With driver
Van with driver in Dubai
The van turns up with somebody who already knows the roads, the loading bays and where you can and cannot park. No UAE licence needed, and nobody on your team loses a day behind the wheel.
Driver from AED 250 per day
No licence needed
Hourly or daily
Any van in the fleet
Who it suits
Four reasons people take the driver
No UAE licence
Visitors, new arrivals waiting on a licence transfer, or anyone whose home-country licence is not accepted here. The driver solves it entirely.
The chiller van
The 3-ton chiller needs a heavy vehicle licence, which most customers do not hold. Taking it with a driver is the usual route.
Staff time is worth more
A day of your technician’s time costs more than AED 250. Send them in a taxi and let our driver handle the van and the traffic.
Awkward runs
Multi-stop delivery days, early market collections, or anything involving a loading dock you have never seen before.
The day
How a day with one of our drivers runs
A driver booking works best when both sides know how the hours are counted and who decides the order of the stops.
The driver arrives with the van at the booked start time, and the hours start then, not at the first stop. Waiting counts as well: an hour at a loading dock, or outside a tower while the service lift is booked, is an hour of the day. A list of stops that each involve waiting uses up the day far faster than the kilometres suggest.
You set the priorities and the driver sets the route. Tell the driver which drops are fixed to a time and which can move, and let them order the rest around traffic, Salik gates and access. A driver who knows the Deira drop must land before ten can plan the whole day around it; one who finds out at eleven cannot.
The full day on the rate card runs up to nine hours, which matches the eight-hour working day set by UAE labour law with room for a break. On Fridays the midday prayer falls in the middle of that day, so a Friday job should leave space for it instead of packing drops straight through lunchtime.
Before the day
What to have ready before the driver arrives
Ten minutes of preparation the evening before is the difference between a driver who starts working and one who starts phoning.
A list of stops in the order you want them, with a map pin for each. Many Dubai addresses are descriptions rather than numbers, and a pin saves the first phone call at every drop.
A name and a phone number for every stop, and the person who signs for the goods. If a stop needs a gate pass, a loading bay booking or a building permit, those are often issued against the vehicle and the person driving it, so ask us for the plate number and the details the site needs a day ahead, and pass them on.
The paperwork for the load: delivery notes, return instructions, and any gate pass that has already been issued. If the job needs people to carry things up stairs, book them for the same window as the van. For a home move, the moving van page sets out which van suits which size of home.
Rates
Van plus driver
The driver charge is added to the van’s normal hire rate. A Hiace with a driver for a day is AED 180 plus AED 250, so AED 430 before VAT.
| Driver charge | Amount | Covers |
|---|---|---|
| Per hour, minimum 3 hours | AED 60 | Driving and vehicle handling |
| Half day, up to 5 hours | AED 150 | Driving and vehicle handling |
| Full day, up to 9 hours | AED 250 | Driving and vehicle handling |
| Overtime, per hour | AED 40 | Beyond the booked period |
| Extra helper for loading | AED 150 per day | Carrying and loading only |
Your car licence covers these
These need a heavier licence, or one of our drivers
Almost every booking with a driver involves one of the vehicles below that line, or a van that nobody on the team is free to drive. The driver is AED 250 for a full day, and your own licence plays no part in it. Licence categories belong to the RTA and are revised from time to time, so if your situation is unusual, check your own category with the RTA before you book.
Add the van’s own rate from the rate card. On monthly contracts a dedicated driver is priced separately and works out well below the daily figure.
Compared
Your own staff behind the wheel, or ours
The driver charge is easy to see on the invoice. The cost of doing without one is spread across the day, which is why it gets underestimated.
A Hiace driven by your own team costs AED 180 for the day; with our driver it is AED 430. The AED 250 difference buys back a full day of the person who would otherwise be driving, and on a delivery or installation job that person is usually worth more doing the work at each stop than sitting in traffic between them.
The less visible costs sit with whoever drives. Salik and any traffic fines picked up during the hire are billed to you either way, but a driver who knows which roads carry gates, where a van may stop to unload and which docks need booking picks up fewer of them. If there is an accident, the UAE requires a police report before the insurer acts, and that afternoon is spent at the scene and in paperwork rather than on the job. The damage and accidents guide sets out that sequence.
Self-drive still makes sense when the route is simple, the team member already drives a van for a living, and the vehicle is one a car licence covers. Everything else leans towards the driver.
Trucks
Trucks with a driver: docks, gates and timings
Most bookings for the 5-tonne and 10-tonne trucks go out with our driver, and the reasons go beyond the licence.
