Author Archives: Van Rental

5 Ways To Find The Cheapest Van Hire

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vanrental.co.uk vanVan hire is one of those things people tend to do because they need to — often urgently and without much prior experience.

In that situation, it can be hard to know whether you are getting the right van for your needs at the right price — after all, vans come in a wide range of shapes and sizes and rental rates can vary widely, so I thought I’d share some ‘insider’ tips with you to help you save money next time you hire a van.

1. Compare Prices

You may be surprised just how widely quotes can vary — when we were developing and testing the vanrental.co.uk price comparison engine, we were amazed to find that the cheapest quote was often half the most expensive quote!

Funnily enough, sometimes the vans were coming from the same company — the cost difference was between booking direct and booking through one of the big van rental brokers we deal with directly.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like paying twice as much as I need to for exactly the same service.

2. Size Matters!

When it comes to van hire, size really does matter. Too small and you won’t be able to fit your ‘stuff’ in the back, too big and your stuff will just rattle around and you will be paying extra in hire costs and fuel in order to drive a half-empty van around.

Getting the right size hire van is key — and the best way to work out what you need is with our Van Hire Size Guide. This has been one of the most popular pages on this website ever since we launched back in 2007.

3. How Long Do You Really Need It?

The other way to save money on van hire is to not to fall into what I call ‘the 24 hour trap’. Van hire companies normally charge a daily rate that is calculated in exact 24 hour periods, so if you collect a van at 9am one day and return it at 10am the next day, you will be charged for two days’ hire.

Make sure you use the system to your advantage and choose your pickup and dropoff times so that this doesn’t happen to you.

You might also want to consider the hourly van hire or overnight hire deals offered by companies such as Europcar. If you really only need a van for an hour or two or can manage overnight only, then these can save you money.

4. Drive Slower

Speed makes a big difference to a van’s fuel consumption, especially with bigger vans that are heavily loaded.

You may not believe me, but I know I’m right — I’ve managed 41mpg in my Transit cruising at 50mph on open roads, whereas my usual 70mph motorway speed only gives me 35mpg. Naturally it does take a little longer to get there, but it doesn’t make as much difference to your journey time as you expect. They key is to maintain a good average speed.

5. The Biggest Saver

Choosing the right size van and only booking it for the minimum length of time will save you money, but to be honest, the biggest van hire money saver I’ve found is to compare van rental prices using our system:

  • We get prices from more than 1,000 branches in over 400 locations across the UK.
  • We get all of our prices direct from the company you book with and do not add anything on to them, so the price you get is the same as the price you get if you go direct.
  • The only difference is that you only have to visit one website — this one — to get all of your quotes.

Why pay more when you don’t have to? Compare van hire prices now on vanrental.co.uk.

New Renault Master ECO Uses 7% Less Fuel

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Renault Master ECO

The Renault Master ECO is available in most popular body styles, including box van, panel van and chassis cab variants like tippers.

Renault has joined the low emission van club with a new version of the Master, the Master ECO. 

According to the manufacturer, the Master ECO uses up to 7% less fuel than its predecessor.

Commenting on the new package, which Renault says is aimed at cost-conscious operators (are there really still operators who aren’t cost conscious?), Nigel Butler, Renault Trucks Commercial Director, says:

“With significantly lower consumption, the new Renault Master ECO provides excellent fuel efficiency. The 100 and 125hp versions are already available and, with enhanced low rates of finance on LCVs, this is a fantastic offer.”

The practical Renault Master ECO is available in a wide range of body styles including panel van, chassis cab, crew cab, minibus and platform cab versions, with gross vehicle weights of 2.8 to 4.8 tonnes.

Front wheel drive models benefit from new air suspension, as well as a new radio and sat-nav system, but Renault didn’t go into specifics about how the fuel savings are achieved — perhaps revised gearbox ratios and low rolling resistance tyres?

Productivity is increased through improved payload and load space, with the Renault Master ECO panel van benefiting from up to 17m3 of usable volume and 2,254kg of payload; while the chassis cab version has a payload of up to 2,529kg.

