Author Archives: Van Rental

Why van hire companies may refuse your UK driving licence without online access code

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Update 19 May 2015: We’ve produced a step-by-step guide showing how to get a driving licence check code.

Anyone planning to hire a van (or a car) in June, including overseas, needs to remember that the paper counterpart of the UK driving licence will no longer be valid from 8 June.

Currently, details of any endorsements and convictions are kept on the paper part of your licence, which you need to show when you hire a vehicle. However, from 8 June, this information will only be available online, so hire companies will need to check drivers’ details online when checking their licences.

This applies when for car and van hire abroad, as well as for car and van hire in the UK.

How will it work?

Although it’s possible for a hire company to phone the DVLA and check your licence details, they won’t be keen on this, as it costs around 51p per minute and is not a 24/7 service.

The only practical solutions will be online — and that means that you, the hire customer, will need to be prepared to help.

1. Share My Driving Licence

Most hire companies are going to be relying on hire customers providing them with access to their online details using a new DVLA system called Share My Driving Licence.

You will need to visit this site within 2 days of picking up your hire van or car in order to generate a unique access code that the hire company can use to view your driving licence details online.

Share My Driving Licence is free to use, but to generate your access code, you will need to provide the following information:

  • Your driving licence number
  • Your National Insurance number
  • The postcode on your driving licence

(this system doesn’t work for licences issued in Northern Ireland)

If you try to collect a hire vehicle without providing a Share My Driving Licence code, you may be able to do it on the day — but only if you have your National Insurance number with you and are able to get internet access. It’s definitely going to be easier to do it in advance.

2. Surely there’s a better way?

LICENCECHECK RealTime

LICENCECHECK RealTime is the first product to provide real-time UK driver licence checks for companies ahead of the abolition of the paper counterpart.

Obviously, the sensible solution to this problem is for hire companies to be able to check your driving licence details online for themselves, without you needing to jump through hoops beforehand.

This will be possible, but the DVLA is relying on commercial partners to develop new systems to provide real-time driving licence checks, and at present, there’s only one such system available in the UK, to the best of my knowledge.

What’s more, that system, called LICENCECHECK RealTime, was only launched at the start of March, so it won’t be in widespread use, yet.

I suspect that all the big companies will rapidly develop or buy in real-time licence checking systems like this, to avoid huge disruption to their business, and to ensure that licences are all checked properly — not just nodded through with a look at the photocard only.

However, many of these systems aren’t ready yet, and smaller van hire companies may take longer to adopt these solutions. In the meantime, you will be required to provide access to your own details using the Share My Driving Licence system, which you can find here: https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence.

You can find more information in this article on the gov.uk website.

Moving House? SAVE up to 10% on Hertz Van Rental [EXPIRED]

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Hertz van supersiteAre you moving house or planning a big DIY project — and need to hire a van?

Hot on the heels of the launch of our new mobile-friendly website design last week, we’ve got a great vanrental.co.uk exclusive offer lined up for you this week, thanks to the good people at Hertz Van Rental.

** THIS OFFER HAS NOW EXPIRED **

Here are the details:

  • SAVE up to 10% on Hertz Van Rental
  • Valid from: 27 April 2015
  • Expires: 3rd May 2015
  • DISCOUNT CODE: 778648

Bookings made with this discount code must start between 27 April 2015 and 24 May 2015.

 

 

 

Terms and conditions may apply, see Hertz website for details.

Thrifty Car and Van Rental now offers hourly hire

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Thrifty Car & Van RentalHourly van hire is a popular service in urban areas, where you may only need a van for a couple of hours in order to move a few pieces of furniture or collect a bulky item and deliver it locally.

Not all companies offer this service, but the good news is that Thrifty recently launched its own hourly hire service, which could lead to big potential savings for anyone needing a van for less than half a day.

You can book hourly hire rates on Thrifty’s website by simply setting the pick-up and drop-off dates to be the same, and then choosing collection and return times.

I tried a couple of quotes and found that the rates for smaller vans especially can be significantly cheaper — I found that a short wheelbase van like a Ford Transit SWB hired for a couple of hours could be around 35% cheaper than the same van hired for 24 hours.

For some reason, the hourly rate savings on larger vans were less, or sometimes non-existent — but availability and rates on different dates and locations are likely to vary, so I’d suggest trying a quote for yourself if you only need a van for a few hours and are close to a Thrifty branch (you can see a list of Thrifty branches here).

Other choices: It’s worth noting that Hertz and Europcar also offer hourly van hire and have done for a while. You can see full details on our hourly van hire page (click here), where I’ll also add details of the Thrifty hourly hire service shortly.

