What do GreenMobility, Share Now and Freetrailer cost for a move?
Looking for the best car-sharing option in Copenhagen for your move? Renting a city car like GreenMobility or Share Now to pick up moving boxes typically costs between 150 and 400 kr. per trip once you factor in per-minute rates, city traffic queues and the hunt for a parking spot.
On paper, driving a shared car to a DIY store for standard cardboard boxes might look cheaper than booking an all-in-one logistics solution with moving box rental. But the raw, unfiltered maths falls apart fast. A move is hassle enough already, so here are the real prices and hidden fees of playing removal man in a city car.
Hard numbers from Copenhagen reality
Takeaway: Picking up moving boxes in Copenhagen takes 65-85 minutes on average and is slowed down by heavy traffic, which makes per-minute city car rates disproportionately expensive.
Before you book a shared car in Copenhagen for your move, it's worth knowing the logistics of the trip:
- Traffic speed: The average driving speed in central Copenhagen drops sharply at rush hour (15:00-17:00) and often crawls along at under 25 km/h (according to traffic data from the TomTom Traffic Index).
- Box weight: 30 flat-packed standard moving boxes in thin corrugated cardboard weigh 15-20 kg in total.
- Time spent: A trip from the inner city (e.g. Vesterbro) to a DIY store – including parking, finding the goods, loading the car and driving back – takes 65-85 minutes on average.
The honest maths: per-minute rates and city cars
Takeaway: Car-sharing per-minute rates add up fast, because heavy traffic and a lack of parking make the trip to and from the DIY store much longer.
GreenMobility and Share Now: when the meter runs in traffic
Both Share Now and GreenMobility charge per-minute rates that typically range from 3 to 6 kr. per minute. If you drive about 6 kilometres from Nørrebrogade to Bauhaus in Sydhavnen, the trip easily takes 30 minutes each way in afternoon traffic. With the meter running in the queue on Åboulevard, and then a search for a legal parking spot in the City of Copenhagen's red or green paid zones, you quickly hit a couple of hours.
| Transport | Start/sign-up | Price per minute/hour | Hidden costs for a move | Total price (estimated 2-hour shopping trip) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share Now (Free2move) | 0 kr. | ~4.00 kr. / min | Drop-off fee outside the zone, higher excess. | ~480 kr. (excl. boxes) |
| GreenMobility | 0 kr. | Hour package: ~175 kr. | Extra per-minute rate if you run over, zone restrictions. | ~350 kr. (excl. boxes) |
| Freetrailer | 0 kr. (in store) | 0 kr. (rental) | 49 kr. insurance, late return (300 kr. fine). | 49 kr. (+ requires a car with a tow bar) |
| Heybox delivery | 0 kr. | 0 kr. | None. Everything is included in the box rental. | 0 kr. (built into the product) |
The hassle of fetching moving boxes yourself (and why the cargo bike is worse)
Takeaway: Cargo bikes and borrowed trailers avoid the per-minute rate, but you pay instead with physical hauling, hidden insurance fees and a real risk of damaging the cardboard in transit.
You might have thought about skipping the car entirely to save money. But let's just say it: riding 30 flat-packed cardboard boxes on an overloaded cargo bike into a headwind over Knippelsbro is a recipe for a bad Saturday.
When you pick up a "free" trailer at Silvan, IKEA or Pelican Self Storage, it rarely ends up at zero. The real Freetrailer price often includes unexpected costs such as a booking fee, mandatory insurance and steep late fees – and on top of that, you need access to a car with a tow bar. However you transport them, you pay with your own physical effort, and you risk damaging the thin DIY-store boxes before you've even folded them out.
Expert insight: avoid the "return trap"
TL;DR: You often pay for transport twice, because few people have room to store empty cardboard boxes and end up driving them to the recycling centre afterwards.
When people compare DIY options, they only count the drive to pick up the boxes. The real pitfall is the invisible cardboard waste. Thin DIY-store cardboard rarely survives many trips, and even if it does, few Copenhageners have room to store a mountain of folded boxes in their new flat.
When you finally sink into the sofa after spending hours emptying your moving boxes, you're left with 15-20 kg of cardboard that has to go. So you need to budget for another shared car and more travel time to take the leftovers to Borgervænget or Sydhavn recycling centre. That's the true, hidden price of "cheap" cardboard.
The alternative: skip the trip to the DIY store
Takeaway: You avoid wasted time, surprise per-minute charges and the hassle of cardboard waste by choosing an integrated solution where professional moving boxes are delivered to and picked up from your address.
Once you add up the shared car and hidden fees, the price quickly exceeds heybox's all-inclusive solution – see the full maths in buying vs. renting moving boxes. Our concept is simple: same boxes, many moves, less waste.
Our solution is built on sturdy, professional moving boxes made from strong, double-wall corrugated cardboard (with a high ECT rating), which allows column stacking all the way to the ceiling without risk of structural collapse. They have a self-locking envelope base – no tape needed.
Just pick a date that suits you, and we deliver the boxes straight to your kerb (or carry them all the way into your home). No surprises, no city cars at rush hour, and no clean-up afterwards, because we simply pick them up again at your new address.
We deliver, you pack, we pick up.
Ready for a move that just works? Skip the car rental and read more about moving box rental here.
FAQ: car sharing and moving
GreenMobility typically costs between 4 and 6 kroner per minute, unless you buy a prepaid hour package. The per-minute rate applies from when you unlock the car until you end the trip in an approved parking zone. That means you also pay the full per-minute rate while you're stuck in traffic or while the car is parked outside the DIY store.
Yes, you can rent vans like a Peugeot Boxer or Fiat Ducato from Share Now for a move, but it often takes a 2-hour or 4-hour package to avoid time pressure. Bear in mind that 30 regular cardboard boxes take up a surprising amount of space, even flat-packed, so standard city cars like a Fiat 500 or Peugeot e-208 are rarely big enough.
Freetrailer is free to borrow for the first 3 hours when collected in store, but in practice most people pay a 29 kr. booking fee plus 49 kr. for insurance. If you return the trailer late, you're also charged a hefty 300 kr. penalty, which quickly wipes out the saving.
No, the raw maths shows that car rental, time in traffic and the price of the boxes themselves usually end up costing more than booking an all-in-one logistics solution. You avoid the hassle, the hauling and the trip to the recycling centre by having the moving boxes delivered and picked up instead.
Freetrailer is cheapest on rental alone (typically 49 kr. in fees) but requires a car with a tow bar, while Share Now and GreenMobility typically end up at 150-400 kr. because of city traffic. The real price, though, depends on how much time you lose in traffic and what it costs afterwards to take the cardboard waste to the recycling centre.