vanrental.co.uk Launches Mobile Site

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I’m very pleased to announce that we have just launched what may be the UK’s first mobile-friendly van hire site! vanrental.co.uk has now gone mobile and we have published a cut-down, small-screen friendly version of our van hire and minibus hire directories.

As most van and minibus hire websites aren’t very mobile-friendly, what we’ve done is to provide a telephone number along with the address of every branch in our directory – so you can find the branch you need on your mobile then call them straight up. Until mobile websites improve a bit, I think that telephone is the best option unless you have a decent-sized screen at your disposal – an iPhone at least!

Here’s how it looks:

vanrental.co.uk mobile website screenshot demo

It works fine in a PC browser too (but why would you want to?!?).

Any comments or feedback most welcome – I’d love to know what you think.

Roland

vanrental.co.uk founder

Coventry Van Hire from First Van Rental

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First Van Rental logo

It’s a pleasure to welcome our newest advertiser, First Van Rental of Coventry, to the vanrental.co.uk van hire directory.

First Van Rental offers van hire in Coventry and Birmingham areas and has a conveniently-situated base in Coventry city centre. All hires of seven days or more include free delivery and collection, too. First Van Rental’s hire van fleet includes:

  • Small vans – e.g. Ford Transit Connect
  • Medium vans – e.g. Citroen Dispatch
  • SWB Transit – e.g. Short wheelbase Ford Transit or equivalent model
  • LWB Transit – e.g. Long wheelbase Ford Transit or equivalent model

Unlike many hire companies, who use cubic metres to describe the loadspace of their vans, First Van Rental’s website actually specifies the length, width and height of its vans’ loadspaces – far more useful to normal people like you and me, who don’t imagine things in cubic metres…

For business customers, First Van Rental also offers a long-term van rental option, allowing you to expand and reduce your fleet as needed – without any of the cost and commitment of contract van hire, leasing or other long-term hire options.

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

Should You Be Advertising on vanrental.co.uk?

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At this moment, vanrental.co.uk lists 694 van hire branches in 367 UK locations (we’ve also got a few in Ireland). We also list a growing number of minibus hire locations.

These rental branches belong to a mixture of large, big-brand rental companies – such as Sixt and Europcar – and small, independent rental companies that may only have a single branch each.

Every branch gets equal treatment and our search results page automatically lists branches by distance – so the nearest branch to the customer’s location is always listed first – helping improve clickthrough rates from our website to our advertisers’ websites.

We track the number of visitors we send to each rental company’s site and we’re always happy to share this information with the rental company concerned. In fact, we send this information to every advertiser when it’s time for their annual renewal.

Over the last year, vanrental.co.uk has averaged more than 34,000 visitors per month – some of them could be looking for your business in your location.

If you’d like to learn more about advertising on this site, click here to visit our advertising page.

Once you’ve signed up, your advertisement is guaranteed to be live in two working days and we’ll also publish a news article in our blog, profiling your company’s services.

Update: We’ve recently revamped our advertising page to make it much quicker and simpler to arrange advertising. We now offer instant online payments and simple, menu-based pricing.

Click here to visit our advertising page now

Insurance for Lease Vans – What’s Required?

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The attractions of leasing cars and vans instead of owning them are clear – no responsibility for expensive repairs, no worries about resale value and the ability to change your vehicle every few years with no hassle.

What seems to be less well understood, based on some recent conversations I have had, are the insurance requirements for lease vehicles.

Leases don’t include insurance! Unless the company you are leasing from has offered to provide insurance, your lease vehicle won’t be insured and it will be your responsibility to get it insured, just as with any car or van you own yourself.

You should check whether there are any specific insurance cover requirements with your lease company, but as a general rule you should expect to have to provide comprehensive cover for any lease vehicles you are responsible for.

When taking out the insurance, you will have to specify that you are not the owner and tell the insurance company whether you are the registered keeper of the vehicle or not. You will probably also need the lease company’s details so the insurance company know who owns your van or car.

If you are an individual or a small company, everything else is probably the same as you will be used to. Most insurance companies cover lease vehicles but always check if unsure and always be honest with the answers to any questions asked by the insurance company.

