Category Archives: Van Hire News

News and special offers from other UK van hire and rental companies.

Van Hire Firm Recycles 810 Tonnes of Tyres In 2012

1 Reply

Hankook RA10 All-Season TyreBusiness van hire specialists Northgate Vehicle Hire has a UK fleet of 52,000 vehicles, mostly vans. As you can imagine, these vehicles get through a lot of tyres every year — 85,786 in 2012, to be precise.

These tyre are collected from Nortgate’s 60 UK depots by Vellco Ltd., which specialises in used tyre management. Vellco supplies all of the car and van tyres it collects to Sapphire Energy, a subsidiary of cement maker Lafarge. The tyres are shredded into 50mm pieces and then used as fuel in Lafarge’s cement kilns, instead of coal.

According to Northgate and Vellco, this process is environmentally beneficial, as it produces less nitrogen oxides than coal, while the energy released by burning the tyres is competitive with coal.

Not all tyres end up in a cement kiln, however — Northgate’s light truck tyres follow a different route. These tyres operate under much heavier loads than light vehicle tyres and, as a result, contain more steel than smaller car and van tyres.

To ensure that this steel component doesn’t go to waste, the light truck tyres are seperated into steel and rubber. The steel is recycled into new steel, while the rubber is ground down into small chips, or crumbs, that can be used to produce artificial sports surfaces and the springy black surfaces that have become so popular in children’s playgrounds in recent years.

It just goes to show that very little of our waste needs to go to landfill — and it’s entirely possible for recycling to be a profitable and efficient business.

Europcar Launches Business Connect Service For SME Customers

Leave a reply

Europcar has launched a new service aimed at SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) customers — smaller business customers who may not normally be able to access high-volume corporate deals.

The service is called Business Connect and aims to give SMEs more choice and flexibility than they enjoy at present. Some of the features of the Business Connect service are:

  • A choice of fixed rates, to help with budgeting, or variable discounted rates;
  • A choice of payment options, including credit facilities or no-contract credit card payment;
  • Access to Europcar’s online booking system
  • An Affinity scheme to provide employees with access to discounted car hire for personal use.

Europcar says that the Business Connect service will also offer a number of benefits that are usually only available to larger corporate customers, such as a guaranteed diesel option, a light damage option that waives any damage costs up to £400, and dedicated account manager support.

Delivery and collection and one-way hire are also available, although these services are on offer to regular retail customers of Europcar, too (not necessarily at the same rates).

Commenting on the launch, Ken McCall, Europcar UK Group Managing Director, said:

“The launch of Business Connect is part of Europcar’s commitment to our small business customers who are the engine room of the UK economy. Business Connect delivers big business benefits to smaller organisations, helping them get the best out of Europcar’s services by creating a rental solution that meets their specific needs.

“We know that SMEs have to be even more conscious of costs but can often find that they are excluded from the discounts and benefits that are afforded to big volume rental users.  Business Connect brings certainty on costs with discounted rates to keep UK SMEs on the move.  Plus our Affinity programme offers staff, friends and family discounts on vehicle rental booked via our consumer website, providing savings on leisure rentals.”

Europcar is Europe’s largest car and van hire company, and has more than 200 branches across the UK.

Hiring A Van With An Additional Driver: How Much Will It Cost?

4 Replies
Fifty pound note

Make sure you save money on van hire buy checking how much extras such as an additional driver, or sat nav hire, will cost, before you make your booking. The cheapest basic hire rate isn’t always the cheapest total cost.

Extra costs can be a minefield when hiring a vehicle, transforming a cheap daily rental rate into an expensive experience.

One common requirement is for an additional driver; not all drivers are used to driving long journeys, and even if you are, doing a long journey in a large, unfamiliar van can be much more tiring than making the same trip in your car.

(If it’s your first time driving a van, check out our ‘Driving A Van’ guide).

For this reason, having an additional driver is always a popular option for van hire customers — but it isn’t always obvious is how much this may cost.

On vanrental.co.uk we list a number of different hire companies, including seven well-known international hire companies and two major brokers which offer national coverage.

I’ve had a look at how much each charges for an additional driver, and the differences are surprising!

How much for an additional driver?

Remember, each company charges different daily van hire rates, too, so the cheapest additional driver fee isn’t necessarily the cheapest overall.

However, let’s take a look at the fees charged for an additional driver by some of the UK’s biggest van hire operators*:

Which company offers the cheapest total rental costs? It’s impossible to say, I’m afraid, but these figures may give you some indication of what to expect when comparing rental rates with our price comparison engine.

