One of Bevan Group’s new Nissan NV400 vans

Nissan’s drive to gain market share in the fleet market has taken another step forward with an order from Bevan Group, one of the UK’s leading vehicle bodybuilders, which has purchased 20 Nissan NV400 vans for use by its national network of mobile technicians.

The fleet of 3.5 tonne GVW front-wheel drive 125PS NV400s in SE trim will be used as mobile workshops to maintain and repair all makes and models of truck and van bodies as well as ancillary equipment such as tail lifts, cranes and roller shutter doors.

Halesowen-based Bevan Group chose Nissan after an extensive test drive programme led by the mobile technicians. They liked the NV400’s performance, low load access height and maximum payload.

Nissan was eventually preferred ahead of vehicles from three other leading manufacturers (it’s interesting to note here that Nissan was — by implication — chosen ahead of Vauxhall and Renault, both of which sell the same van, badged as the Movano and Master respectively).

The vans also feature factory-fitted satellite navigation systems and supplying dealer West Way Nissan has fitted ply-lining kits, deadlocks, alarms, immobilisers and roof-mounted beacons. Bevan will run the vehicles for three years and 105,000 miles.

Simon Dryburgh, Bevan’s Aftercare Manager said:

“By the end of July we’ll have 20 new Nissan vans on the road, that’s six more than we ran previously reflecting the growing demand for our aftercare services.

“The vans are critical for us to help keep our clients’ vehicles on the road. Our team of technicians were impressed with all aspects of the NV400. From a company perspective reliability and running costs are very important and we believe the NV400 will deliver across all of these areas,” he added.

Thanks to the Bevan’s in-house graphics division, the vans’ striking liveries will ensure they also act as a high-profile mobile billboard for Bevan as its technicians travel the length and breadth of the country.

Incidentally, one of Bevan’s own van conversions has featured in these pages before. Bevan’s futuristic ICON luton body aims to cut fuel costs,  something that Lenham Storage has been putting to the test.

There’s nothing like a bit of rose-tinted nostalgia to get people in a good mood, and while I’m pretty sure that today’s BT engineers wouldn’t swap their Transits for a classic Dodge Spacevan like the model pictured below, I reckon this van — which is currently for sale — could be a brilliant promotional vehicle for someone or a usable classic for weekend camping trips and days out.

What do you think?

This 1981 British Telecoms Dodge Spacevan has been fully restored and has just 63k on the clock.

The van itself is a a fully-restored 1981 Dodge Spacevan in the yellow and blue British Telecom livery used in London at the time.

Fully restored seven years ago, this authentic model has the rear-mounted ladder that gives access to the heavy-duty roof rack, making this last-of-the-line Spacevan a useable, eye-catching classic. With over 63,000 miles on the clock, the vehicle also comes with a comprehensive spares package, which is included in the sale. The estimated sale value on the Dodge Spacevan is between £4,500 and £6,500.

Interested parties should get in touch with Anglia Car Auctions, which is selling the van at its next classic car auction in Kings Lynn, on Saturday 22nd June.

Europcar has opened a new branch in Derby (click here for a list of van hire hire companies in Derby).

The new Europcar Derby branch provides both car and van hire services and benefits from a spacious and accessible location on an industrial estate close to the city centre.

As far as I can tell, this new branch replaces Europcar’s old Becket Street branch, which no longer appears to be available on Europcar’s website.

The new Europcar Derby branch is located at:

• Unit A1 Cranmer Road, West Meadows Industrial Estate, Derby, DE21 6JL (for a map and more details, click here)

Customers can collect and drop off vehicles from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and Saturday from 8am to 1pm.

A meet and greet service is available serving Derby Midland Railway Station, while for leisure customers, Europcar’s freeDeliver service provides free delivery and collection to customers’ homes within a radius of 5 miles, and for all bookings of two days or more. Customers can have their car delivered to any residential address within an agreed one hour window, so there’s no waiting around and Europcar collects the vehicle at the end of the booking – no hassle, no charge.

Click here to get a Europcar quote now.

Equipment hire firm Speedy has placed an £8.6m order for 400 new vans and pick-ups with Ford, cementing an 18-year relationship between the two companies.

One of Speedy’s new Ford Transit Customs.

The Speedy order – comprising 380 Ford Transit vans, including new Transit Custom models, and 20 Ford Ranger pick-ups – will be operated through 283 fixed Speedy sites throughout the UK.

