Van rental in Paris

We rent vans in Paris in three sizes, from the compact Renault Kangoo to the large Iveco Daily, and we deliver whichever one you book to your door. Most people approaching a van rental in Paris fix on the wrong detail. The question that decides moving day is size.

Too small and you make three trips. Too big and you're reversing a long van down a one-way street near the Marais. Get the size right first, and almost everything else about renting a van here stays straightforward, including getting it to you.

Which van size you actually need

The fleet splits into three sizes, and the gap between them is wider than the names suggest.

Small van: Renault Kangoo

The Kangoo gives you around three to four cubic metres behind a low load floor. That's right for a studio clear-out, a single room of furniture, or the flat-pack wardrobe that wouldn't fit in a taxi. Payload reaches close to 900 kilos on the longer version, comfortably more than you'll carry up a Paris staircase in a day.

Mid-size van: Renault Trafic

The Trafic is the mid-size van, and the one most movers reach for. The standard length holds close to six cubic metres, the long-wheelbase version nearer nine, behind a side door wide enough to take a sofa and rear doors that open to 270 degrees. A one-bedroom flat, bed and all, usually goes in a single load. Our Renault Trafic rental page lists the exact load lengths if you want to measure the awkward pieces first.

Large van: Iveco Daily

The Iveco Daily is the large van, and the size jump is real. The biggest panel version runs to almost twenty cubic metres, which is a full apartment or several rooms of bulky furniture in one trip instead of three. It's more van than a single-room move needs, so book the Iveco Daily only when the volume genuinely calls for it.

Most single moves inside Paris fit the Trafic, and that's where we'd start. Step up only when you're clearing a whole flat in one go, or moving something you'd rather not take apart, like a wardrobe or a three-seater sofa. The Kangoo is the honest pick for the opposite case: when you're tempted to book big just in case, but really have a car's worth of boxes.

What you need to drive one

All three vans sit at or under 3.5 tonnes, which a standard category B licence covers, the same one you use for a car. There's no C1 or commercial category to add.

At pickup, bring:

• a full driving licence
• a passport or ID card
• a payment card in the driver's name

The card is where we differ from most van desks. A debit card is fine, and we don't place a deposit hold on it. Traditional firms tend to freeze a large sum against a van for the whole rental, which is the part that catches people out on a category that usually carries a bigger deposit than a car.

Driving a van in central Paris

A van changes how the city drives. Inside the Périphérique the streets are tight and parking is scarce, so the smaller the van, the easier the day. The compact Kangoo threads through the Marais much like a car, while the Daily asks you to plan turning circles and height, especially in older courtyards and underground car parks with a two-metre bar.

Paris also keeps a low-emission zone inside the Périphérique, in force on weekdays, and the restrictions fall on older, higher-emission vehicles. If you're renting an older diesel van, check its Crit'Air rating before you drive into the centre. Ours are recent enough to meet the rules in force now, so you can load up in central Paris on a weekday without working out the calendar.

For loading, a short stop with the hazards on is normal on most residential streets, though keep clear of marked delivery and disabled bays. The low load floor on the smaller vans saves your back more than careful lifting ever will.

Getting the van to you

This is the part most rental companies make harder than it needs to be. The large firms run on depots and airport desks, which means collecting a van on moving day and getting yourself back there afterwards. We deliver instead. Tell us the address and the time. The van turns up there, and we collect it when you're done. On a day you're already carrying boxes down four flights, not having to add a trip out to an airport depot or a branch across town is the real difference.

Mileage is unlimited on every gorentcar van, which counts for more on a van than a car. A move is rarely just across one arrondissement, and an unlimited allowance means a run out to the suburbs costs no more than a trip across town.