An innovative new van hire service has launched in London. Streetvan is an extension of the popular and successful Streetcar service, which provides unmanned 24/7/365 car hire from a wide range of locations in London.

The way the service works is simple – you register to become a user and then have access to Streetvan’s fleet of VW Transporters, which are kept parked in reserved parking spaces in more than 50 locations around London.

You can make bookings on Streetvan’s website or over the phone and bookings can be made anything from 60 seconds to six months in advance. Collections and drop offs can be at anytime – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – unlike conventional hire services, as the collection/drop off process is completely automated and unmanned.

Each registered user has a smartcard that enables them to unlock the vans and deactivate their immobilisers – keys are kept in the glove box as they are no use without the Streetvan member’s smartcard and PIN.

Van rental rates start from £8.95 an hour and you can rent a van for anything from 1 hour to 6 months. Streetvan even permit vans to be taken abroad (unlike many rental companies), although this does incur extra charges.

Hourly van rental can be a boon for picking up eBay purchases or large items from shops – the only downside is that Streetvan is only available in London!

If you need hourly van hire outside London, the only company I know of that offers this service is Europcar — visit our hourly van hire page for more information.