A truck driver’s day is shaped by places a van driver rarely deals with: warehouse docks that load to booked slots, free zone gates that need the vehicle and driver registered before arrival, and building service entrances with height limits a truck body can fail. Send the addresses when you book, so the driver can check access and the paperwork the gates need is arranged in advance.
Road rules for trucks have also moved in 2026. Dubai currently allows trucks around the clock under an easing extended until further notice, with the Airport and Al Shindagha tunnels still restricted. The Dubai truck timings guide keeps the current position and the date it was last checked, and a driver planning a fixed-slot delivery works from it.
Finally, a heavy vehicle is expensive to get wrong. Reversing a 7.5 m body into a tight dock, or backing out of a street it should never have entered, is where most truck damage happens, and it is the part of the job an experienced truck driver takes off your hands.
Scope
What the driver does, and what they do not
Worth reading before you book. Most disagreements in this business come from assuming the driver is also a removal man.
Included
- Driving the van for the booked period
- Securing and strapping the load
- Reversing, docking and parking the vehicle
- Basic help getting items on and off the van
Not included
- Carrying furniture up and down stairs
- Packing, wrapping or dismantling
- Full house moves on their own
- Fuel and Salik, which are still billed to you
If you need lifting done, book the helper at AED 150 a day and tell us how many floors and whether there is a lift. We would rather price it properly than have two people argue on the day.
Summer
The midday break and summer jobs
From 15 June to 15 September, UAE law stops outdoor work in direct sunlight in the middle of the day. That changes how summer loading is planned.
Under the midday break set each year by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, work under direct sun in open areas is not allowed between 12:30 pm and 3:00 pm on any day of that period, weekends and holidays included. Employers who break the rule are fined AED 5,000 for each worker, up to AED 50,000. It covers our drivers and helpers, and it covers any labourers you hire for the job just the same.
Driving between stops is not the issue. Loading and unloading in an open yard, on a pavement or at an unshaded site is. A summer day with a driver works best when the heavy loading happens before 12:30 pm or after 3:00 pm with the driving in between, or when loading takes place inside a covered dock or warehouse.
It is also simply the safer way to work. Two and a half hours of carrying in July heat is where people get hurt, and a delivery plan built around the break rarely takes any longer overall.
Working hours
Why a driver cannot simply keep going
Long days happen. How long they can run is set by law, not by us, and it is worth knowing before a job is planned.
UAE labour law sets a normal working day at eight hours, or 48 hours a week, and limits overtime to two hours on any one day. Across any three weeks, total working time including overtime cannot pass 144 hours. So a job booked for a full day can usually stretch by an hour or two when it runs late, but not into an open-ended evening.
For one late day that rarely causes a problem: tell us as soon as the job is running over and the extension is arranged. It matters on multi-day jobs and monthly contracts, where a week of twelve-hour days is not something any driver can legally work. Plan long projects around realistic daily hours, or split the work across two drivers, and the schedule holds.
Night hours carry their own cost under the law, which sets a higher overtime rate for work between 10 pm and 4 am. If a job has to run overnight, such as a delivery into a mall fit-out after closing, say so when booking so it is priced for the hours it will actually take.
Driver questions
Do the drivers speak English?
Yes, and most also speak Hindi, Urdu or Arabic. Tell us which you would prefer when you book and we will match it where we can.
What if the job runs late?
Overtime is AED 40 an hour and we will keep going as long as the driver’s legal hours allow. Message us as soon as you know — it is easier to extend than to scramble.
Can I book a driver for a van I already rent from you?
Yes. If a monthly customer is short a driver for a few days, we can put one of ours on your van at the daily rate.
Is the driver insured to carry my goods?
The vehicle is comprehensively insured; goods in transit is a separate cover. If your load is high value, tell us before booking and we will confirm in writing what is and is not covered.
Can the driver take the van outside Dubai?
Yes, to Sharjah, Ajman and Abu Dhabi. Say so when you book so the day is costed correctly — a run to Abu Dhabi and back is most of a driver’s day on its own.
Is this van and driver rental?
Yes. Van with driver and van and driver rental are the same arrangement: our vehicle, our driver, and the licence is our responsibility rather than yours. Useful when the vehicle is past what a car licence covers, or nobody on your team holds the right category.
Can we have the same driver every day on a monthly contract?
Where we can, yes. A regular route runs better with a driver who already knows the stops, the loading bays and the people who sign, so monthly contracts are staffed with the same driver whenever the rota allows, and you are told in advance if cover is needed.
Book a van and a driver
Tell us the van, the date, the stops and roughly how many hours. We will confirm a driver and a total.