Tag Archives: van hire

Van Rental Increasingly Popular As Recessions Bites

Leave a reply

Van Hire firms are reporting strong business as the UK economy moves into recession.

According to several major van rental companies, rentals are up and durations and frequency are increasing, as many businesses start considering short-term van hire as a serious alternative to owning or leasing vans.

As uncertainty over future business prospects increases, the attractions of on-demand van hire with no future financial commitments are also increasing. Van operators are choosing to delay replacing vehicles or even to sell their fleet and rent when necessary instead.

Ian Lawrence, Managing Director of van rental firm Sixt, says that the company has already seen customers saying that “they’re thinking of cashing in their fleets and want to rent a CV from us on a long-term basis.” He also comments that renters are “returning vehicles immediately after the job is done” – a sentiment echoed by Chris Sharp of Burnt Tree, who says that “over the last three months we’ve seen a marked increase in the number of enquiries regarding flexible fleet arrangements”.

Source: RoadTransport.com

Morrisons Biodiesel B30 & Hired Vans – Don’t Do It!

4 Replies

If you ever fill up at Morrisons fuel stations you may have noticed that some of them are  now offering additional alternative fuels – including biodiesel B30 (30% biodiesel) and Bioethanol E85.

Van users with green consciences may be tempted to fill up their hire vans with B30 biodiesel – that’s a fuel made with 30% biodiesel and 70% mineral diesel – but you probably shouldn’t.

Not all manufacturers approve the use of B30 – and although the vehicle will probably run on the fuel without problems, use of it may invalidate the manufacturers’ warranties.

Ford, Fiat, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Renault, Toyota and Volkswagen are just some of the van manufacturers who have NOT approved the use of B30 in their vehicles. If you are renting a van, stick with regular diesel, save fuel and ease your green conscience by driving in a more fuel-efficient manner instead.

Don’t use anything other than normal diesel unless your van hire company gives you permission to do so.

To learn more about biodiesel usage in the UK – all diesel now includes 2.5% biodiesel – click here.

Guildford & South-east Van Hire: Kendall Cars

Leave a reply

I’d like to welcome Kendall Cars to the vanrental.co.uk van hire directory. Founded in 1969 and based in Guildford, Kendall Cars has van rental branches throughout the Hampshire / Surrey / London area:

Kendall Cars offers a very wide range of hire vans – ranging from small vans (e.g. Peugeot Partner), through larger panel vans (e.g. Ford Transit LWB) and up to 7.5t (Iveco Cargo) and 18t lorries. They do of course also offer Luton box vans with tail lifts – essential for house and furniture moves.

Kendall also offers a number of other light commercial vehicles, such as 3.5t Transit tippers and 4×4 pickups like the Toyota Hilux – offering additional flexibility for commercial hire requirements.

Kendall Cars also offers minibus and MPV hire.

If you’d like to see your van hire company listed on vanrental.co.uk, click here for details of our advertising options.

Van Hire in Kentish Town, North London: H&H Van Hire

Leave a reply

I’d like to welcome H&H Van hire of Kentish Town, North London, to the vanrental.co.uk van hire directory.

A family-run business that was founded in 1994, H&H offers a comprehensive range of small, medium and long wheelbase Transit vans plus Lutons with tail lifts from its base on Bartholomew Road, Kentish Town.

H&H operates a ‘no hidden extras’ policy which means that all of the following are included in its standard van rental rates – unlike some companies:

  • Insurance included
  • AA Recovery included
  • Free additional drivers
  • Unlimited mileage
  • Free 24-hour drop-off facility
  • Discounts for long-term hire
  • Free use of trolley and straps
  • NO charge for young drivers aged 21-25
  • Free parking for customers’ cars

It’s a great package and H&H Van hire also offers minibus hire, although drivers must be over 25 to hire a minibus.

If you’d like to see your van hire company listed on vanrental.co.uk, click here for details of our advertising options.

One-Way Van Hire to Spain – Specialist Van Rental Services

1 Reply

Hiring a van to move to Spain may not be an everyday requirement for most people – but it is a service that’s become increasingly in demand over the last 10 years or so.

Spain is not only one of the most popular holiday destinations for Brits – it’s also perhaps the most popular country to relocate to. Thousands of Britons of all ages move to Spain every year – and many of them want to do the move themselves, with a hired van.

The only problem is they don’t want to have to bring it back again, afterwards.

That’s where one-way van hire between the UK and Spain comes in. The two companies I know of who operate this service both maintain rental offices in the UK and in Spain – in the Alicante / Costa Blanca regions, which are most popular with British expatriates.

This allows you to pickup a UK-registered hire van in the UK, load it up with your possessions, drive to Spain and hand the van back somewhere close to your new home. The system works because there are also a similar number of people needing to hire a van from Spain to the UK. The result is reasonable daily rates, no catches and a really useful service.