CV manufacturing up 43.3% in March as demand surges

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CV output March 2008 - March 2015

CV output March 2008 – March 2015 (courtesy of SMMT)

Good news for at least some of the UK’s hard-pressed manufacturing businesses: commercial vehicle manufacturing output was 43.3% higher in March than it was during March 2014.

The increase in output came as a result of a 63% surge in UK demand and a 31% rise in export (mainly European) demand during the month, according to the latest figures, published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

The figures extend the growth we’ve seen already this year, and mean that 23,435 commercial vehicles were made in the UK during the first three months of the year, up from 19,678 during the first quarter of 2014.

Commenting on the figures, Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said:

“The commercial vehicle sector has enjoyed a strong resurgence so far in 2015 after a subdued couple of years. Driving this readjustment is a home market invigorated by new product, increased consumer and business confidence, as well as an upturn in demand for UK-built vans and trucks across Europe.

“This growth will help return the sector to a stable natural level following major restructuring of the industry in recent years.”

Here’s an overview of the figures:

CV manufacturing Mar-14 Mar-15 % Change YTD-14 YTD-15 % Change
Total 6,732 9,648 43.3% 19,678 23,435 19.1%
Home 3,109 5,068 63.0% 9,517 13,041 37.0%
Export 3,495 4,580 31.0% 10,003 10,394 3.9%
% export 52.9% 47.5% 51.2% 44.4%

Data courtesy of SMMT (www.smmt.co.uk)

Domestic demand was firm last year, too, but perhaps the biggest change this year is that the European market appears to be improving, after a severe decline. New commercial vehicle registrations in the EU have risen by 8.8% so far this year.

A second reason for the output growth seen so far this year is the introduction of key new models — most notably the new, Luton-built Vauxhall Vivaro, which have stimulated demand and required increased production levels after periods of disruption for retooling last year.

A new look, mobile-friendly vanrental.co.uk

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Regular visitors to vanrental.co.uk may have noticed that we’ve rolled out a new look to the website over the last couple of days.

If you visit on a tablet or smartphone, you may also have noticed that vanrental.co.uk adapts to smaller screen sizes much more effectively than it used to.

The changes are part of our plan to address the needs of the growing number of visitors who visit this website using their tablets and phones — only half of our visitors now use traditional desktop or laptop computers, so updating the website to meet the needs of all users was a top priority.

I’m really pleased with the new look and functionality of vanrental.co.uk and believe it’s a big improvement — but I’d love to know what you think too, so if you’ve got any comments or are having any problems with the website, then please don’t hesitate to let me know — get in touch via the comments form below or on Twitter @vanrentaluk.

New Vito on UK shopping centre tour

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Mercedes-Benz Vito

The new 2015 Mercedes-Benz Vito

If you’re tempted by the new Mercedes-Benz Vito and would like a change to get a closer look and perhaps arrange a test drive, without having to schlep off to your nearest Mercedes van dealer, then here’s your chance.

Over the next month, the new Vito is going on tour, and will appear at many of the UK’s largest shopping centres.

Local dealer staff in attendance to answer questions and arrange test drives.

The Vito pop-up stand will also include a pro sports-style BATAK reaction game, for visitors to test their reaction times, and (I suspect), to keep the kids entertained while Dad’s having a good look at the van.

Here are the dates:

  • Cabot Circus, Bristol (25 and 26 April)
  • Bluewater, Kent (2, 3 and 4 May)
  • Buchannan Galleries, Glasgow (9 and 10 May)
  • Trafford Centre, Manchester (23, 24 and 25 May)
  • The Centre MK, Milton Keynes (30 and 31 May)

For more information, you can visit the New Vito website at www.newvito.co.uk.

Used van values expected to fall by up to 10% by 2020

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James Davis, Manheim

James Davis, head of commercial vehicles at Manheim

Used van values could fall by up to 10% between now and 2020, according to James Davis, head of commercial vehicles at Manheim, one of the UK’s largest vehicle auctioneers.

The firm has one of the largest databases of used vehicle data in the UK, and has recently analysed the trends seen in the used van market over the last five years.

The results may surprise you: despite the average used van being 12 months older and having 8,200 extra miles on it, when it is de-fleeted by its first owner and hits Manheim’s salesrooms, it now sells for 9.5% more than it would have done in 2010.

At the start of the current decade, the average age of a van sold by Manheim was 4.5 years. Today that figure is 5.5 years, demonstrating how the worst recession in recent decades forced many van operators to extend fleet replacement cycles and run older vans for longer.

Big van price explosion

The biggest volume sector of the van market is the large panel van, and here the changes have been slightly different. The average age of large vans hitting the salerooms has only risen by 4 months over the last five years, but the average selling price has exploded, rising by 33% in just five years.

To me, this suggests that buyers were getting desperate for additional vans but couldn’t enter the new market, so were happy to pay over the odds. In my view, this is a price rise that is almost certain to unwind, possibly quite dramatically.