Cheap finance

For a limited period, Renault Trucks Financial Services is giving customers the opportunity to take advantage of lower interest rates on all LCVs registered until 31st December 2012. A competitive range of finance offers includes three years at an interest rate of just 0.99%, which could save operators around £45 a month, four years at 1.49% and five years at 1.99%.

Same Size, Double The Payload – New Isuzu Delivers

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Rickerby Isuzu 5t beavertail Over the last few months, I’ve commented on the apparent growing popularity of vans and trucks with a gross weight of between 3.5 tonnes and 6 tonnes.

This class of vehicles combines a payload capacity approaching that of a 7.5 tonne unit with the size and running costs of a 3.5 tonne vehicle — an appealing combination, despite the added restrictions of tachograph and mandatory 56mph speed limiter.

TNT is currently running a large-scale trial of 5 tonne Volkswagen Crafter box vans in place of 7.5 tonne lorries, and a company that has recently moved in the other direction is Rickerby, a Carlisle-based horticultural equipment dealer.

Rickerby has recently swapped a 3.5t beavertail vehicle transporter for a new 5t Iveco Forward N50.150, which offers a a full 2 tonne payload — nearly double that of the company’s old 3.5t vehicle.

With a 3.0 litre, 150bhp, Euro 5, EEV power unit and the same compact, but well equipped, cab as the Isuzu 3.5t Grafters, this vehicle gives Rickerby’s much more payload flexibility. In addition the narrow cab and proportionately designed body make it an easy vehicle to manoeuvre through the Cumbrian road systems and really helps Rickerby’s to adhere to its demanding customer equipment delivery programme.

The new Isuzu is being used on single-driver operation to deliver to customers within the locality and is working on a six-day week delivery operation, mainly on short run jobs carrying the full range of smaller horticultural and agricultural equipment.

Martyn Henderson, sales manager at Rickerby, is full of praise for the vehicle and says that the manufacturer and local dealer came highly recommended:

“We were looking for a solution that would enable us to increase payload without increasing the actual vehicle size. The Isuzu 5.0 tonner is absolutely perfect for this job and we are extremely pleased with the vehicle’s performance.

Prior to purchasing the new Isuzu, we talked to several local companies and suppliers who also run the Isuzu marque and without exception they were full of praise for the performance of the vehicle and the service support they receive from the local dealer.”

Perhaps it’s a sign of the times that companies as diverse as TNT and Rickerby are both focusing far more precisely on optimising payload, size and running costs for their van fleets, rather than tolerating the inefficiency and compliance risks of vehicles that are slightly too large or too small.

This need for precision and efficiency is another reason that demand for van hire has remained strong throughout the recession — businesses want to tailor the size of their van fleets to meet current demand, rather than having to carry surplus capacity to deal with busy periods.

Citroën Trims Berlingo Emissions, Boosts Fuel Consumption

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Citroen Berlingo 2012 modelCitroën has increased mpg on Berlingo Airdream models by up to 4.5%.

Continuous product development is a concept many companies pay lip service to but fewer actually deliver. In this case, Citroën seems to have come up with the goods, cutting CO2 emissions and increasing fuel consumption on its existing Berlingo Airdream models.

The Airdream models are the most fuel-efficient in Citroën’s range — the equivalent of VW’s Bluemotion models — but CO2 emissions have now been cut by between 2% and 5%, depending on the model you choose. Similarly, fuel consumption has been improved by between 2% and 4.5% on the combined cycle.

Unsurprisingly, the most-improved model is the e-HDi EGS6 L1 625LX – the short wheelbase, lower payload model with automated transmission. This now boasts CO2 emissions of just 118g/km and official combined fuel consumption of 62.8mpg.

Scott Michael, Citroën’s Head of Commercial Vehicles & Business Centre Programme, comments:

“The advanced Berlingo Airdream e-HDi micro-hybrid vans were already among the most fuel efficient and lowest CO2 emitting in their class.  With the latest improvements these vans now go to the top of their class thanks to fuel economy gains of up to 4.5% and CO2 emissions reductions of up to 5g/km.”

Ford Confirms Closure Of Southampton Transit Plant

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Ford Transit Custom International Van Of The Year 2013

The new Ford Transit Custom the first of four new commercial vehicles Ford plans to introduce over the next two years to overhaul its van offering.

