Tag Archives: van rental

Great Van Hire Deals from Sixt

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Need to hire a van between now and the end of February?

Check out these 3 great van hire offers from Sixt:

1. Daily Van Hire Special

Rent a Ford Transit from just £45 per day (unlimited mileage)

2. Weekend Van Hire Special

This deal is perfect for anyone moving house:

  • 3 days for the price of 2
  • Ford Transit XLWB Jumbo or similar van – they’re huge inside!
  • From just £114 for the whole weekend, including unlimited mileage

3. Week Van Hire Special

Rent a small van such as the Volkswagen Caddy for a whole week (Mon-Fri) from just £172 per week.

These rates are usually internet-only deals, so why not visit Sixt’s website now for an instant, no-strings quote?

Advertising on vanrental.co.uk Delivers Results

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If you are a small business owner, it’s sometimes hard to decide where to spend your advertising pennies. Take van hire, for example.

The Yellow Pages is a traditional advertising channel  – as are local newspaper and radio advertising.

The problem with these methods is that neither of them delivers customers in buying mode directly to your website.

Advertising on vanrental.co.uk does exactly that. Here’s what one customer recently told me:

“…we get very good response from the Euro ad. Keep up the good work.”
Admiral Self Drive Van Hire, Walsall

Our website has been carefully designed to produce geographically-targeted results – so people searching for van hire in your town will be shown a list of van hire companies in their area.

Our van hire search facility allows users to specify their location and a search radius – for example, they can request a list of all van hire companies within a 10 mile radius of their home town.

Getting listed in our directory enables you to benefit from these visitors – visitors who are in buying mode and are ready to book a rental van. In 2008 (our first complete year), we had more than 225,000 visitors and generated more than £205,000 of van rental sales for the companies in our directory.

Do You Do Something Different?

We also have web pages dedicated to specialist van hire – such as European van hire, one-way van hire to Spain and van hire for bands – so if your company offers something different to everybody else, get in touch and shout about it!

We are always happy to create new pages to support specific services offered by our advertisers, if we don’t already cover them somewhere on our site.

If you would like to learn more about advertising on vanrental.co.uk, take a look at our advertising page or get in touch today. I look forward to hearing from you.

New Survey Highlights Big Opportunity for Van Hire Companies

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We’ve already seen large van hire companies forecasting that they will do well out of the economic downturn. They expect businesses to shun buying and leasing vans in favour of more flexible van rental deals.

[Update: Here’s another van rental company predicting the same]

Now it’s time to examine the current reality.

A new survey of UK van owners by the Department for Transport has found that just 12% of vans are leased or hired – with almost 90% owned outright by businesses or individuals. Of these, 59% are owned by businesses and 28% owned by private individuals (presumably including sole traders).

Of the owned vehicles, 53% were purchased second hand and 46% new. That makes sense – intuitively it seems likely that most vans will have one or two secondhand owners after their new owner – but probably not more than this, on average.

What does this mean for van hire companies?

While 12% may seem like a small proportion, it is a small slice of a very large pie. In 2007, there were 3.2 million licensed light goods vehicles (vans) in the UK. 12% of 3.2m is 384,000 – enough vans to keep a lot of lease and hire companies in business.

The DfT report didn’t mention the split between short-term rental and leased vans, but it’s probably a reasonable assumption that lease or contract hire vehicles form the bulk of the 12%, with short-term rentals taking a minority share.

I believe that the van hire companies are right in predicting strong business during the downturn – especially if they can provide the cost-effective, low risk flexibility that businesses will want and need.

With credit in short supply in the UK, rental companies who are able to facilitate the removal of multi-year vehicle leases and finance deals from a company’s books by offering flexible short-term rental services should attract new customers.

Companies who are lucky enough to own their vehicles outright might also be attracted by the possibility of reducing their fleet size and overheads and benefiting from increased liquidity instead – perhaps using this to fund areas of credit shortfall.

I don’t believe anyone (me included) can really predict how the economy will pan out over the next couple of years. However,  I do believe that flexibility and the ability to cost-effectively scale operations up and down will be an essential ingredient in the tool kits of businesses that survive.

Van hire should be able to play a part in this for many UK businesses.

What do you think?

Van and Minibus Hire in Gloucester – APVS

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APVS - Van Hire GloucesterI’m very pleased to be able to welcome APVS to the vanrental.co.uk van hire directory. Based in Eastington, on the south side of Gloucester, APVS offers a full range of hire vehicles, including the following vans and minibuses:

  • Small vans (e.g. Ford Transit Connect)
  • Panel vans (e.g. Ford Transit SWB, Vauxhall Movano LWB)
  • Luton box vans with tailifts
  • 3.5 tonne tippers
  • 17-seat minibuses (e.g. LDV Convoy)

APVS also offers a range of refrigerated vans, including (in order of increasing size) Fiat Doblos, Volkswagen Transporters and Ford Transit LWBs.

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

Van Rental Increasingly Popular As Recessions Bites

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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!

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.