Author Archives: Van Rental

Another Classic TV Ad from Renault…

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Remember Papa & Nicole – the series of television adverts that helped make the Renault Clio sexy?

Meet The Laitier (the milkman). Driving a 1901 Renault van, he looks set to do for Renault vans what that loved-up couple did for the Clio.

It’s all part of Renault’s first van television advertising campaign.

Renault The Laitier television ad

The advert is going to be shown on national television later this year – as part of the build up to the launch of the new Renault Master (the current model is visible on the left of the photo).

At present, it’s only viewable online – but I would highly recommend taking yourself to Renault’s van site to have a look. It will be a minute well spent!

Do You Offer Specialist Van Hire? Stop Here!

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Does your company offer specialist van hire services?

For example:

  • Splitter / band van hire
  • Chiller / fridge van hire
  • One-way international van hire (e.g. UK-Spain one-way)
  • Catering / exhibition vehicle hire
  • Tipper / car transporter / other specialist van hire
  • Trailer hire
  • Plus anything else that isn’t standard…

If you do offer any of these and would like to generate more interest and traffic to your website, we may be able to help.

vanrental.co.uk receives more than 30,000 visitors a month, using van and minibus hire search keywords. We don’t pay for advertising – all our traffic comes from natural search results.

We currently rank highly in Google for hundreds of van and minibus hire related search terms – including many geographic terms, used by people when they are looking for van hire services in a specific location.

If your company offers a service we already include on vanrental.co.uk – such as splitter van hire – we can add a profile of your company and its services to our existing page – including a information on the types of vehicles you offer and a link to your website (or your telephone number).

If your company offers a van hire-related service we don’t yet cover, then we will create a new page on the website just for you. It will include general information about that type of vehicle as well as a profile of your company, your services and your contact details.

For more details on our existing advertising options, click here.

To discuss advertising a new type of van hire service on vanrental.co.uk, click here.

Van Hire From Just £19.99 Per Day

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National Van Rental is currently offering some great deals on van rental – with prices starting from just £19.99 per day. Here’s what’s on offer:

  • From just £19.99* per day including insurance and unlimited mileage
  • Competitive daily, weekend, weekly or longer rates
  • Full range of van sizes for all sorts of loads
  • Over 100 van branches nationwide
  • One-way van rentals available

If you are looking for car hire instead*, National is also currently offering a free upgrade on UK car hire – simply book an Economy, Compact or Intermediate car and only pay for the car class below.

*All of the offers above are subject to Terms & Conditions and are available for limited periods.

The links I’ve used go directly to the special offer pages – so if you use these links, it should be clear whether the offer is still running or not when you click through.

Does Your Company Offer Minibus Hire?

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If your company offers self-drive minibus hire, then we may be able to help.

vanrental.co.uk started out as a van hire site but has expanded into minibus hire. We currently rank #1 in Google for the search term ‘minibus hire’ and have a rapidly expanding minibus hire branch database.

Here’s how it works. We list your branch details, website address and the types of minibus you rent (e.g. 9, 12, 15 & 17 seat) in our database.

When visitors to vanrental.co.uk enter their location into our minibus hire search engine, they are shown a map with a list of all the minibus hire locations within a certain radius.

They choose the one they want, click on the link and are transferred to the hire company’s site – hopefully yours.

If this sounds useful to you, then visit our advertising page for more information or contact us direct by emailing info@vanrental.co.uk.

Be quick – we are currently offering an introductory rate for minibus hire directory listing of just £15 per year – but this won’t last for long.

Got Van Questions? Ask Here

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We try to provide as much information as possible about van hire on this website, but we can’t cover everything for everyone.

That’s why we setup our Van Q&A forums – a place where anybody can ask questions about vans or van hire.

Anyone is welcome and no question is too stupid – as the wise man says, the only stupid questions are the ones you don’t ask.

There’s even a handy search facility to allow you to search through all the previous posts and see if your question has already been asked. It’s really that easy.

So if you do have any questions about vans or van hire, why not take a look now?

Collecting Your Hire Van – What To Check

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If you haven’t hired a van before, you may be a little nervous when it comes time to collect it.

The good news is that everything is pretty much the same as for a hire car – so if you have hired a car before, you will be on familiar ground with the paperwork and procedures.

As with all hire vehicles, make sure you know how much fuel should be in the vehicle when you return and take care to mark any damage on the rental company’s check sheet before you sign for it.

