Tag Archives: van hire

Europcar Boosts Eco Credentials with E.ON Deal

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Europcar has won a new contract to be the exclusive suppler of rental vehicles to energy company E.ON.

The deal requires Europcar to supply only cars with rated carbon emissions of below 120g/m2 or 140g/m2. By doing this E.ON will be able to verifiably reduce their corporate carbon footprint and meet their stated environmental targets.

E.ON will also benefit from Europcar’s pan-European presence. Europcar also owns the National and Alamo brands in the EMEA region (Europe, Middle-East and Africa) and has a total of 5,600 branches in 160 countries. The company’s fleet exceeds 215,000 vehicles.

Europcar Selling Cheap Fuel For Rental Customers

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With most car hire and van rental companies, customers are charged a penalty fee for returning vehicles with insufficient fuel in. They are then charged an inflated per-litre rate for the fuel required to top up the vehicle’s tank.

Now that might be fair enough – after all they should have filled up – but Europcar have come up with a much better solution that will save customers both time and money when it comes to refuelling.

Anyone hiring a car or van for more than 3 days who thinks they will use a whole tank of fuel will be given the option of paying for a full tank of fuel at the beginning of the rental at 3p per litre under the average high street price. I’m not sure how they calculate the ‘average high street price’ but this certainly sounds like a cost-effective, pragmatic view to refuelling charges.

It certainly compares well to a recent experience I had with another very large, international car and van hire company (who shall remain nameless).

Their fuel policy was the normal ‘return it with the same amount of fuel it had when you picked it up’. Fair enough, except that the vehicle was running on fumes when I collected it, so to avoid giving fuel away that I’d paid for, I had to somehow manage to return it with the needle buried right in the red, too…

Europcar Introduces Home Delivery Service

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Leading UK van hire company Europcar has introduced a home delivery service for all car and van hire customers.

The service costs just £10 for delivery/collection points within 5 miles of the nearest Europcar office. Locations further than 5 miles away will incur an additional charge of £1.25 per mile for each mile thereafter (one way).

Given that Europcar has 250 branches throughout the UK, the company reckon that there is a Europcar branch within an average of 20 minutes of all UK addresses.

New Flexible Van Hire Service Launches In London

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An innovative new van hire service has launched in London. Streetvan is an extension of the popular and successful Streetcar service, which provides unmanned 24/7/365 car hire from a wide range of locations in London.

The way the service works is simple – you register to become a user and then have access to Streetvan’s fleet of VW Transporters, which are kept parked in reserved parking spaces in more than 50 locations around London.

You can make bookings on Streetvan’s website or over the phone and bookings can be made anything from 60 seconds to six months in advance. Collections and drop offs can be at anytime – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – unlike conventional hire services, as the collection/drop off process is completely automated and unmanned.

Each registered user has a smartcard that enables them to unlock the vans and deactivate their immobilisers – keys are kept in the glove box as they are no use without the Streetvan member’s smartcard and PIN.

Van rental rates start from £8.95 an hour and you can rent a van for anything from 1 hour to 6 months. Streetvan even permit vans to be taken abroad (unlike many rental companies), although this does incur extra charges.

Hourly van rental can be a boon for picking up eBay purchases or large items from shops – the only downside is that Streetvan is only available in London!

If you need hourly van hire outside London, the only company I know of that offers this service is Europcar — visit our hourly van hire page for more information.

Europcar Adds 50% More Luton Tail Lift Vans – Thanks to Credit Crunch

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Car and van rental giant Europcar has increased the number of Luton tail lift vans it has available by 50%. Tail lifts are invaluable when loading and unloading heavy objects and often enable the driver to manage single-handedly and avoid any heavy lifting.

The new vans are the result of a 15% increase in consumer van rental seen by Europcar over the last year. Hiring a van for DIY moves or deliveries and collections is a popular way to save money and Europcar Marketing Director Catriona Lougher is convinced that the credit crunch is responsible for the increased popularity of van hire:

With the slowdown in the economy, homeowners need to watch their pockets.  The increase in van rentals certainly seems to indicate a savvy attitude to this slowdown … Renting a van for a few hours is often far more cost-effective than having items delivered and with the popularity of sales on auction sites, it’s a great way to transport a ‘bargain’ home.

Europcar is one of the largest van hire companies in the UK, with a combined fleet of more than 6,000 hire vans across 250 UK locations. Click here to find your nearest rental location and get an online quote.

Ever Thought of Hiring A Van from A Main Dealer?

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The Birmingham branch of well-known commercial vehicle dealer Chatfields has announced that it will begin offering a van and minibus hire service using LDV Maxus vans, which it also sells.

This reminded me that there are quite a few main dealers who also offer a hire service. In fact, I’ve used several in the past and they have often been quite convenient and competitively priced.

This kind of service is usually provided by particular dealers, rather than the manufacturers themselves – so availability in different locations can vary widely. However, if you have exhausted all other options and not been able to find a suitable hire van for your needs, it’s always worth a try, especially if you have a big commercial dealer near to you.