I suspect we’ll see a fall of more than 10% in this sector, especially as Manheim says that the average age profile in this sector remains high: 37% of the large panel vans sold by the firm in the first quarter of 2015 were more than seven years old.

The latest SMMT figures show that the majority of the volume increase in new registrations is in the large panel van sector. If this continues, it could flush out a large number of older vans onto the used market, weakening prices.

The outlook for used vans

Mr Davis’s estimate is that used van prices could “re-align” (that’s fall) by up to 10% by 2020. That seems a reasonable estimate, although if the current economic growth continues, I wouldn’t be surprised if the fall is greater, especially in the overheated large van market, as I explained above.

Manheim’s view matches that of competitor BCA, and this should be good news for used van buyers: over the next 2-3 years, better quality, younger used stock should start coming onto the market in greater volumes, as fleet replacement periods return to historic norms.

In pictures: CV Show 2015 highlights — from vans to TV stars!

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CV Show 2015 overview

The CV Show 2015 was well attended.

It’s April — and that means its CV Show time. The CV Show 2015 has been bigger and better than ever, and does seem to suggest that the economy really is recovering — this year’s bustling show seems a far cry from 2009, when the CV Show was cancelled after virtually all the manufacturers pulled out…

Anyway, in the spirit of a picture being worth a thousand words, here is my pictorial round-up of the van-related highlights of this year’s show.

I reckon there’s something for everyone, including a few celebrities who proved popular at the show…

(Here are links to my previous years’ reviews: 2012, 2013 & 2014).

To kick things off, Ford’s golden Transit was on display to mark the Transit’s 50th birthday — on average, someone has bought a Transit-badged van once every 180 seconds for the last 50 years. That’s quite an achievement:

Gold Ford Transit 50th birthday

Not to be outdone by their Dagenham rivals, Luton-based Vauxhall made the most of their England football team sponsorship by scoring several top names of yesteryear to front up their stand:

Bryan Robson on Vauxhall CV Show stand

Bryan Robson proved popular… as did Peter Shilton:

Peter Shilton on Vauxhall stand at CV Show

Staying with Vauxhall for a moment, the firm’s Movano hi-cube removal van was in evidence. This is a Trucksmith Kneehi conversion that’s available from Vauxhall dealers as an approved conversion:

Vauxhall Movano Trucksmith Kneehi conversion

Vauxhall also ensured that a BT Openreach-liveried Vivaro was on display, proving to the industry that BT doesn’t only buy Transits, despite BT’s recent order for 1,000 new Transit and Transit Custom vans:

Vauxhall Vivaro BT Openreach

Rather more exciting was the presence of Countdown star Rachel Riley on the Dacia stand, helping CV Show visitors Do the maths and recognise how cheap Dacia’s are to buy and run:

Rachel Riley from Countdown on Dacia stand at CV Show

Ms Riley was, of course, at the show to promote Dacia’s newly-launched (in the UK) Duster Commercial van model, which was only announced a few days ago, but now gives operators a cheap alternative to the Mitsubishi Outlander 4Work:

Dacia Duster Commercial van

Let’s pause now for a look at two very different trucks, that between them, perhaps, tell a story about how the world has changed over the last fifty years.

First up, this vintage British-built Foden, beautifully preserved, but representing a brand that just couldn’t survive in the 21st century:

Classic Foden truck

On the other hand, I’m pretty certain we’re going to see more Chinese-built vehicles on our roads in the next decade. Chinese car manufacturer Great Wall is steadily gaining acceptance for its value pick-up, the Steed, and I suspect that Sinotruck, shown here, could be next.

A new brand to the UK, but this Sinotruck mixer could be coming to a building site near you quite soon:

Sinotruck mixer

Getting back to the vans, Rossetts Commercials had this terrific 6×6 Sprinter eye candy on its stall. I wrote about these German Oberaigner conversions recently — for anyone with the right requirements, they really are the dogs’ dangly bits…

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 6x6 conversion

After a quick pitstop in one of Cartwright’s rather swish welfare van conversions…

Cartwright welfare van conversion

… Renault’s Master-based food truck conversion was ready with some snacks — this is a conversion that can be ordered at a Renault dealer and provided by one of the firm’s approved converters:

Renault Master catering van

As it’s getting towards home time, a look at Cartwright’s latest supermarket home delivery conversion might be in order. Naturally, it’s based on a Sprinter:

Cartwright supermarket home delivery van

The Iveco Vision Concept van made an appearance — and raised some eyebrows, but in many ways it’s easy to see the links between current models and this concept, in my view:

Iveco Vision Concept

Another interesting and unusual offering was the Strongs Plastics Products body fitted to an Isuzu D-Max pick-up. That tipping body is all plastic, you know:

Isuzu D-Max with Strongs Plastic body

Nearing the end now, a Volkswagen Crafter fitted with a selection of Penny Hydraulics cranes looked like a versatile, if specialist, model (obviously you wouldn’t normally have more than one per vehicle):

VW Crafter with Penny Hydraulics cranes

The new Vauxhall Corsavan maintains the sporty look that’s become de rigeur for these small vans (click here for the launch report and here for my review of the new Corsa):

Vauxhall Corsavan

Meanwhile the new version of the Fiat Doblo Work Up looked as odd as the previous model, but remains a practical, useful model for niche markets such as (perhaps?) urban landscape gardeners:

Fiat Doblo Work Up

This Fiat Ducato Sportivo, on the other hand, looked pretty smart:

Fiat Ducato Sportivo

Finally, let’s head off road (gently) for the close, with the new Peugeot Expert ATV, which uses the PSA Grip Control system — basically a more sophisticated form of ESP traction control — to provide a useful level of ability off-road and on slippery surfaces:

Peugeot Expert ATV

Thanks for watching, that’s it for this year — roll on 2016.

Revealed: Volkswagen Transporter T6, the sixth generation

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Volkswagen has unveiled its new sixth-generation Transporter, six months after teasing visitors to the Hanover Commercial Vehicle Show with the T6-based Tristar concept vehicle.

Although it is very much an evolution of the outgoing T5, the T6 boasts a new range of Euro 6 engines and a range of improvements that should make it better to drive, safer, more comfortable and more fuel efficient.

Volkswagen Transporter T6

The new Volkswagen Transporter T6

Top of the list of changes are the engines: VW says that the T6 will have “a completely new generation” of TDI engines for the Euro 6 market, which have been developed with “longevity and ruggedness” in mind, the firm says.

Interestingly, VW mentioned engine  durability ahead of efficiency in the launch press release: is the firm trying to address the reputation of modern diesels, which are becoming known for their complexity and high mid-life repair costs, as much as their performance and efficiency?

Anyway, the new diesel engine is a 2.0-litre unit that’s available in 84PS, 102PS, 150PS and 204PS variants. Happily, there’s also a petrol option, a 2.0-litre engine with a choice of 150 PS or 204 PS power outputs. Volkswagen says that all of the new engines will save 1 litre of fuel per 100km, compared to the previous generation of models. All engines have a stop-start system as standard that can reduce fuel consumption by up to 15%, according to the firm.

Volkswagen T1 and T6

The Transporter T6 alongside an original T1, a model first introduced 60 years ago. The model on the right is the retro-style Generation Six special edition, which VW has recently confirmed will be available in the UK.

Other improvements include the availability (probably as options, in some cases) of a wide range of driver assistance systems, including Automatic Post-Collission Braking System, which is standard, Front Assist, which is a front-facing collision avoidance system, adaptive cruise control, City Emergency Braking and Hill Descent Assist (on 4MOTION all-wheel drive models).

An interesting an upmarket addition is Dynamic Cruise Control, which is a comfort feature that adapts the van’s electrically-adjustable shock absorbers to provide three driving modes, comfort, normal and sport. I suspect this is only really relevant on the passenger-carrying/Caravalle models, however, as it would be odd in a van.

Volkswagen Transporter T6 cab interior

The view inside the cab will be familiar to anyone who has driven a T5, but why mess too much with something so good?

Finally, there’s also a new infotainment system, which is available with a 6.3″ touchscreen, which provides a range of of features depending on how the van has been specified.

The new Transporter will arrive in the UK later this year — further details nearer the time.

New Mercedes-Benz Vito Wins First Award At CV Show

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Mercedes-Benz Vito

The new 2015 Mercedes-Benz Vito

The Mercedes-Benz Vito has picked up its first UK trade award before it’s even been seen on UK roads.

The new Vito, which was launched on 14 April at the CV Show in Birmingham, has been awarded the Trade Van Driver magazine Best Newcomer award.

Commenting on the award, the magazine’s editor, Matthew Eisenegger, said:

“Such is the might of its bigger brother the Sprinter, the Vito has always been rather overlooked in the medium van sector. However, a new model launched this year sees the Vito take the limelight with fresh looks and a host of improved features.”

Unsurprisingly, the Sprinter picked up Trade Van Driver‘s Best Large Van award again, making it the fourth consecutive year that the large German van has been selected as a winner by the judging panel.

Matthew Eisenegger, Editor, Trade Van Driver Magazine, commented: “The legendary build quality and class-leading safety systems offered by the three-pointed star have led to a string of awards for the Sprinter over the years. And the applause goes on – for the fourth year running the Sprinter takes the prize in this hotly-contested sector.”

I’ve often commented on operators’ slavish loyalty to the might Sprinter: clearly this driver-focused magazine gets the same feedback!