Ford has confirmed that it is to close its UK Transit plant at Southampton and another UK manufacturing operation at Dagenham.

Following from yesterday’s announcement that it would close its plant in Genk, Ford has confirmed that its Southampton and Dagenham plants are also to close as part of a wide-ranging reorganisation intended to mirror the success of its North American reorganisation and return Ford Europe to profitability.

Ford Europe is currently expected to post a £930m loss in 2012.

What’s closing?

Ford currently makes Transit chassis cabs at its Southampton plant but the majority of Transits are now built in Turkey, and the Southampton factory only produced 28,000 vans last year — far below the normal capacity for such plants.

The closure at Dagenham will only affect stamping operations — the larger diesel engine plant at the same location will remain open.

Both Southampton and the Dagenham stamping facility will be shut in the next year.

Why’s it happening?

The European automotive industry is suffering from excess capacity. Ford’s plant closures are unlikely to be the last. As I’ve reported many times in recent months, demand for new vans has fallen since 2007. Similarly, Ford’s figures show that demand for cars in Western Europe has fallen by 20% over the last five years and Ford expects industry-wide sales to be flat, at best, next year.

Ford is losing money and needs to return to profitability — something it has already managed to do successfully in North America, where the car industry was suffering from a similar excess of capacity.

Unfortunately, it can make enough vehicles to meet demand with fewer factories than it has at present — and with no imminent sign of a major recovery, that’s what it’s going to do. Ford hopes it can limit redundancies to 1,100 by relocating 300 affected staff, but the closure will no doubt have a wider knock-on effect.

In France, the government has taken the opposite approach and offered Peugeot Citroen a £5.55bn state financing package on the basis that it puts back the planned closure of its Aulnay plant near Paris, which would save 6,500 jobs. However, this deal is not yet done and you could argue that it isn’t a great solution — more debt plus excess capacity isn’t likely to help Peugeot to return to profitability. What’s more, it is only three years since the French government last tried to bail out its car industry, when it provided Peugeot and Renault with €6bn of low-interest loans.

Given this, Ford’s sharp, decisive approach may well prove to be best in the long run, despite the job losses it will cause.

Is This The UK’s Best Van Hire Website? (We Think So…)

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vanrental.co.uk vanIt’s been a full nine months since we launched our unique UK van hire price comparison service, so I thought it might be a good time to take a look at how things have changed since then and the new functionality that’s been added to the site since we originally launched our van hire comparison engine.

Cheap Van Hire

Of course, the main reason to compare van hire prices is so that you can find the cheapest van hire in your local area. Rather than making you visit half a dozen different website, we provide all the prices in one place, saving you time and hassle.

When we were testing the system before we launched it, we found that you could often save almost 50% by choosing the cheapest van hire rather than the most expensive — and given the state of the economy, we thought you would appreciate this too.

Minibus Hire?

In addition to allowing you to compare van hire prices, we now offer exactly the same service for minibuses — our system will provide quotes for 7,8,9,12, 15 and 17-seater people carriers and minibuses.

I admit that we are not yet able to offer prices from as many companies as we do with van hire, but the service is pretty comprehensive despite this and includes prices from one major UK broker — which effectively means you get all the major brands included in one quote.

To see our compare minibus hire prices and get a quote, click here.

Where’s The Map?

We realised that by placing the main focus of the website on price comparison, we might risk alienating some of our users who preferred our original van hire location search service.

To make sure that didn’t happen, we kept the old system running in parallel and it’s still available today, on the right-hand side of the home page.

Enter a UK place name or postcode into the Location Search box and you can see all the van hire branches in that area on a map — and then click through to get a quote directly from the map markers. We’ve always liked this service and believe it is still useful for those times when you are not sure where the nearest van hire branches are — a common problem.

In case you aren’t sure what size van you need, we still have our ever-popular van size guide, too — it’s always been one of the most popular pages on the website.

You Want More?