You can find location details for Chatfields’ Birmingham branch here.

Van Hire & Sales in Baildon, Shipley & Bradford

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Northway Vehicle Sales is an independent company offering short and long term van hire and commercial  vehicle sales from its base in Baildon, just to the north of Shipley, West Yorkshire.

The company was founded in October 2003 by two experienced commercial vehicle industry professionals and offers a comprehensive range of services. Vans are available for short and long-term hire and Northway can also arrange new vehicle leasing. The company keeps a wide range of used commercial vehicles in stock – they specialise in vehicles under five years of age with service history.

If you’d like to learn more about van hire or sales from Northway Vehicle Sales, visit their website at www.northwayvehiclesales.co.uk or call or email them direct on 01274 588880 / northwayvehicles@msn.com.

Baildon is a small village just to the north of Shipley, which itself is just to the north of Bradford, West Yorkshire.

Europcar4 Vans & National Van Rental – Same Branch Addresses?

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I had an email the other day from a visitor to this site who was puzzled as to why the National and Europcar van hire branches in the location she’d chosen (Sheffield) had the same addresses.

As this is a common question, I thought I would answer it here as well as emailing her back.

Over the last few years, there has been a lot of consolidation within the global car rental industry. One of the changes that has taken place is that Europcar UK Group own the National brand in the UK.

What this means is that the two companies have decided to combine their rental fleets and some of their branches. The result is a combined van fleet of 6000 vehicles and 250 locations across the UK – and 60,000 cars in the UK. In some locations, branches have been combined for efficiency and both companies now list branch offices with the same address.

Sheffield is just one example of this. A few others are Stoke on Trent, Aberdeen and Brighton – but there are many more.

Although the branches are the same, each company still operates its own pricing structure and has slightly different rental policies. This means it is always worth getting a quote from both Europcar and National – don’t assume they will be the same price, as they probably won’t be!

1979 Ford Escort van RS2000 conversion

Is There A Maximum Age for Van Hire? We Reveal All…

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1979 Ford Escort van RS2000 conversion

All information on this page was believed to be correct as of January 2018.  

Age restrictions and extra fees for younger rental drivers aren’t much of a surprise – “it’s the insurance”, we all say.

It’s less well known that many of the same restrictions apply to older drivers, too. Especially anyone over 75.

Even though a great many people aged 70+ are still perfectly fit and able to drive, it seems that the insurers who cover van hire companies aren’t very keen on older drivers, believing they pose an extra risk.

I’ve found maximum age restrictions from 65 to 75 – with various ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ thrown in to the mix to keep us all confused.

To help anyone who is looking to hire a van and happens to be over 70, I’ve put together a league table of the maximum age limits operated by van hire companies offering national coverage (click here for minimum age limits):

1. National

Top of the league is National Van Rental with an upper age limit of 99!

2. Enterprise

Enterprise van hireIn joint first place is Enterprise. According to their website:

“There is no maximum age limit when renting with Enterprise.”

3. Sixt

Sixt also keeps it straightforward. There is no upper age limit for vehicle hire.

4. Europcar

Europcar van hireEuropcar has no maximum age limit, except at Plymouth, Exeter, Taunton, Pembroke, Carmarthen and York branches, where the maximum age limit is 75 years old (correct as of 29th January 2018).

5. Thrifty

Thrifty Car & Van RentalThrifty’s position is a little more complicated, according to their website. Their “standard insurance age range is 25-70.”

Anyone aged 71-75 should be able to hire a van, as long as they don’t have any medical conditions that are prohibited by Thrifty’s insurer.

Anyone aged 76 upwards probably won’t be able to rent from Thrifty unless they were previously a customer before they were 76, in which case Thrifty say that they: “may be able to help you as a re-renter, but we will need to refer this to our insurer.”

6. Arnold Clark Car & Van Rental

Arnold Clark is an interesting one. They say:

 Drivers over 75 will be asked to provide medical proof that they are fit to drive.

7. Avis

Avis keeps it pretty simple. There is no upper age limit for vehicle rental.

8. Budget

Budget logoBudget’s standard age range appears to be 25-75. Although Budget informed us there is no standard upper age limit for van hire, we’ve heard some locations might have a restriction / need notification if you’re over 75  – it’s worth checking with the specific branch before you book. 

To learn more about rules and restrictions applying to van hire, see our “Van Hire Age / Licence Guidelines” page.

Disclaimer: vanrental.co.uk accepts no liability for any damages or losses suffered as a result of errors or omissions in the information provided on this page.

Free Additional Driver With National Van Rental

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Well-known UK van hire company National Car & Van Rental are currently offering van hire customers the chance to add an additional driver to their van rental for FREE.

Adding an additional driver usually costs £6.19+VAT per day with National (and other van hire companies all have similar charges), so this is a great, money-saving deal.

To check their rates or arrange van hire with National, click here.

Having a second driver can be really useful when renting a van – especially if you’ve got a long journey and aren’t used to driving such a large vehicle.

This offer is available for a limited time only, so it makes sense to get a quote and book now so you don’t miss out.