There are two companies I know of who offer this service:

On our van hire to Spain page, you will find full details of the locations, vans and services offered by each of these companies. They both offer similar services and charge similar rates, so in truth your choice might be dictated by which has the more convenient branch locations for you.

If you need to hire a van to move to Spain then it is definitely worth getting a quote from each of these companies.

Regular rental companies – even those that let you take vans abroad – won’t let you drop off their vans abroad. You normally have to return hire vehicles to the country in which they were rented – not much good when you have just moved house 1,000 miles away.

J-Hire and Way2Go Hire are unique (as far as I know) in offering a one-way van hire service between Spain and the UK – so take a look here if you are planning to move to Spain.

Van Rental Increasingly Popular for Longer Periods

Leave a reply

Tightening credit availability and uncertain economic times are having an effect on the way businesses hire vans, according to GE-owned TLS Vehicle Rental. In an article in Fleet News, major UK B2B van rental companies TLS and Northgate have confided that companies are turning to them to hire vans where they might previously have bought or leased them.

By owning fewer commercial vehicles and renting for longer periods, customers are able to reduce their liabilities and gain increased flexibility – if a van isn’t required for a couple of weeks, it can go back to the hire company and will cost the business nothing.

According to Carl D’Ammassa, TLS’ Chief Operating Officer, having “no long term financial commitment” is one of the “key benefits” of renting. He says that the ability to “hand back the vehicle at any time” is “very attractive” to many businesses in “tough economic times”.

Ross Clarkson, Marketing Director of Northgate, the UK’s largest van rental company, echoed the sentiment of D’Ammassa’s comments, telling Fleet News that they are seeing companies “that would have outright purchased their vehicles” switching to rental. Customers are attracted by the flexibility of van rental and are also being discouraged from buying by difficulties securing credit.

Of course, van rental has always had a number of benefits – not least a lack of responsibility for maintenance, repair or replacement of hire vehicles. When a rented van needs replacing or repairing, the van rental company will arrange this automatically and provide a suitable alternative, resulting in near-seamless vehicle availability without any hassle.

See Fleet News for more details.

Bucks Car Hire: Slough & High Wycombe Van Hire

1 Reply

Bucks Car Hire is the latest addition to our European Van Hire and Automatic Van Hire pages.

This Slough-based company offers car and van rental throughout the Berkshire and Buckinghamshire area with depots in both Slough and High Wycombe.

Buck Car Hire, or BCH, offers a wide range of vans for hire and specialises in European hire and automatic van hire:

  • Car-derived vans
  • SWB Panel vans (e.g. Ford Transit) – automatic available
  • MWB panel vans – automatic available
  • LWB panel vans – for greater load space and heigh – automatic available
  • XLWB panel vans – e.g. Mercedes Sprinter

This must be one of the widest selections of automatic vans for hire in the UK – I certainly haven’t come across anyone else offering so many.

BCH’s website includes a comprehensive price list and hires over three days include a free delivery service – saving you time and hassle. All vans are covered by a 24 hr. breakdown service and all vans are valeted and checked before each rental.

To learn more about Bucks Car Hire and for prices and online booking details, visit its website at www.BucksCarHire.com

If you’d like to see your van hire company listed on vanrental.co.uk, click here for details of our advertising options.

Hourly Van Hire Increasingly Popular for Home Purchases

Leave a reply

The growth of eBay and the increasing popularity of DIY removals has created a growing market for hourly van hire – hiring a van by the hour, rather than by the (24 hour) day.

London-based hirers are already served by the Streetvan service but van hire customers elsewhere in the country don’t have many choices.

In fact, there is only one national contender – Europcar that I know of.

Europcar‘s DriveTime service offers hourly van hire from more than 250 UK locations. According to the company, hourly van hire starts from just £6.99 for a Transit-sized van and the maximum hire period is 8 hours – after which it is always cheaper to hire for a day.

To make an hourly van hire booking, simply specify the start and end times you would like when completing your quote – Europcar’s booking system will automatically find the cheapest solution for you. Europcar has recently increased the number of Luton vans with tail lifts in its fleet by 50% – making transporting large or heavy objects much easier than before.

However, loading and unloading goods from a van can be a short cut to back injuries and muscle strains, so to help customers make the most of their hire vans and stay safe, take a look at our tips for safely loading a van and remember to take car when lifting and seek assistance if you can’t manage on your own.

Here is some advice from Europcar on safely lifting and carrying heavy objects:

Assess the situation

· Test the weight of a large object by lifting a corner, can you lift the load safely by yourself or do you need help?

· If the load is too heavy or an awkward shape is it possible to break-down into smaller parts?

· Check how far you have to carry the load and if the path is clear of anything which may cause you to trip. Check that all doors have been opened in advance.