Other extras will vary

You may not need to have an additional driver, but there’s a good chance you will want another optional extra.

Perhaps you’ll be travelling on your own and would rather hire a sat nav to help with the navigation — or maybe your passenger will be a young child, who needs a child seat?

I’m afraid that in every case, charges vary between companies vary, and the only way to get a precise, all-inclusive quotation is to click through to each rental company’s website and complete a full quotation.

Sorry, but that’s the way it is — and anyone who tells you otherwise may not be being completely honest with you.

I’ll take a closer look at the cost of sat nav and child seat hire in future posts — stay tuned for more information.

*All figures were checked at the time of writing in July 2013, but these may be subject to change vanrental.co.uk and the author take no responsibility for any errors, omissions or future changes. Please check yourself before booking.

Hourly Van Hire & Overnight Van Hire – You Can Do It

Leave a reply

Daily van rental is usually charged for on a 24-hour basis. So if you collect your van at 9am on day one, and return it by 9am the next day, you pay for one day’s hire.

Unfortunately, if you pick-up a hire van at 9am and return it at 10am, you still pay for a fully day’s hire.

Similarly, if you collect your van after work at 5pm, and return it first thing the next morning, you still pay for a full day’s hire.

More flexibility?

The thing about van hire is that people only hire a van when they need to. It’s not like hiring a car for a weekend away — when you need a van, you may need it at any time of the day or night, and you don’t want to pay a penny more than necessary. 

For example, what about those times when you need to pick-up some furniture from Ikea on a Saturday afternoon, or pick-up a big eBay purchase one evening?

Perhaps you’re in a band and only need a van in the evenings, when you’re travelling to gigs that you fit around your day job?

The good news is that things are improving and that companies are starting to offer genuinely flexible services. Here’s an overview of what’s available:

Overnight Van Hire

If you want to hire a van overnight — say from 5pm to 9am — then Europcar is your best bet.

Europcar is Europe’s largest car and van hire firm and now offers overnight van hire from just £29* at most of its UK branches.

The deal is simple — collect the vehicle after 5pm and return it before 9am (if you return it after 9am, you’ll be charged a full day’s hire costs).

To learn more about overnight van hire from Europcar, click here.

Hourly Van Hire

The other common problem with daily van rental is that you may only need the van for an hour or two. This often means you have no choice but to pay for a 24-hour hire, despite  only needing the van for a small fraction of that time.

It’s worth noting that almost all hire companies will let you book a van for a few hours — or even one hour — but in most cases, you will be charged for a full day’s hire, regardless. You won’t explicitly be told about this — the company’s booking engine will just quote you a price that’s the same as the daily rate.

The best option we know of for standard hourly van hire is Europcar.

Europcar currently offers hourly van hire from just £11 per hour*  – click here for an instant quote.

What about car and van-sharing?

Hertz offers hourly van hire through its standard rental service, but it also offers something a little different — a car-sharing membership scheme called Hertz 24/7, which allows members to book, pick-up and drop-off Hertz 24/7 vehicles from Hertz 24/7 locations.

The deal is simple — as a member, you get a special key fob that gives you access to the vehicle you have reserved. The ignition key will already be in the vehicle and you simply get in, drive off, and then return the vehicle when you are done.

Members can book Hertz 24/7 vehicles online and billing is taken care of automatically — whether hourly or daily.

This scheme is similar to Zipcar and a number of other schemes that are increasingly popular, especially in big US cities, but also in London.

To learn more, visit the Hertz 24/7 On Demand website.

*Prices correct at the time of writing on 22 July 2013. T&Cs apply.

How Does VanRental.co.uk Van Hire Price Comparison Work?

2 Replies

Since we launched our van hire price comparison system around 18 months ago, we’ve had plenty of positive feedback on the system.

Unfortunately, we also get the occasional email from customers who believe they’ve booked a van with us — something which is impossible, as we don’t handle bookings or take payment. We’d hate to think that anyone was confused or misled by our website, which we’ve worked hard to make clear and simple.

So, to help clear up any confusion, I thought I would explain in a little more detail how vanrental.co.uk works.

Van hire price comparison in 4 easy steps:

Enter your location and hire dates into the search box:

Van hire comparison search box

You will be shown a list of results for each size of van. Where possible, we provide a ‘live’ quote that we have fetched from the company’s booking system. If not, we provide a link, or if we have no branches in your location, we’ll show you a map with the nearest van hire locations so you can choose an alternative.

