Tag Archives: van hire

Average Van Rental Booking Just 1.8 Days

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Here at vanrental.co.uk, we get thousands of bookings requests every week – meaning that we get a pretty good idea of what people need from van hire services.

Here are a few tasters of what we’ve learned since we launched our van hire price comparison service at the beginning of this year:

  • Average van hire duration is just 1.8 days
  • 90% of van hire bookings are for less than five days
  • On average, customers book van hire 12.4 days before they need the van
  • But… 33% of bookings are made less than 4 days in advance
  • London gets twice as many bookings as the second-most popular location, Birmingham

To get this data (and much more…), we’ve crunched the numbers on 31,000 comparison requests made on vanrental.co.uk since we launched our price comparison service.

These figures did include a  few surprises, but the short-term nature of the daily van hire business is not one of them.

Unlike car hire, people don’t hire a van for fun – when they need one, there is no alternative, and they need it now.

Interested in learning more? You can see the full story in our latest press release – click here.

Jolly Good Van Hire Opens Ely Branch

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Jolly Good Van hire logoLong-time vanrental.co.uk advertiser Jolly Good Van Hire has opened a new branch in Ely.

The Ely branch means that the company, which specialises in European van hire, now has three branches:

  • Shrewsbury
  • Wrexham
  • Ely

Jolly Good’s Ely branch offers all the services that customers of the company have come to expect, including UK daily rental, monthly rental and European van hire. Vehicle tracking is available for business customers and a nationwide collection and delivery service is also available.

Jolly Good’s van fleet is all under twelve months old and includes the following types of van:

  • Small vans (e.g. Volkswagen Caddy)
  • Medium vans (e.g. Ford Transit SWB)
  • Long wheelbase vans (e.g. Mercedes-Benz Sprinter LWB)
  • Luton vans with tail lifts

Jolly Good Van Hire also offers a range of cars and nine-seater minibuses.

To find out more or arrange a quote or booking, contact Jolly Good Van Hire directly:

Hourly Van Hire: Zipvan Is Cheap For Hours, Expensive For Days

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Back in 2008, I wrote about the London launch of the Streetcar hourly car and van hire service.

Fast forward to today and things have changed slightly. Not only do both Hertz and Europcar now offer competing hourly van hire services in many locations across the UK, but Streetcar has merged with Zipcar in the UK.

Zipcar’s van hire service (named Zipvan!) remains true to the original concept of 24/7, on-demand short-term hire and offers Volkswagen Transporters in a number of key UK cities:

The service is designed to encourage hourly hire, rather than multi-day hire – and rental rates reflect this. Hourly hire starts from a reasonable £9 per hour but Zipcar’s daily van hire rates start from £84 per day, which is very expensive for a medium van.

Using our van hire price comparison system, I was able to find equivalent daily rates for a medium van in central London from just £31.98!

Europcar Launches iPhone App

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Europcar logoEuropcar has launched a free iPhone app to enable customers to arrange vehicle hire from their iPhones.

The app enables iPhone users to reserve vehicles or search for details on any of Europcar’s 5,300 stations across 150 countries worldwide, including the UK. I’m not sure whether it works for vans as well as cars or not, yet. (I’m checking this with Europcar and will update this post when I get an answer). 

Update: The app is currently for cars only, but van booking will be added at some point in the future – watch this space.

Once booked, vehicle hire is confirmed immediately over the phone, via sms or email. The service is available in seven languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

You can download the Europcar iPhone app free here: itunes.apple.com/gb/app/europcar/id377889715?mt=8

Vauxhall Tops UK Van Production League

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Vauxhall Vivaro at Vauxhall's Luton factoryVauxhall produces more vans in the UK than any other manufacturer, making 60% of the commercial vehicles which are built in the UK.

The vast majority of these (57%) are Vauxhall Vivaro vans, which are built at the company’s Luton plant. The remainder of Vauxhall’s UK van production takes place at its Ellesmere Port plant (near Liverpool), where Astravans are built on the Astra production line.

In 2011, 64% of UK-built Vivaros were exported to Europe, highlighting the fact that despite public perception, Britain has a thriving motor industry that exports a substantial number of vehicles every year.

Ford is probably the next largest producer of light commercial vehicles in the UK, with many Transit models continuing to be made at its Southampton plant, despite the fact that some Transit models are now made in Turkey. Both Transit and Vivaro have always been popular choices with van hire companies and this trend looks set to continue, with the latest Transit update receiving excellent reviews and a new model Vivaro due to go into production in less than two years.

Europcar Launches New Hourly Van Hire Service

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Europcar logoEuropcar has launched a new hourly van hire service, available at all UK van hire branches except airports.

This is not the first time that Europcar has offered hourly van hire in the UK, but the service has not been available for some time.

Here are the details of Europcar’s new hourly van hire service:

  • Available at all UK branches except airports
  • Available for checkouts Monday-Friday (Mon-Wed only in Central London)
  • Van hire prices start from £11 per hour (as of 24/01/2012)
  • Minimum hire 2 hours, maximum hire 8 hours

Hourly van hire is a popular request by visitors to vanrental.co.uk and is an extremely useful service for quick local journeys – delivering furniture or DIY goods, for example.