Karen Nixon, Ford UK regional fleet manager, said:

“This 400-vehicle order from Speedy is testament to the reliability of Ford’s award-winning commercial vehicle range and evidence of the outstanding commitment Ford makes to its fleet customers. Ford’s on-going investment in low-CO₂ technology is helping companies like Speedy in their quest for lower whole life vehicle costs.”

As with all of Speedy’s fleet, the new Ford vehicles will be fitted with telematic equipment to provide comprehensive reporting of driver behaviour, in an effort to encourage improved fuel economy and reduced CO₂ emissions.

Speedy logistics director Richard Martin said:

“Our fleet is an extension of our company brand so it is important that we choose the right vehicles to meet our customers’ needs and requirements. Speedy operates through a large network of depots covering the whole of the UK and these Ford vehicles will be vital to transport assets and equipment.”

Speedy, which is based in Newton-le-Willows, close to St Helens and Wigan on Merseyside, is the largest equipment hire company in the UK and serves 10% of the UK market, through its network of 325 depots. The firm is also expanding into the Middle East and also offers a wide range of training services to its customers.

VanRental.co.uk verdict:

In my view, the new Transit Custom offers all the prestige and quality of certain highly-fashionable German manufacturers, along with a fresher, newer design than some comparable models.

Both the Transit Custom and the Ford Ranger have best-in-class five-star Euro NCAP ratings — despite their size and weight, vans and pick-ups have not scored well in safety tests, historically, and Ford is amongst the first manufacturers to start to correct that problem.

Andy Brodie with his Volkswagen Transporter van, which is about to appear on 750 billboards around the UK!

You can’t put a price on good publicity, and small business owner Andy Brodie certainly couldn’t have paid for the exposure that Volkswagen is about to give him.

An image of Andy with his cherished Volkswagen Transporter medium van bearing the name of his firm, A.B. Flooring, is featured on the 27m x 18m ‘Mega Banner’ on the M4, Britain’s largest billboard site.

The 42-year-old from Watford, Hertfordshire, who runs his own flooring business, will also appear on 750 additional billboard sites around the country as well as radio and magazine adverts, making him almost impossible to avoid!

Andy was picked from thousands of customers to be one of just four ‘faces’ of a new advertising campaign for the Volkswagen Transporter with the slogan: ‘We never forget the most important name on our vans. Yours’. 

The campaign aims to highlight how Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is working in partnership with its customers.  The three other small businesses involved are a heating specialist, a locksmith and a telecommunications specialist and were all recommended by local Volkswagen Van Centres from across the UK.

Andy, who thinks having a smart-looking van is vital for his business’s image, said:

‘When I first heard from the ad agency I took it with a pinch of salt.  Then they told me I would be famous for the whole of the summer.  It only hit home when I turned up for the photo shoot.  It took so long to do it, I realised it was serious.’

Mark Hopkins, Head of Marketing for Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, said:

‘These ambitious businesses are vital to the country’s economy, so entrepreneurs like Andy are already stars in many ways.  We know it’s tough out there for many businesses and we are committed to working with our customers to support them through the range of services we offer.  We thought there was no better way to show this than to let them benefit from our advertising campaign.’

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is looking for more ambitious small businesses it can help support with free publicity through its social media channels.  Interested businesses should visit www.facebook.com/VolkswagenCommercialVehiclesUK to find out more.

If you’d like to learn more about Andy or get him to do some flooring for you (his van will look good outside your house!), then you can find him @andybrodie5 on Twitter.

The new Volkswagen Amarok edition — only 300 will be imported into the UK.

Hot on the heels of its Amarok Power-Pickup concept vehicle, Volkswagen has unveiled a limited edition high-spec production Amarok model called the Amarok edition.

It’s based on the range-topping and slightly bling Trendline specification but includes a further £3,400 of optional extras, offering customers a potential saving of more than £2,000 based on its starting price of £22,495 inc. VAT. The Amarok edition will be available in limited numbers, with just 300 units planned for the UK market.

Bolstering a Trendline specification that already includes body-coloured bumpers and wheel arches, the Amarok edition’s additional design features include striking 18-inch Durban alloy wheels, a black side step, black styling bars across the load area, rear privacy glass and special edition decals.

Drivers also benefit from front and rear parking sensors, a protective coating for the load area, interior floor mats, Bluetooth connectivity and satellite navigation with a five-inch colour touchscreen as standard.