This is our main results screen:

Van hire price comparison results

Once you have chosen your selection, click on the pink ‘Go’ button and you will be redirected to the hire company’s website, where you can refine your quote or make a booking directly with them:

vanrental.co.uk exit page

You will see this screen before you are transferred to our rental partners’ websites to inform you that you are leaving vanrental.co.uk.

And that’s it! We do not add anything to the prices we receive from our rental partners, and you can compare prices from most of the UK’s major van hire companies and brokers in just a few seconds on vanrental.co.uk.

I hope that’s been useful – if you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to drop us an email, leave a comment below, or send us a tweet @vanrentaluk.

Northgate Eyes UK Expansion To Address ‘Significant Numbers of Potential Customers’

Leave a reply

Commercial vehicle hire firm Northgate, which specialises in providing flexible medium- and long-term hire to business customers, is planning to open up to 20 new branches in the UK over the next three years.

Darlington-based Northgate said that based on industry-standard drive times, its existing 65-branch network covers around 60% of the UK. The firm said that it had identified a number of areas where coverage was poor, especially in London and the south of England.

Northgate now plans to open six to eight sites within the London area over the next 12 months. The firm estimates that the sites will take three years to reach maturity, and will eventually operate a fleet of approximately 500 vehicles per site.

UK turnaround?

Northgate has had a difficult time over the last few years, and the firm has been forced to shrink its UK van hire fleet in order to maintain utilisation rates, as demand has declined.

In its full-year results last week, Northgate said that its UK fleet had been cut from 52,900 to 49,900 over the last year, during which time fleet utilisation had dropped from 88%, from 89% in 2012.

The firm, which reported a pre-tax loss of £11.4m last year, due to restructuring charges, said that its immediate target was a return to 2012 utilisation levels, but emphasised that its underlying business remains profitable and is delivering returns above the company’s cost of capital.

Derby Van Hire: Europcar Opens New Branch

1 Reply

Europcar van hireEuropcar has opened a new branch in Derby (click here for a list of van hire hire companies in Derby).

The new Europcar Derby branch provides both car and van hire services and benefits from a spacious and accessible location on an industrial estate close to the city centre.

As far as I can tell, this new branch replaces Europcar’s old Becket Street branch, which no longer appears to be available on Europcar’s website.

The new Europcar Derby branch is located at:

Customers can collect and drop off vehicles from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and Saturday from 8am to 1pm.

A meet and greet service is available serving Derby Midland Railway Station, while for leisure customers, Europcar’s freeDeliver service provides free delivery and collection to customers’ homes within a radius of 5 miles, and for all bookings of two days or more. Customers can have their car delivered to any residential address within an agreed one hour window, so there’s no waiting around and Europcar collects the vehicle at the end of the booking – no hassle, no charge.

Click here to get a Europcar quote now.

Use Van Hire to Cut Costs and Get Dangerous Bangers Off the Road

2 Replies

A recent data from the Freight Transport Association (FTA) showed that half of all vans on the roads over 3 years old are unroadworthy*. Europcar, the leading car and van hire company in Europe, is urging businesses to consider van hire as a cost-effective, flexible, and most importantly, safe alternative to running a fleet of older vans.

The FTA study found that there was an almost 50% failure rate on first time MOTs for vans, a sobering statistic, and one which Europcar believes demonstrates it is not always best for a business to run its own fleet of vans. As the industry changes, van rental can offer a solution which not only provides newer vans for use, but is also more flexible for a changing market.

Ken McCall, Managing Director of Europcar UK Group, explains:

“These figures from the FTA go to illustrate something that has been known within the industry for a long time – businesses are holding onto vans for longer, without having them properly maintained. This is a false economy for businesses at a time when costs are all important – as eventually the vans will either breakdown or fail their MOT.

“Rental provides the answer. Vans that are on average under 9 months old and maintained to the highest standard are available at short notice, providing a flexible fleet of vehicles for usage which can actually save businesses money.”

Listening to the changing needs of its customers, Europcar has recently undertaken a rapid expansion in its van network and portfolio of products. These innovations include increasing the number of locations where vans are available to 172 across the UK, extending operational hours and offering a discount of 25% for overnight rentals.  The core make-up of vans on the Europcar fleet has also been enhanced to ensure it remains the leading provider of vans in the UK.

“While it may seem counter-intuitive to some businesses to hire all or part of their van fleet rather than own, the market is changing, and owning and maintaining a costly fleet of vans is no longer the default option” concluded Ken McCall.  “Europcar has recognised this change in the behavior of businesses and evolved its van fleet accordingly, taking innovative steps to ensure our vans not only offer a supplementary service to fleets, but are actually a viable alternative.”

