Author Archives: Van Rental

Vauxhall Tunes Into Sky With 70-Strong N. Ireland Vivaro Order

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Sky Vauxhall Vivaro vans in BelfastThe Luton-built Vauxhall Vivaro may not be the newest van on the block but it still has a very strong following, especially amongst tradesmen.

The ongoing appeal of the medium-sized panel van has been confirmed by an order for 70 the new Belfast-based fleet of Sierra Support Services, who provide installation services for Sky in Northern Ireland.

All 70 vans – all in unique Sky HD and Simpsons wraps – were delivered and handed over in one batch to Sierra’s fleet supplier, Fleet Financial.

The order, which was worth £2m, marks the beginning of a three-year deal. Each Vivaro is powered by the 2.0-litre 115ps engine and has bespoke racking, shelving and graphics.

For more information on the Vivaro, visit www.vauxhall.co.uk.

Pick-Up A Great Wall Steed 4×4 For Just £13,998

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Great Wall Steed 4x4 pick-up

The Great Wall Steed pick-up - coming to UK dealers soon

Great Wall might not be a household name in the UK, but it is a big business in China, where it employs 42,000 people and produces a wide range of cars, SUVs and pick-up trucks, many of which are already exported to markets such as Australia, South America and Italy.

Now, Great Wall is coming to the UK – and will be heralding its arrival with the launch of the Steed pick-up truck at the Birmingham CV Show in April.

As you would expect with a Chinese vehicle, value is top of the agenda.

Lowest-Priced Double Cab Pickup

When it goes on sale in April, prices for the Steed – a full-size double cab pick-up – will start from just £13,998, making it by far the cheapest on the market.

By way of comparison, prices for the new Ford Ranger start at £15,515.

The entry-level Steed will offer buyers a ‘gutsy’ 2-litre diesel engine, six-speed gearbox and on-the-fly selectable 2/4 wheel drive. Other options will be available and Great Wall promises that the Steed will have the lowest insurance ratings of any vehicle in its segment.

In The Flesh

The Steed goes on sale through a brand-new, nationwide network of 40 Great Wall dealers. Great Wall says its UK dealer network has been ‘hand-picked to reflect the brand’s values and philosophy’ and promise standards of customer service that will break new ground in the pick-up market.

The Steed can be seen in Hall 3A Stand 70 at the CV Show next month – the first time a Chinese manufacturer has exhibited at the annual commercial vehicle showcase.

The CV Show runs from 24-26 April 2012. For more information visit www.cvshow.com.

New Fiestavan ECOnetic Delivers 85MPG

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Ford ECOnetic Technology badgeDo you need a small, car-derived van with outstanding fuel efficiency?

If you do, a Ford Fiestavan in updated ECOnetic Techology spec is probably the answer to your prayers.

Brentwood‘s finest have created a new über-ECOnetic spec, which will be badged as ECOnetic Technology. As the name suggests, it includes more technology than the standard ECOnetic.

The new ECOnetic Technology specification will cut the Fiestavan’s CO2 emissions from 95 to 87g/km and boost combined cycle fuel consumption to 85.6mpg.

Benefits of the ECOnetic Technology specification include:

  • Zero-rated VED
  • CO2 emissions of just 87g/km
  • Auto-Start-Stop
  • Upgrades to the 95PS 1.6TDCi engine including friction and combustion improvements and calibration optimisation
  • Revised gear ratios
  • Smart regenerative charging
  • EcoMode
  • Improved efficiency of the air conditioning, cooling fan and alternator

Ford FiestavanOriginal equipment fitted as standard to the Fiesta and FiestaVan ECOnetic, including rolling resistance tyres, an aero pack comprising undershield and wheel deflectors, variable flow oil pump and shift indicator light, is carried over on ECOnetic Technology models.

Every model in Ford’s Fiesta range emits less than 130g/km, meaning that whichever Fiesta model you end up choosing, you will pay no road tax in the first year of ownership.

Fiestavan ECOnetic prices start from £12,215. For more information, visit www.ford.co.uk.

Fleet Van News: TNT Downsizes & Masters For Loo Co

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Iveco Daily box van in TNT 5.2 tonne specTNT Experiments With Sub-7.5t Trucks

TNT Express has bucked the trend to move away from the 3.5t-6t weight category and chosen to trial 10 5.2 tonne Iveco Daily box vans at its Bradford and Nottingham depots.

Each Daily has a 5.2 tonne gross vehicle weight and has been mounted with a Cartwright dry freight box body.  They will be in operation up to six days a week for the next five years, covering approximately 30,000 miles per year. Each vehicle will be used to make up to 100 deliveries and collections per day.

