Short answer: past about four days a week, weekly hire wins — and once you add the ABN contractor discount, it wins comfortably. For a five-day courier week on a 1 tonne van, the difference is roughly $150 a week, or around $7,500 a year.
Here's how that works out.
The starting numbers
Our 1 tonne van is $85 a day inc. GST. The 2 tonne is $100. Both are car licence, both automatic. Nothing about the vehicle changes when you move to a weekly arrangement — only what you pay for it.
Two discounts matter here, and they're both on our deals page:
- Long-term hire — up to 25% off the base rate for extended arrangements
- Contractor rate — an ongoing 10% for ABN contractors, applied on top
Where the break-even sits
Take the 1 tonne van at $85/day and run the week both ways.
| Days driven | Paying daily | Weekly, long-term rate | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 days | $170 | $446 | — |
| 3 days | $255 | $446 | — |
| 4 days | $340 | $446 | — |
| 5 days | $425 | $446 | roughly level |
| 6 days | $510 | $446 | $64 |
| 7 days | $595 | $446 | $149 |
On paper the crossover is around five days. But that table understates it, for one important reason.
The weekly rate buys you seven days, not five
If you're on a weekly arrangement, Saturday and Sunday are already paid for. Most full-time couriers pick up at least some weekend work, and a driver paying daily has to decide whether a Saturday shift is worth another $85. On a weekly rate, that decision disappears — the van's already yours.
Factor in even two weekend days a month and the crossover drops to about four days a week.
Add the contractor discount
If you hold an ABN — and most courier contractors do — the 10% contractor rate applies on top. That moves the weekly figure to roughly $400 a week on the 1 tonne van.
| Scenario | Vehicle | Per week | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily rate, 5 days | 1 tonne van | $425 | $22,100 |
| Daily rate, 6 days | 1 tonne van | $510 | $26,520 |
| Weekly, long-term | 1 tonne van | $446 | $23,192 |
| Weekly + ABN contractor | 1 tonne van | $401 | $20,852 |
Three things worth more than the rate
1. The van is there on Monday
The hidden cost of daily hire isn't the money, it's availability. Ring on a Monday morning in December and the yard may not have what you want. A weekly arrangement means the vehicle is allocated to you — you're not competing for it.
2. Servicing isn't your problem
On a hire vehicle, maintenance comes out of our pocket, not your week's takings. For an owner-driver weighing up buying a van, that's the line item that usually decides it.
3. One invoice, not twenty
Twenty daily receipts is twenty entries at tax time. A weekly or monthly invoice with a GST breakdown against your ABN is one. We set that up as standard on courier accounts.
When daily hire is still the right call
Honestly, plenty of the time:
- You drive one or two days a week — the daily rate is simply cheaper
- Your work is seasonal or unpredictable and you don't want a standing commitment
- You're covering a gap while your own vehicle is off the road
- You're trialling courier work before committing to it
There's no penalty for daily hire and no minimum. The point isn't that weekly is always better — it's that if you're already driving five or six days, you're paying for a weekly rate without getting one.
Work out your number
Ring 0402 157 360, tell us how many days a week you drive and whether you're on an ABN, and we'll quote the weekly figure against what you're paying now. If daily still works out cheaper for you, we'll say so.