Click here to get an instant quote for Europcar van hire.

*Source: FTA, March 2013

Car and Van Hire Delivers £14bn of UK GDP

Leave a reply

The UK’s car and van rental industry contributes £14bn to the UK’s economy each year, according to a new report commissioned by the BVRLA, the industry’s trade body. That’s equivalent to £1 in every £90 of UK GDP when the operations of the industry itself, the UK-made vehicles and engines it purchases, the activity of UK dealerships and its impact on the used car market are taken into account.

Not all car and van hire businesses have thrived during the recession, but it has remained pretty healthy and some operators have thrived. The success of the industry has been helped by innovative and forward-thinking companies such as this one, that have realised that daily hire can be a meaningful substitute for ownership and leasing, removing the balance sheet risk and financing difficulties from businesses, leaving them free to concentrate on their core activities.

In terms of jobs, the industry employs 38,000 people directly and a further 145,000 people through wider supply chain and consumer spending effects. The total employment supported by the industry is equivalent to 1 in every 175 workers in the UK, and the sector generates around £2.8 billion of tax revenue per year.

The automotive sector is one of the UK’s few manufacturing success stories and vehicle rental and leasing companies are among its largest customers, purchasing an estimated 220,000 vehicles in 2011. This is 15% of total output but a massive 82% of UK vehicles sold to domestic customers. This expenditure is estimated to have supported a £2.4 billion contribution to GDP, 52,000 jobs and £810 million in tax receipts.

In the same year, the vehicle rental and leasing industry’s expenditure on foreign-made vehicles containing UK-made engines is estimated to have generated a £349 million contribution to GDP, 7,600 jobs and £120 million in tax receipts.

The vast majority of this business is conducted through motor dealers. In 2011, the sector purchased £11.1 billion of foreign-made vehicles from UK dealerships. This activity supported a £98 million contribution to GDP, 2,000 jobs and £31 million in tax receipts.

There is also a positive environmental angle to this activity. The industry can rightfully claim to play a leading role in driving down emissions. At 123g/km, the CO2 emissions of the average lease car registered in 2012 was 25% cleaner than the average car on UK roads.

Sounds like a good reason to consider hiring a van instead of owning one, especially if you don’t need it every day.

Avoid This £1,000 Insurance Risk Next Time You Hire A Van

Leave a reply

The long bank holiday weekends are traditionally when many people carry out DIY jobs around the house. Research on the cost of van hire over the May bank holidays reveals that DIY enthusiasts and home movers could be out of pocket by up to £1000 if the vehicle gets damaged, even if it’s not the driver’s fault.

This is a subject we covered in a recent post, but it does bear repeating, given how high the excess costs usually are with hire vans.

Almost two-thirds (65%) of van hirers are driving a van for the first time, increasing the risk of a minor reversing accident or scrape — or even roof damage from overhead obstructions… The problem is that the hire companies’ excess insurance is usually pretty expensive, making it tempting to take the risk and not bother.

The good news is that with a small amount of pre-planning, you can save up to 50% on hire companies’ somewhat steep rates by buying excess insurance in advance, not from the van rental company.

iCarhireinsurance.com, a leading supplier of van and car hire excess insurance protection, researched the costs of hiring an average sized van (Transit 280) in Manchester for the May bank holiday weekends (4 – 7 May and 25 – 28 May 2013) from three leading van hire companies, Europcar, National and Sixt.

Save up to 50% on insurance

The rental cost was found to be similar from all providers at just over £100 for the four days, but the excess liability, i.e. the first part of any claim that the driver pays, ranged from £800 to £1000.

Buying cover direct from the van rental companies to protect themselves from this expense could cost up to £66, or £16.50 a day, compared with a policy from iCarhireinsurance.com at only £7.99 a day (and £31.96 for the four day bank holiday weekend).

Those drivers that believe that they do not need excess cover because they are good drivers may be interested to know that analysis of iCarhireinsurance.com 2012 claims found that over a third (34%) of people that have claimed on their insurance for damage to a hire car or van said that the damage was “not their fault”.

Ernesto Suarez, founder and CEO of iCarhireinsurance.com, said:

“Driving a van is very different to driving a car, therefore we urge DIY enthusiasts and anyone using a van to transport items over the bank holiday weekends to check their excess liability if they don’t want to end up with a large bill they were not expecting. A scrape to the side of a van when loading decking can cost hundreds, if not thousands to fix.”

Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

If you still need to hire a van for the bank holiday weekend, it’s not too late –> click here to compare prices.