Steve Davis, National Engineering Manager at TNT Express, says: “We watched the recent launch of the new Daily with interest and it coincided perfectly with this opportunity to reassess the model’s suitability for our fleet.  Despite its smaller size we’re achieving a competitive payload capacity of up to 2.1 tonnes.”

The Daily’s are loaded with all the latest safety features, including Iveco’s new ESP 9 safety system, which is fitted as standard, making New Daily one of the safest light commercials on the road.  Other safety features fitted include ABS (anti-lock brakes), EBD (electronic brake force distribution), ASR (traction control), ESP (stability control), HBA (hydraulic brake assist) to ensure emergency braking is as effective as possible, Hill Holder, LAC (load adaptive braking control), RMI (roll movement intervention) and ROM (roll over mitigation).

Power is provided by a 3.0 litre FPT diesel engine meeting the latest Euro 5 emissions legislation.  Capable of producing up to 146 hp and 350 Nm of torque, it features an enhanced EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) system with a DPF (diesel particulate filter) as standard.  The exhaust system architecture and the EGR logic have also been optimised with particular attention to urban duty cycles, which should prevent the DPF problems suffered by some van operators using Euro 5 vans on urban routes.

Renault Masters Toilet Business

Toilets+ Renault Master chassis cabLeading portable toilet hire company, Toilets+ Ltd, has taken delivery of its first Renault Master chassis cabs, into its Mercedes Sprinter dominated fleet.

The Masters, six DXi 2.3 (125bp) with L3 cab and one dCi 2.3 (150bp) with L4 cab all have bespoke bodies;  the 125bps have chassis mounted small vacuum pumper unit plus the facility to carry two toilets, the higher powered Renault Master 150hp is fitted with a flatbed that can carry eight toilets and tow a further eight.

A good payload and a competitive deal from Norfolk Truck & Van clinched the deal for Toilets+ to switch from Mercedes Sprinter to Renault Master.

Toilets+ Managing Director, Mick Bowman, says: “We researched the market carefully and the Renault Master offered a competitive package.  They are performing very well on the road, the drivers like them, which is an important factor, and we are looking forward to adding more Masters to the fleet as part of our ongoing vehicle replacement programme.”

Toilets+ expects to get 250,000 miles out of each Master before it is flushed away.

Thrifty Opens Watford Van Hire Branch

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Thrifty Car & Van Rental logoLeading UK car and van rental provider Thrifty has opened a new branch in Watford.

The new branch offers Thrifty’s usual selection of cars and vans and is open six days a week (Mon-Fri 0830 – 1730 and Saturdays 0830 – 1230).

The branch is located on Colonial Way in Watford and Thrifty believe it will serve the holiday market as well as retail and business customers.

Finley Humphries, Watford branch manager, commented:

“With the current economic climate the way it is, more and more holidaymakers are choosing to stay in the UK so anyone looking to rent a vehicle for their trip should pop down to the branch. We boast a friendly team of staff and we pride ourselves on our experience and professionalism.”

Alison Chadwick, director of regional operations for Thrifty Car and Van Rental added:

“We are thrilled to add another location to our growing network, which will be further strengthened over the coming year. Our new branch in Watford is ideally located on Colonial Way, so it’s easily accessible for anyone looking to hire a vehicle and get away.”

 

Bath & Bristol Van Hire: VansGB

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VansGB Bath and Bristol Van HireI’m very happy to welcome our newest advertiser, VansGB of Bath, to vanrental.co.uk.

VansGB is based in Marksbury on the A39, approximately mid-way between Bristol and Bath and very conveniently located for the A4 and A37.

VansGB is a family-owned business that’s part of the Roberts Group, which has been established for over 30 years. The company offers a wide range of vans for hire, including:

  • Small vans
  • Medium / Panel Vans
  • Luton box bans
  • 3.5t tippers

All VansGB vans include 24 hour breakdown assistance and a replacement vehicle if yours can’t be fixed. Collection and return services are available as are accounts for business customers. Full comprehensive insurance is available and vans can be collected from Monday to Saturday.

VansGB also offers van leasing and used van sales from its Marksbury location.

To find out more or make a booking, contact VansGB direct:

If you’d like to see you van or minibus hire company listed on vanrental.co.uk, visit our advertising page.

Budget 2012: Fuel Duty Will Rise; Van Benefit Frozen

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Today’s budget contained few surprises for van operators – here are the highlights:

  • No change to fuel duty plans – this means that the planned 3p/litre increase in September is likely to go ahead
  • Van Benefit frozen – the benefit-in-kind charge on private use of company vans will remain unchanged at £3,000 for the 2012/13 tax year, meaning those on the 20% basic rate of income tax pay £600 and those on the 40% rate pay £1,200.