The Amarok edition comes with Volkswagen’s top of the range 2.0-litre BiTDI 180 PS engine, offering up to 420 Nm of torque and a maximum towing capacity of up to 3,200 kg — one of the highest towing capacities available, albeit now outclassed by the Isuzu D-Max’s newly-upgraded 3,500kg towing capacity.

Customers can choose the six-speed manual transmission, which comes with selectable 4MOTION, or the latest eight-speed automatic transmission with permanent 4MOTION.  The automatic version boasts BlueMotion Technology, which includes low rolling-resistance tyres, start/stop system and regenerative braking to provide greater economy and lower emissions.

The Amarok edition is available in two colours: Reflex Silver, with black door mirror covers, or Deep Black, with silver door mirrors.

‘Creating the right image is very important for a lot of our customers, so we’ve had great pleasure creating the bespoke specification for the Amarok edition,’ said Mark Hopkins, head of marketing for Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.  ‘It not only looks great, but offers fantastic value too,’ he continued.

Retail prices start from £22,495 (excluding VAT) with the manual transmission and rise to £24,225 (excluding VAT) for the automatic transmission.  The Amarok edition is on sale from July 2013.

Following a comprehensive assessment process involving six vehicle manufacturers, plant and pipeline maintenance specialist Furmanite has again chosen to renew its 100-strong LCV fleet with Citroën vans.

The deal sees the Kendal based company taking delivery of a mixture of predominantly Dispatch and Relay vans on four year, with maintenance, lease contracts through Lex Autolease. The initial orders included 28 Dispatch, 24 Relay and three Berlingo vans, which will be ply-lined by supplying dealer John Wilding of Morecambe. A further 11 Dispatch L2H1, six Relay 33 L1H1 and 35 Relay L2H2 vans are now on order.

The majority of the Dispatch vans are HDi 90 manual L1H1 1000 Enterprise models, while Furmanite has also selected Berlingo HDi 75 manual L1 625 Enterprise models, with CO₂ emissions of 133g/km and 55.4mpg on the combined cycle. The order for the Relays is divided between the 35 L2H2 HDi 130 six-speed manual and the lighter and most fuel-efficient Relay, the 33 L1H1 HDi 130 six-speed manual, which has a payload of almost 1.5t and returns 38.2mpg on the combined cycle – with low CO₂ emissions of just 195g/km.

Furmanite’s Director of HR, Susan Berriman, says:

“While we already run Citroën vans, we went through a rigorous re-evaluation of a wide range other manufacturer’s LCV products before we placed the order with Citroën. Our engineers are very happy with the Citroëns – we wouldn’t have considered replacing like-for-like if they weren’t.”

Analysis included factors such as reliability – a critical factor for Furmanite.

“We offer emergency services to our clients, so when we get a call, it is vital that we get engineers on site as quickly as possible,” says Ms Berriman.

In service, Furmanite vans run fully loaded, and will cover around 90,000 miles during their four year life. The company offers maintenance and repair services such as leak sealing, hot tapping and line stopping, on site machining and valve repair services to the oil, gas and power sectors. It employs more than 300 people with around a third being field-based engineers located across the UK from Aberdeen to Exeter. The engineers drive a range of Citroën Relay, Dispatch and Berlingo vans depending on the amount of equipment they need to carry for their individual expertise and work profile.

Three of the Isuzu D-Max pick-ups delivered to RFT Repairs

Isuzu UK has just secured two significant fleet deals, underlining the increasing appeal of the Isuzu D-Max to fleet buyers across a wide range of sectors.

East Anglia-based housing association, Flagship Housing Group, signed a deal for 15 of the mid-specification Isuzu D-Max Eiger pick-ups after a competitive pitch against major rivals.

Flagship Housing Group’s fleet of pick-ups – all liveried in its signature Bottle Green colour – will be delivered by Norwich-based dealer, Dingles Isuzu, fully-fitted with load-bed liners, a hardtop canopy and rooftop ladder carrier.  The new fleet will be used to manage the maintenance of Flagship Housing Group’s 22,000 homes across the East.

Isuzu UK will also deliver a fleet of Isuzu D-Max pick-ups to civil engineering specialists, Jones Brothers.  The award-winning Welsh firm has so far ordered 15 units from the Isuzu D-Max Premium range – including Eiger, Yukon and Utah models – to service projects across the north of Wales.