There are also a few extra things that are worth checking or preparing for:

  • What type of fuel does your hire van require? It will probably be diesel but check.
  • Check the maximum payload (load weight) of your van – items such as tiles and timber can be surprisingly heavy and you will often reach the weight limit before the van is full. Liquid (e.g. wine and beer) can also be heavy – see our booze cruise guide for examples.
  • Adjust your van’s mirrors carefully before you leave the hire company and make good use of them (including the blindspot mirrors if fitted). You will need to depend on them more than in a car.
  • Take care when parking – have someone see you back if you are unsure or if there are a lot of pedestrians around.
  • If you are hiring a van for European use, check out our European driving tips.

Know Your Van’s Fuel Type – Dont’ Get It Wrong!

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Filling up vehicles with the wrong type of fuel is surprisingly common – according to the RAC, 50,000 of their members alone ‘misfuelled’ in 2007.

The most common scenario is putting petrol into a diesel. This is relatively easy to do as the petrol nozzles on garage fuel pumps are slightly smaller than those for diesel – meaning that a petrol pump and easily be used to fill up a diesel. Doing the reverse isn’t so easy, as the nozzle will need to be forced in – which should be a warning sign that something’s wrong!

Helping out misfuelled drivers is getting to be big business – the AA has just doubled the size of its Fuel Assist fleet – a dedicated fleet of vans that provide a mobile fuel draining service for drivers who have filled up their vehicles with the wrong type of fuel.

In case you do ever do this, don’t start your engine once you realise your mistake. This will make pumping out the incorrect fuel easier and will reduce the chance of any damage to your engine. If you are already driving when you realise your mistake, stop as soon as possible and phone your hire company’s breakdown service for advice.

When you are driving a hire van, there’s an obvious increased risk of using the wrong fuel – especially if you normally drive a petrol car.

Remember that the vast majority of vans are diesel powered – certainly most rental vehicles are. Most rental companies label the filler caps of their vehicles with the required fuel type – check and ask if unsure.

Cracking the Van Hire Code – Jargon Guide

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Everyone knows what a van is – but sadly that’s only a start. Vans come in as many shapes, sizes and different models as cars – and the jargon is far more confusing.

Let’s start with a few easy ones:

  • SLD
  • SWB
  • LWB
  • 3.5t
  • Luton

These are actually quite useful – even if you are just renting a van to move house. Here’s a translation:

  • SLD = Side loading door (the sliding door on the nearside of most panel vans)
  • SWB = Short Wheelbase – describes the distance between the front and rear wheels, but what it means to you and me is that it is just a little longer and wider than a large car, but holds quite a lot
  • LWB = Long Wheelbase – much longer than a large car and very capacious – good for small house/flat moves
  • 3.5t = 3.5 tonnes – used to indicate the maximum gross (laden) weight of a van. Includes most hire vans. Vans up to this weight can be driven on a car licence.
  • Luton = those big box vans with a storage area that extends over the cab – ideal for small-medium house moves.

If you’d like to learn move about van jargon, have a look at our van hire jargon buster guide – and if you come across a term we haven’t included, let us know and we’ll add it in!

Save Money With Hourly Van Hire

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Sometimes you don’t need a van for a whole day – just a couple of hours.

Despite this, with most hire companies you have to pay for a whole day’s hire – even if you return the van early.

Europcar’s hourly van hire service is designed to solve this problem by enabling you to rent vans by the hour.

Vans can be hired for up to 8 hours, after which daily van hire becomes cheaper. Most of Europcar’s UK van hire locations offer hourly van hire and there is a minimum charge of £14.12. It’s available on weekdays only, up until noon on Friday.

Hourly van hire must be booked online – to make a reservation, go to the Europcar4Vans website and select the location, date and times you want your van for, then proceed as normal with the booking.

That’s it! Your rental will automatically be charged as an hourly van hire if it is short enough and  (as long as the location you have chosen offers this service – most do).

Van Hire Special Offers – May

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Sixt Van hireVan hire giants Sixt are currently running some irresistable spring special offers on popular van hire models:

  • Ford Transit for just £29/day (mileage limit of 50 miles applies)

Daily Specials

Discounted daily rates on a range of vans – e.g. Ford Transit 350 for just £45 per day

Weekend Specials

Moving house? This one is perfect.

Rent a high roof Ford Transit Jumbo for just £114 for a long weekend – (Friday noon – Monday 9am)

Weekly Specials

Finally, rent a VW Caddy for one week from just £172.

Terms and conditions apply to all of the above offers, mileage limits and advanced booking requirements apply to some offers. All offers subject to availability – so get booking now!

Visit Sixt’s booking site now!