The Van Benefit charge applies to van operators using a commercial vehicle (including pickups) with a payload of at least 1,000kg for private as well as commercial use.

The Chancellor also confirmed that the Van Fuel Benefit Charge (FBC) will remain unchanged at £550 for the 2012 tax year and will rise in line with inflation from April 2013.

The FBC exemption for zero carbon emitting vans will continue until April 2015, as previously planned.

Updated 1945:

John Lewis, chief executive of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), had this to say about today’s announcements:

“The fleet sector is the only part of the new vehicle market that is still growing at the moment. It will adapt to the new tax regime as it always does, but these ambitious targets could bring a temporary stall to the market as businesses re-evaluate their fleet policies.”

Transit & Sprinter Score Five Times At VansA2Z Awards 2012

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Mercedes-Benz Sprinter

The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter was chosen as Best Large Panel Van and Best 4x4 Panel Van at the VansA2Z.com Awards 2012

The VansA2Z.com annual awards are a chance for the van industry to see what one of the UK’s leading van news publications thinks of its products.

We’ve already seen that the Renault Kangoo Van Z.E. collected the electric van award, but who were the other big winners on awards night at Twickenham Stadium??

Transit Wins Overall

The Ford Transit won the Van of the Year award. The decision is no surprise –  VansA2Z.com raved about the latest Euro 5 incarnation of the Transit when they drove it at the European launch.

The Transit also collected the Best Small Van and Best Minibus awards, while Ford’s Fiesta Van was Highly Commended in the Small Van category, its second recent award mention.

The new Ford Ranger was chosen as the Best Pick-Up, rounding off a superb evening for the boys from Brentwood.

Sprinter Takes Two

The Mercedes team didn’t go back to Milton Keynes empty handed, either. The Sprinter earned two awards, thanks to its selection as Best Large Panel Van and Best 4×4 Panel Van.

VansA2Z Editor, Neil McIntee said:

“Last year’s winner, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, retains its Large Panel Van of the Year crown. The van is beautifully put together and is available in a huge array of configurations and multiple wheelbases with load volumes going up to 17.0m3. There is also a wide selection of chassis cab variants ready and waiting to have appropriate bodywork fitted.

“We have also had the opportunity to test the Sprinter 4×4 in some very demanding conditions and were quite amazed by how proficient the system is in action; even on normal road tyres – well done to Mercedes-Benz!”

Road Privatisation – Drivers Left To Choose Between Tolls And Queues?

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The Prime Minister’s suggestion that parts of Britain’s road network might be privatised looks like it could be a double-edged sword for the UK’s van and commercial drivers.

On the one hand, private investment in new and upgraded roads could provide some much needed improvements.

On the other hand, the promise that road builders will be able to levy tolls on new road capacity (but not on existing roads) suggests that a two-tier road system could emerge:

  • Cheap, congested old roads
  • Expensive, empty new roads

The M6 Toll provides a perfect example of how badly this system could work. It’s underused because it is expensive. Most commercial and private traffic cannot justify the cost of using the M6 Toll and chooses the slower but cheaper M6 alternative.

This arrangements suits the operators of the M6 Toll very well – their lightly-used road suffers from much less wear and tear than the regular M6 and so costs them much less to maintain than the equivalent stretch of the main M6 motorway.

Proposals to extend this road management model across the UK could simply replicate this problem on a wider scale, rather than fixing the capacity and maintenance problems that exist on the road network as a whole.

It seems, again, as if government policy might be aligned to the interests of the big businesses who will invest in the road network, rather than the millions of individuals and SMEs who need to use the UK’s road network to make a living.

Average Van Rental Booking Just 1.8 Days

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Here at vanrental.co.uk, we get thousands of bookings requests every week – meaning that we get a pretty good idea of what people need from van hire services.

Here are a few tasters of what we’ve learned since we launched our van hire price comparison service at the beginning of this year:

  • Average van hire duration is just 1.8 days
  • 90% of van hire bookings are for less than five days
  • On average, customers book van hire 12.4 days before they need the van
  • But… 33% of bookings are made less than 4 days in advance
  • London gets twice as many bookings as the second-most popular location, Birmingham

To get this data (and much more…), we’ve crunched the numbers on 31,000 comparison requests made on vanrental.co.uk since we launched our price comparison service.

These figures did include a  few surprises, but the short-term nature of the daily van hire business is not one of them.

Unlike car hire, people don’t hire a van for fun – when they need one, there is no alternative, and they need it now.

Interested in learning more? You can see the full story in our latest press release – click here.