William Brown, General Manager at Isuzu UK, commented:

“The expansion of our business-focused sales activities is already paying dividends. These two fleet deals say a lot about our Brand – not just because they build on our strong core of retail sales we have secured so far in 2013 – but also because they demonstrate the breadth of the D-Max’s appeal to businesses operating across diverse disciplines.”

The Isuzu D-Max has already proved to the hugely popular with UK buyers, after the Japanese-marque announced record sales during the month of March of 814 units – 16% of the UK market.  Isuzu further extended the appeal of the Isuzu D-Max pick-up with a new range of utility and style-enhancing accessories at the 2013 Commercial Vehicle Show, earlier this month. Most recently announced that its towing capacity had been upgraded from 3 tonnes to 3.5 tonnes, giving it the highest towing capacity in its class.

After hitting record levels in April, average used van values at auction dropped back slightly last month, according to the latest figures from auction specialists BCA.

The average May figure of £4,870 for all LCVs represented a fall of £128 (2.5%) compared to April.

Average age fell back to just under 58 months, although average mileage increased slightly during May.

Both fleet & lease and dealer part-exchange sectors saw values decline from the previous high points recorded in April.

BCA Used LCV Values May 2009-2013 (courtesy of BCA)

On a year-on-year basis, values remained high and were 11.4% higher than in May 2012, despite the average age and mileage of the vans being sold having risen over the last year:

Data courtesy of BCA

BCA’s Duncan Ward commented:

“Although values declined by around 2.5% across the board, demand remains strong across the range of used light commercials at BCA.   Even so, buyers are sensitive to mileage and condition, and excessive mileage or damage will significantly impact the price performance.  The best prices are paid for vans in good colours with a high specification and any rare or unusual vehicles will generate the most attention.”

Ward acknowledged that “after many months of strong value growth”, there is some uncertainty about where the market is heading over the remainder of this year. Although low volumes of high quality used stock have helped to inflate underlying prices, this trend cannot continue for ever, especially given the continually rising average mileage and age of the U.K.’s used van stock.

Discussing the results, Ward says that sellers will have some influence over future price movements and may need to revise their strategies:

“With the first decline in average values seen this year, now would be a good time for volume sellers to review their selling strategies and make sure they are fully in tune with market sentiment.  Vans should be sensibly valued to sell and corporate sellers should offer LCVs with full documentation and service histories and ensure they are presented in the best possible condition following pre-sale preparation.  Sellers also need to manage the supply of similar makes and models, because it can have a direct impact on price performance – even for attractive retail-quality vans.”

Van hire companies and other large fleets often de-fleet dozens or even hundred of identical vans at the same time, so it’s easy to see how this can cause a ‘feast and famine’ situation.

With UK GDP growth continuing to hover just above zero, it will be interesting to see how the remainder of the year pans out for the used van market.

The Vauxhall Corsavan

In the first five months of 2013, Vauxhall has seen sales of its award-winning Corsavan increase by nearly a quarter compared to the same period in 2012.

Corsavan sales to small businesses have seen a particularly big increase, with sales up by more than 70 per cent year-on-year, cementing the popularity of this surprisingly roomy, well-equipped, economical van.

The surge in sales suggests that despite the impact of new compact van models such as the Peugeot Bipper, car-based vans still have plenty of life left in them.

Thanks to its compact dimensions and light weigh, the Corsavan’s running costs are amongst the lowest of any van, yet it retains the ability to perform well in town and on the motorway. The Corsavan’s class-leading payload of 550kg means that weight is unlikely to restrict load capacity, making it suitable for a wide range of small van jobs.

One of the COrsavan’s strong points is its fuel economy. Vauxhall’s official figures suggest that it can deliver up to 83.1mpg on the combined cycle, with CO₂ emissions as low as 89g/km – lower than many of the cleanest cars on the market. Insurance costs are also below average, as all Corsavan models fall into Group 1E.

Richard Collier, National Commercial Vehicle Sales Manager, for Luton-based Vauxhall said:

“We’re delighted with the significant sales growth that Corsavan has experienced so far in 2013. Of course, with a best-in-class payload and outstanding fuel economy at a time of rising fuel costs, we’re not surprised that the award-winning Corsavan is proving so popular.”

In line with Vauxhall’s policy for most of its new models, the Corsavan is also available in ecoFLEX low emission guise. The Corsavan ecoFLEX is powered by a 1.3-litre CDTi engine and includes standard features such as Start/Stop, which help to cut fuel costs and emissions.