There’s nothing I like more than adding a new company to the website and we now offer a wider selection of van hire branches and rental suppliers than we ever have done before. Here’s a quick summary — just click on the company name for a list of branches:

We also list a growing number of local, independent van hire companies all around the UK — in total, 38 companies are listed in the vanrental.co.uk database, giving you a grand total of 1,233 van rental branches to choose from! Click here for a full list of all our branches, ordered by location.

Europe or bust…

Most people just need standard UK van hire — but there are always people who need a little bit more and we are happy to help you find what you need.

The biggest demand we see is for European van hire, a service that is more widely available than you might think. Most of the major national chains allow you to take their vans abroad with prior arrangement and we provide full details of these on our European Van Hire page. Remember that one-way European hire isn’t normally possible — you’ll have to bring the van back to the UK.

The only exception for this is if you need to hire a van to drive between the UK and Spain. The Spanish costas remain popular with Brits wanting to live in the sun and there is a steady demand for one-way van hire between the UK and Spain. You might think that this will be impossible to arrange, but there are actually several specialist UK companies that offer this service.

You can find full details of UK-Spain van hire services on our Van Hire To Spain page.

Finally…

To wrap up with, I would just like to thank all the people who have visited vanrental.co.uk (and its predecessor, MyLocalVanHire.co.uk) over the years. We’ve been in business for more than five years now and really appreciate your support. Thank you.

Naturally, if you have any feedback or spot any problems, please do not hesitate to get in touch — you can leave a comment below or email us from our contact page.

Rev Limiter Cuts Van Fleet Fuel Consumption By 24%

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AutoKontrol logoA major utilities company has trialled the use of a rev limiter across 19 vans and found that fuel consumption dropped by 24.72%.

This remarkable result is an impressive demonstration of the benefits of optimising use of engine torque and preventing over revving.

The rev limiter was supplied by Autokontrol and was fitted to 19 vehicles ranging from mid-sized panel vans through to 3.5 tonne GVW vans and tippers as well as 4×4 pick-up trucks.  All 19 vehicles involved were running at maximum gross weight with the majority of them used to tow trailers.

This was a demanding test for any device claiming to improve fuel economy and the results were very impressive. The average fuel economy improvement across all 19 vehicles in the trial was an exceptional 4.42 mpg or 24.72% economy gain, with some of the 3.5 tonne vehicles showing up to 13.0 mpg improvement.

Too much welly

The Rev. Control unit is normally set (as in the trial mentioned above) to limit maximum engine revs to the peak torque speed.  This setting gives the driver maximum power and optimum fuel economy.  A further advantage of the Rev. Control unit is that it provides a reduction in CO2 and a reduced likelihood of damage to engines and transmissions.

The resultant savings from fitting the rev limiter obviously implies that many drivers on this fleet (and others) tend to over rev their vans’ engines, wasting fuel and increasing wear and tear. This is undoubtedly true and is more a criticism of driver training than anything else — the average driver is unlikely to know the optimal revs for peak torque on every vehicle they drive, and when heavily loaded they are likely to give it a bit of welly to avoid being caught in too low a gear.

Automated solution

HGV operators have already found that the solution to this is to specify models with automated transmissions, which take the skill out of gear changes and prevent the inevitable mistakes and inefficiencies of even skilled drivers. Automatic vans are now widely available, but most van operators still specify manual transmission, due to the extra cost and perceived complexity of automated transmission.

I suspect this will change over time — not least because it will help manufacturers and operators deliver more consistent and predictable fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

Try it and see

The Autokontrol Rev Control unit costs between £260 and £300 + VAT fitted (dependent on quantity) and is suitable for virtually any make and type of diesel or petrol engine vehicle. Stuart Gray, Autokontrol’s Sales Director, says that they are always keen to facilitate trials so that companies can work out how much benefit they will get from the system:

“Autokontrol always encourages potential customers to conduct their own fuel saving trials with any of our systems.  We support these trials by providing and installing a system free of charge and in major trials we will consider increasing this commitment.  In this way potential customers can accurately see how the UK-made product can benefit their fleet operation in terms of fuel and cost savings.”

Autokontrol also makes a range of other vehicle speed control products, including speed limits and anti-idle devices. For more information visit www.autokontrol.com.