·  Once the load is lifted, will it block your view?

Correct lifting techniques for heavy items

· Before you lift a heavy object make sure you have a firm footing.

· Stand close to the object and centre yourself over it with your feet shoulder width apart, squat down to the ground.

· Before starting to lift make sure you have a good handhold.

· To lift, straighten your knees and rise from the ground in a smooth, steady motion. Concentrate on keeping your back straight and let your legs do the lifting. Tightening your stomach muscles will help to support your back.

· Never bend your back to pick something up.

· Once upright do not twist or turn your body, keep your head up and look straight ahead. Focusing upwards will help to keep your back straight.

Carrying the load

· Hold the object close to your body and keep it steady with your arms bent, the further the object is from your body the heavier it will feel.

· Keep your feet about shoulder width apart, take short steps and move slowly.

· Change direction by turning your feet and once facing in the right direction continue to move forward.

· If you are straining or feel tired set the load down and rest for a few minutes.

· To lower the object, once again position your feet shoulder width apart, tighten stomach muscles and lower to the ground by bending your knees in a smooth and steady action. Only release your grip when the load is securely set down upon a firm surface.

Green Van Hire Gets ‘Easy’ with Northgate Vehicle Hire

Leave a reply

Reducing fuel consumption and carbon emissions are undoubtedly the big issues of the moment for most van owners.

While motorway warriors might already enjoy decent mpg figures, historically it has never been so easy for vans used on urban work to reduce their fuel consumption. Idling time – whether at traffic lights or in queues – wastes terrific amounts of fuel.

The Mercedes-Benz ECO-Start system is designed to address this and one of the first vehicles to benefit from it is the company’s award-winning new Sprinter range. ECO-Start is now being fitted as standard to all 4-cylinder, manual Sprinters and it has now made its way into the rental market, courtesy of leading van hire company Northgate Vehicle Hire.

The Northgate name might not be familiar to you, but one of the companies they supply with hire vehicles is easyVan – and the new ECO-Start Sprinters are being trialled at three easyVan branch locations.

The trial locations are:

Mercedes state that the ECO-Start system can reduce fuel consumption by up to 10% – but trials in Commercial Motor and Motor Transport magazines have produced far bigger savings – of up to 30%, according to BigLorryBlog (penned by Commercial Motor editor Brian Weatherley).

I expect that the ECO-Start system will be a big hit with fleet and rental buyers – once it proves its long-term reliability and van drivers get used to the idea of the engine stopping and starting on its own! If you’re keen to try one out, then get in touch with one of the Northgate branches listed above or head over to your nearest Mercedes-Benz van dealer for a test drive.

75.17 Reasons Why Hiring A Van Is Better Than Owning One

Leave a reply

A new survey by automotive warranty specialists Warranty Direct has found that the average cost of a mechanic is now £75.17 per hour.

And that’s only the average – rates at franchised dealers averaged £94.70 for every hour of spanner-wielding time…

Independents came in notably cheaper at £55.63 per hour, but even at this rate, costs will still add up fast if you need a few hours’ work doing.

The upshot of this is that owning a vehicle can be an expensive liability – especially if anything goes wrong. Many van users – both private and business – only need their vans occasionally. The rest of the time they either get used as cars or, even worse, just sit idle.

If you fall into this category then it might be worth crunching the numbers and working out whether you would be better off selling your van and just hiring a van when you need it.

This approach has a number of potential benefits:

  • No responsibility for servicing or repair costs
  • No insurance or road tax to pay
  • Renting allows you to choose different-sized vans when needed
  • Avoid owning a depreciating asset you don’t use much
  • Own a cheaper, more practical vehicle for everyday use

In addition to these specific benefits, in my experience vehicles that sit unused most of the time suffer at least as many mechanical problems (if not more) than vehicles that are regularly used.

Let’s look at an example:

Ford Transit LWB, used as a van for two weekdays a month.

Rental costs with easyVan

£47.55 per day = £95.10 per month (rental costs valid at time of writing)

Total annual costs: £1,141.20 (excluding fuel)

Ownership Costs

Ownership costs vary so widely it would be pointless for me to try and estimate them here. However, I’ve produced a checklist below for you to work out the cost of owning you van for one year.

  • Road Tax
  • Insurance
  • Servicing & Repairs (perhaps use last year as a guide)
  • Finance/Lease/Contract Hire payments
  • Depreciation – if you own your van, how much less will it be worth in a year’s time?
  • Finally… think about the cost in money and inconvenience of your van suffering a breakdown or being stolen at the wrong time.

Once you’ve calculated this, work out how much a hire van would cost you.

It may be cheaper – it may not. Hiring isn’t a perfect solution but it does have a lot of advantages for occasional users, as long as you can plan your requirements a few days in advance.