van | up to 1,000 kg · 8 m³ | One-bedroom moves, trade deliveries |
| Luton (tail-lift) | up to 1,200 kg · 15 m³ | House moves, pallets, white goods |
| Refrigerated | chilled 0–8°C · 6 m³ | Food, pharmacy, floristry |
Licence rules that catch people out
A standard UK category B licence covers vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes gross, which includes every van class above. Drivers who passed after 1 January 1997 cannot tow a heavy trailer on category B alone. If your licence carries recent endorsements, the online check may return a decline for self-drive — in that case, hiring the same van with one of our drivers keeps the job moving on the same day.
Mileage, fuel and returns
Hourly hire includes 200 miles per day; beyond that, excess mileage is charged at £0.60 per mile so long-distance work is priced honestly. Vehicles must be returned to the same pickup address, refuelled to the level shown on the collection sheet. Every collection and return is photographed in the app, which is what protects you from damage disputes later.
Insurance and deposits
Cover is quoted alongside the vehicle rather than sold at the counter, so the price you see includes it. Zero-deposit hire is available: instead of a large card hold, a 25% waiver fee is added to the booking, which suits businesses that cannot have working capital frozen for a week. If you carry your own commercial motor policy, upload the certificate and compliance verifies it before collection.
What hourly hire costs in practice
A three-hour self-drive small van run is roughly £54 plus cover. The same job with a driver included is around £54, and typically finishes faster because loading is done by someone who does it every day. A full-day Luton move with a driver usually lands between £190 and £260 depending on distance and hours.
Booking rules
- Book at least six hours ahead so a compliant vehicle and driver can be allocated.
- Identity verification is completed online in a couple of minutes for self-drive.
- You can extend a live booking from the dashboard; extra hours bill at the same rate.
- Free cancellation applies up to the booking's cut-off.
Hourly hire vs a courier
If you are moving one parcel, a courier from £2.99 beats any van. Hourly hire wins when there are many items, multiple stops, fragile or high-value goods, or when you need control of the timing. Businesses often run both from the same Drivri account: couriers for parcels, hourly vans for the jobs a network cannot handle.