164 Vauxhall Vans, Four Years, Zero Faults

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Vauxhall Combo long wheelbase FPS Distribution

One of FPS' long wheelbase Vauxhall Combo vans

Automotive parts distribution company FPS recently added 35 new small vans to its fleet, but what interested me most was the reliability record of its existing fleet of Vauxhall vans, which is outstanding.

Stuart Collett is FPS Fleet Manager:

“We are very pleased to add 35 more Vauxhalls to our fleet,” said Stuart Collett, Fleet Manager at FPS.  “We currently have 164 Vauxhall vans including a fleet of Vivaros and 10 cars which we have used for the last four to five years without a single fault.”

Vauxhall is only one of the brands used in FPS’ 390-strong fleet, but with a reliability record like that, it isn’t surprising that the company is adding more of the Luton-based manufacturer’s vans to its fleet.

FPS has just taken delivery of 35 Vauxhall Combos to add to its parts delivery fleet, which services 2,500 motor trade clients. The new vans are all painted in FPS’s distinctive peppermint green and are long wheelbase L2 models with ply lining. The new Combos also have start/stop technology, which should help reduce the company’s fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

Ford Fiesta Van ECOnetic Wins Green Van Award

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Ford Fiesta Van ECOnetic

The Ford Fiesta Van ECOnetic - Britain's greenest van?

Ford’s Fiesta Van ECOnetic is the winner of the Green Van category at this year’s British Insurance Vehicle Security Awards (BISVA), run by Thatcham. The Ford Fiesta Van has been awarded the top spot in the category for three years running.

The Green Van Award is given to the vehicle with the lowest CO2 emissions. With its lowered suspension, low rolling resistance tyres and a specially-calibrated Duratorq 1.6-litre TDCi engine, the Fiesta Van ECOnetic emits an ultra-low 87g/km CO2, while achieving 85.6mpg.¹

Peter Shaw, Chief Executive at Thatcham, said:

“Congratulations to Ford, who having won the ‘Green’ category with its Ford Fiesta Van for the last three years has proved that commercial drivers can do their bit for the environment, without compromising security.”

Anthony Ireson, Ford Britain marketing director, said:

“We are once again thrilled that Britain’s best-selling small van, the Fiesta Van, has maintained its position at the top of the ‘Green’ class. With the new Fiesta Van available in showrooms from early 2013, offering further driver assistance technologies and safety features, we hope to continue our award’s success next year.”

Ford has sold 2,525 Fiesta Vans in the UK for the year-to-date 2012, up from 2,407 for the same period last year. Prices start from £10,800. A number of van hire companies offer Fiesta vans for hire — although as I have discussed before, these small car-derived vans are not as popular as they used to be, with Peugeot and Renault having both discontinued their car-derived models (208 and Clio, respectively).

Nottingham Firm Chooses ‘Bricked Up’ Transit Connects

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Barnes and West Ford Transit Connect in brick liveryNottingham brickwork firm Barnes and West has taken delivery of three Ford Transit Connects in vibrant Mars Red, a standard colour from Ford’s palette.

However, with some creative thinking from the dealer’s decal designer, dark cream paint has been added to represent brick mortar. Once sign-written with the company’s name and contact details, the result is a finish that makes Barnes & West stand out from the competition.

The Transit Connect vehicles – supplied by Sandicliffe Ford dealership in Nottingham – are all top-of-the-range Limited models with alloy wheels, air-conditioning and Bluetooth connectivity as standard.

Inside, the load area has been fully ply-lined and specialist roof racks have been fitted to allow external large load carrying, and for added security, vehicle tracking devices have been installed.

David Haynes, sales manager, Sandicliffe Ford, said:

“It’s all part of the ‘one-stop shop’ service that we offer. For customers like that we can do everything, unlike some other retailers, and it means we can deliver vehicles that are ready for action right from the off.

“These vans look fantastic and demonstrate how the expanding range of Ford commercial vehicles can be tailored to work perfectly for small businesses, no matter what the requirement.”

Barnes & West owner, Colin Barnes, has operated more than 30 Ford vehicles during the three decades that the company has been in business and is a big fan of Ford vans:

“They’re reliable, spares are readily available and with all the extras, they do the job for us.”

Can’t say fairer than that.