Renting a van for your move: what it costs and when it's worth it

The short answer

Renting a van starts at €14.99 for one hour or €24.99 for two hours with the Hertz service at IKEA stores, plus €0.29 per kilometer (rates read on 24 September 2026). It's worth it with a license, strong arms and a single trip from one home to the other; if your things have to wait, a home pickup wins.

The figures come from the public IKEA van rental page, which gives them as "starting from". Classic rental agencies work out the daily price on the spot, by date, model and length, and don't publish it: for those you need a simulation on their site.

I don't rent vans: I pick up people's things at home and take them to the warehouse. So this comparison was written by one of the two sides: read it with one eyebrow raised.

How much it costs to rent a van: the rates you can read today

At the IKEA stores around Milan (Carugate, Corsico and San Giuliano) the rental is run by Hertz, in two formats. Here's what the public page says on 24 September 2026.

The rental price isn't the price of the move

The headline number covers the van standing still. As soon as it moves, the kilometers arrive: two hours and 30 km make €24.99 plus €8.70, so €33.69 to start with, and the sofa hasn't gone up yet.

Then there's time, which in a move swells like pasta left in the water. The plan was two hours; then the elevator is small, the bed base won't turn on the landing, and two hours become four. On an hourly rental every extra slot is paid for.

And there are the two friends you promised to pay in pizza. They're free only on paper: you pay for the pizza, and when they move it'll be your Saturday that goes. Add parking, any damage to the van and the time to return it, and the bill is complete. To set it next to a moving company's, the market prices are in the post on how much a move costs.

What you need to rent a van

For vans up to 3.5 metric tons an ordinary car license (category B) is enough. Then each rental firm sets its own terms: with Hertz at IKEA stores you need a license held for at least a year and a credit card in the driver's name, and for self-service at least 23 years of age.

The credit card is the condition that stops the most people. A prepaid or debit card often won't do, and you find out at the desk with the wardrobe already dismantled in the hallway.

Check the return times too. A van taken in the evening and brought back late the next day can push you into the next slot, and the next slot doesn't ask whether it was the traffic's fault.

The van drives itself, the furniture doesn't

The rental gives you a vehicle. Everything else stays with you: packing, dismantling, carrying down, loading so nothing breaks on a bend, driving, unloading, carrying up.

It's real work, and with stairs and no elevator it becomes a sport. A well-made box weighs at most what one person can lift, and after the twentieth even the two pizza friends start checking the time.

If you decide to do it yourself, two things save you hours: take the furniture apart the day before and close the boxes properly. For the second there's the guide on how to pack your boxes.

Rented van or home pickup: the comparison

The two routes side by side. The figures for our pickup are in the online quote, because they change with the size and the day; what's here is the mechanism.

When renting a van is the better choice

For a move from one home to another on the same day, with an elevator, a short distance and someone to help, a rented van costs less than any service, ours included. In that case, rent it.

The same holds if you're over 23, have a credit card and some confidence reversing long vehicles.

When it's better to have your things picked up

When days or months pass between leaving one home and moving into the next. A rented van is no warehouse, unless you pay for it like a studio flat. We pick up, keep your things in storage and bring them back later; the step-by-step is in how it works.

It also makes sense if you have no license, aren't 23 yet, have no credit card, or have a fourth floor with no lift and zero friends free in June. That way the pizza friends stay friends.

If you need a full move, we do it ourselves, on a free quote: pickup, dismantling and transport with our own team. How it works is on the page on small moves in Milan. Dismantling and reassembly are added on a quote, packing done by us is an extra paid by the time, and boxes and tape can be ordered with the storage. If you only need a place for a few weeks, there's temporary storage in Milan.

Renting a van for a move in Milan: three things to know

The three IKEA stores with a rental desk are outside the city, in Carugate, Corsico and San Giuliano. Budget for the trip to collect the van and the one to take it back.

The center has Area C, which you pay to enter even in a rented van, and goods vehicles follow different rules from cars. Check them on the City of Milan website before you set off, not while double-parked outside the front door.

Loading outside your home needs space. In the narrow streets of the center a parked van quickly becomes a topic of conversation for the whole building.