We’re very pleased to welcome our newest advertiser, Easihire of Wigan to vanrental.co.uk.
Easihire is a family-run firm that’s been in the car and van rental business for more than 30 years. The company is based in Wigan, but also has branches in the following locations in north-west England and Scotland:
We’re very pleased to welcome our newest advertiser, Hire Me Swansea of Swansea, to vanrental.co.uk.
Hire Me Swansea is the latest branch to be opened by the Hire Me car and van rental business based in Merthyr Tydfil. This family-run independent business was founded in 2007 and now operates more than 100 vehicles.
The company’s Swansea hire location is situated just off the A483 Fabian Way, well situated for the city centre, waterfront, Port Tennant, and Swansea University areas.
The Hire Me team pride themselves on providing a professional and friendly hire service that’s available 365 days per year — including Christmas. A 0% deposit service is available on bookings so that you can hire without this outlay.
The company’s van fleet includes the following types of vehicle:
Small vans (e.g. Ford Transit Connect)
Medium wheelbase vans (e.g. Ford Transit Custom)
Long wheelbase vans (e.g. Ford Transit LWB, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter)
Luton 3.5t box vans
Hire Me Swansea is based at Port Tennant, on the eastern side of Swansea:
We’re very pleased to welcome our newest advertiser, Boss Vehicle Hire of Harrogate, to vanrental.co.uk.
Boss Vehicle Hire is a family-run independent business. The company’s hire location is well-situated for easy access from Harrogate, Knaresborough, Pateley Bridge, Ripon and the A1.
The Boss team pride themselves on providing a professional service that’s tailored to customer needs. Vehicles can be rented on flexible daily rates or long-term hire and leasing deals.
All rental rates include insurance, breakdown cover, unlimited mileage and a 24/7 helpline.
The company’s van fleet includes the following types of vehicle:
Luton 3.5t box vans
3.5t long wheelbase vans (e.g. Ford Transit).
Boss Vehicle Hire is based at Nidd, just outside Harrogate:
We’re very pleased to welcome our newest advertiser, Auto Hire Centre of Crewe, to vanrental.co.uk.
Auto Hire Centre is an independent, family-run business offering a range of vans for hire to personal and corporate customers. All vans are under five years old and are fully serviced and sanitised before hire.
The company’s van fleet includes suitable vehicles for most requirements:
Small vans (e.g. Ford Transit Courier)
Medium vans (e.g. Ford Transit Custom)
Large vans (e.g. Ford Transit LWB)
Luton vans (box vans for small removals, etc)
Vans can be made available for long-term hire. Auto Hire also offers a range of cars.
Auto Hire Centre is based at Spring Farm in Minshull Vernon, on the edge of Crewe:
We’re very pleased to welcome our newest advertiser, Dack Hire of Lincoln, to vanrental.co.uk.
Dack Hire is part of Lincoln-based Dack Motor Group. This business was founded as a one-man band in 2010 and has grown to offer a fleet of more than 125 hire vans, in a wide range of sizes and styles:
Small vans
Medium vans (e.g. Ford Transit Custom)
Long wheelbase vans
Extra-long wheelbase vans
Luton vans with tail lifts
3.5t dropside vans
3.5t tipper vans
Dack Hire is based at Lincoln Fields Business Park, on the south side of Lincoln. Here are all the contract details:
The 2021 Vauxhall Combo-e electric van has a manufacturer-specified range of up to 171 miles (source: Vauxhall)
A recent survey by van manufacturer Fiat found that 35% of van drivers are would consider an electric van for their next model. Given this, surely it’s about time that van rental companies started to offer electric van hire?
With a few notable exceptions, electric hire vehicles are few and far between. When they are available, they’re usually cars, not vans. I’ve searched through the websites of all the main van hire companies and as far as I can tell, none of them offer electric vans.
Indeed, van hire specialist Northgate seem keen to explain why electric vans aren’t suitable for widespread use yet. Although they make some valid points, this post written in 2019 and a more recent article from 2020 both strike me as surprisingly negative.
The traditional objections to electric vans are that they’re:
only suitable for very local use due to limited range
too expensive to buy
too inconvenient to charge
have uncertain resale values
Of course, there’s some truth in these comments. But more charging points are being added every day and many electric vans now offer real-world range of 120 miles or more. The latest Citroën e-Berlingo small van (also sold as the Vauxhall Combo-e) has an official range of up to 171 miles. I guess that will be a bit lower in actual use, but it should still be plenty for many van drivers.
Early adopters
To be fair, I did find one van hire company in my search that does offer electric vans. Kudos to Yorkshire/Lincolnshire firm TJS Self Drive, which has some small electric vans for hire. TJS rightly make the point that 70% of small vans travel less than 70 miles a day. That’s well within the range of most current electric van models.
If van hire companies are lagging behind in adopting electric models, big corporate fleet operators are showing more interest. One example is television group Sky, which recently took delivery of 11 Renault Kangoo Z.E. electric vans. These will be based in London, Southampton and Scotland and will be used to help Sky work out how it can convert its wider commercial fleet to electric power in order to meet its corporate target of net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
It’s early days for electric van hire, but as we’ve been saying for years here at vanrental.co.uk, electric vans are very well suited to some types of van use. Many companies operate vans in urban areas, with limited mileage or fixed routes. Electric power makes increasing sense and helps companies to meet their environmental responsibilities. We’d urge van hire companies to show leadership in this area by making electric vans available as widely as possible.
The UK is in lockdown again. Government rules say you should stay at home unless you need to leave for essential reasons. If you do venture out, stay local unless you are required to travel for work or other permitted reasons.
Car and van hire has been designated as an essential business by the government, so most van hire companies are still open as usual. Our van hire price comparison system is working as usual to help you find van hire near you.
If you’re moving house, you should still be able to rent a van to help on the day (moving house is still allowed).
How Covid-19 lockdown is affecting van hire
To ensure customers and staff stay safe, most van hire companies have implemented thorough deep cleaning routines for all vehicles between hire bookings.
Although most van hire companies are open for business, our experience is that you may find some differences in availability compared to normal. Our information suggests that some large companies may have closed selected branches. Some local independent companies may be busier than usual, others may be less busy.
If you’re looking for van hire in your local area we’d suggest booking a little further ahead of time if possible.
There’s also a second consideration. Is your journey essential? We’re not here to enforce the lockdown rules and neither are the hire companies. But we think it’s only right to say that unless you need to rent a van for essential activities, you should perhaps delay your hire until the UK lockdown is eased.
It’s possible that you’ll be asked about the purpose of your journey, especially if you travel outside your local area. We know of several people who’ve been stopped by the police on motorways when travelling long distances recently.
With all that said, if you need to hire a van, you should be able to do so during lockdown.
Van hire giant Enterprise has opened a new Enterprise Car Club location in Amesbury, Wiltshire. Vehicles available at the new location include several cars plus a Volkswagen Crafter van, which will be based at the Amesbury Holiday Inn.
Car (and van)-sharing clubs are an increasingly popular alternative to vehicle ownership and daily rental. For town and city dwellers who need a vehicle for a few hours every now and then, we think they’re a superior alternative to owning a vehicle.
Enterprise’s Car Club charges start at £3.45 per hour for regular users and £4.95 per hour for regular club members. There’s even a student hire option which allows drivers aged 19-21 to hire vehicles from just £5.95 per hour. Kudos to Enterprise for making this available — most companies exclude drivers under 22.
As you’d expect, all vehicles receive a comprehensive clean between hires. This does mean that availability is lower than usual at the moment, as longer than usual is required between hires to allow the vehicle to be cleaned.