Commenting on the new service, Ken McCall, Managing Director of Europcar UK Group said:

“… we know that some motorists may be put off by having to commit to the cost of a full day’s hire, which has always been the traditional way this service has been charged.

With our new Hourly Hire Service we wanted to break the rules to give motorists more flexibility – and take away the barrier of cost.”

This new service means that Europcar joins Hertz in providing hourly car and van hire services across the UK – for full details of both services, visit our Hourly Van Hire page.

Sixt Opens New Manchester Van Hire Branch

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Sixt logoSixt has opened a new van hire branch in Manchester.

The location offers a full range of cars and vans and is located at on Ducie Street (M1 2JL), close to Manchester Piccadilly Rail Station.

The new branch is open 7 days a week, including bank holidays:

  • Monday – Friday 08:00 – 19:00
  • Saturday 08:00 – 17:00
  • Sunday 09:00 – 16:00
  • On bank holidays 09:00 – 16:00

For full details of this branch, including a map, click here.

Click here for a full list of Manchester van hire locations.

Use Van Hire To Save On Record Diesel Prices

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Diesel prices are set to reach record levels in January, with fuel retailers already reeling from a 4.5p per litre rise in the cost they pay per litre over the Christmas period.

Further rises are likely before the end of January and the petrol division of the Retail Motor Industry (RMI Petrol) believes that the average forecourt price for a litre of diesel will soon top its all-time record of 143p. Industry experts are pinning the blame on Iran’s threat to hold a demonstration in the Strait of Hormuz and tightening capacity as cash-strapped refineries shut down.

For van operators, it is a good time to tighten up on heavy-footed drivers and ensure that multiple journeys are consolidated into one wherever possible. It may also be a good time to consider disposing of older vans, especially if their fuel consumption is poor when compared to new models.

Van hire can provide the ideal solution in this scenario: using a hire van to replace an older van for a week or two will provide a good insight into the difference in fuel consumption between the two models, although drivers need to play ball and concentrate on optimising fuel consumption, rather than revelling in the improved performance offered by the latest van models…

To provide an example of how van fuel consumption has improved over the last 10 years, here are fuel consumption figures for Mk5, Mk6 and the latest Mk7 Ford Transits:

  • I owned a  Mk5 (1999) Ford Transit – average consumption 30mpg
  • I replaced it with a Mk6 (2001) Ford Transit 100T280 – average consumption 36mpg
  • The current (2012) Mk7 Ford Transit Econetic (same body/power as my Mk6) has an official combined fuel consumption figure of 43.5mpg if fitted with the optional 62mph speed limiter

The savings could really add up for anyone doing more than nominal mileage – why not hire a van for a week and find out how your business would benefit?

To compare van hire prices from major UK van rental companies, click here.

London LEZ Vehicle Hire Warning – New Rules From 03/01/2012

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London Low Emission Zone sign

The London LEZ covers most of the area inside the M25 (image courtesy of Martin Addison)

Van hire customers renting vans from companies operating older vans should be aware that the rules for driving into the London Low Emission Zone change from 3rd January 2012.

The LEZ covers most of the area inside the M25, although some outlying areas are excluded (click here for a map).

Vans affected are likely to be at least 10 years old (51 reg or older) and so most mainstream van hire companies will not be affected, as most rental companies operate newer vans.

However, companies offering specialist vehicles for hire – such as splitter vans for bands, tour buses, horseboxes, cherry pickers, 3.5t tippers with cranes, ambulances, motorhomes and other specialist vehicles often run older rental fleets to compensate for the higher initial cost of the vehicle.

What Are The New LEZ Rules?

All light commercial vehicles must meet the Euro 3 emissions standard or face a daily fee of £100 (<3.5t) for driving into the London Low Emission Zone, starting January 3rd 2012. For vehicles over 3.5t, the fee is £200 per day.

Transport for London has taken the position of assuming that  ‘vehicles registered as new before 1 January 2002’ will not meet the Euro 3 requirement. But… a number of light commercial vehicle models registered in 2001 are Euro 3 compliant and will meet the new rules without requiring any modification.

Transport for London has published a list of ‘early adopters’ on its website – so vehicle owners can check whether their vehicle is on the list.

I’m Renting – Where Does This Leave Me?

As usual with the law, the onus is on the driver to make sure that they are complying with all relevant rules.

If you rent a light commercial vehicle on the following list that was registered before 1st January 2002, and you wish to take it into the London LEZ, you will need to check the situation for yourself*.

Weight 1.205 – 3.5 tonnes:

  • Vans
  • Motorised horseboxes
  • 4×4 light utility vehicles (more than 8 seats or van variant of 4×4)
  • All Pickups
  • Other commercial vehicles

Weight 2.5 – 3.5 tonnes:

  • Motor caravans (motorhomes and campervans)
  • Ambulances

Weight < 5 tonnes:

  • Minibuses with 8-16 passenger seats

Further Information

The LEZ is operated by Transport for London and all the information you need should be available on its website. Here are some key links:

*All of the information provided here is believed to be correct at the time of publishing and vanrental.co.uk will endeavour to maintain it in the future. However, no responsibility can be taken for errors, omissions or future changes to the rules. Check the Transport for London website for the latest information.