Packaging Discount Code – Save £10 – Valid Until 31/12/2009

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Buying a set of purpose-made removals boxes and packaging when you move house can be the most effective way of getting the packaging you need.

Kits are available to suit all sizes of houses, along with all the other packing accessories you’ll need – such as parcel tape, bubble wrap and much more.

Our packaging partner, The Packaging Store, is currently running a discount code for packaging customers. Spend more than £100 (exc. VAT) on packaging and you’ll receive a £10 discount – and remember that all orders are available with FREE standard delivery.

The discount code you need is BOXES and it is valid until 31st December 2009.

Are You Packaging For Destruction?

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One of the reasons people give for not employing a removal company and not moving house for themselves is that they don’t want any of their possessions to be damaged. Fair enough, who would?

However, it’s not as difficult to protect and safely package your belongings as the removals industry would have you believe. In fact, it’s fairly simple, especially if you equip yourself with the right packaging materials, like those used by removals companies.

Strong, correctly-sized cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, parcel tape and furniture bags can make all the difference. Throw in a wardrobe box or two for suits, formal dresses and the like and you virtually have your own removals operation! Picture frame boxes will keep your pictures safe and speed up packing, as will bottle boxes for your wine and spirits.

Of course, it isn’t that simple, but it isn’t really that difficult, either. Preparation and planning really do make all the difference when moving house and you can save a lot of money over the cost of using a commercial removals company by doing the move for yourself.

To learn about different types of packaging, visit our packaging page.

For tips on planning and executing a masterful DIY house move, visit our DIY Removals page .

Finally, to make sure you load your van successfully, take a look at our How To Load A Van page.

All-Electric Mercedes Sprinter Goes On Trial

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Fifty all-electric Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans are to go on trial in Germany, in a government-funded deal worth around €9m. The vans are development models that will be used to gather data about the performance of the li-ion battery system in real world conditions and to investigate infrastructure requirements for such vehicles.

The aim of the trial is to reach a point where such vans can be sold at a price point and with performance that will make them attractive to commercial operators. Vans used for urban deliveries are proving to be one of the ripest markets for electric vans – their low mileage, defined routes and stop-start driving is ideal for getting the most from an electric drivetrain with regenerative braking. Coincidentally, such conditions are the least efficient and most polluting for internal combustion engines, adding to the appeal of an alternative.

The first vans are due for delivery to trial partners in 2010. Mercedes describes its trial customers as “primarily fleet operators and public bodies conducting transport operations in environmentally sensitive areas. The main emphasis here is on short-range operating profiles with frequent stops in inner-city areas.”

Van Leasing Survey Reveals Most Reliable Vans

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A recent survey of van leasing companies by Fleet News has uncovered the UK’s most reliable vans. The survey covered the UK’s 50 largest fleet companies – with a combined fleet of 183,000 cars and vans.

At the top of the list for the third year running was the Ford Transit. In second place was the Vauxhall Astravan with Ford’s smaller Transit Connect taking third place. Rounding out the top 5 were the Mercedes Sprinter and Volkswagen Transporter – all good, high-quality choices. Reliability was measured based on breakdowns per 100 vans of each model.

Interestingly, there are no Fiat, Renault, Peugeot or Citroen vans in the top 5 – despite the vast numbers that are in circulation. Peugeot did manage to scrape into the top 5 most reliable manufacturers, in 5th place behind Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Vauxhall.

If you’re interested in learning more about van leasing or in getting a free, no-strings quote on a lease van, check out our Van Leasing page for more information.

Mitsubishi i Miev Electric Van Makes An Enlarged Appearance

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As forecast, Mitsubishi has announced a van version of its i Miev electric car. However, instead of just removing the seats and panelling over the windows, the clever people at Mitsubishi have managed to make it bigger, without making it bigger – they’ve increased the height of the load area and squared it off a bit. The result is a van with a load are measuring 62 cubic feet – a little less than half that of a Ford Transit Connect.

For pics and a full launch report, check out this report on Autoblog Green.

As I reported earlier this year, Mitsubishi has already entered into a partnership with PSA (Peugeot-Citroen) for them to build a European version of the i Miev car. The question is, will this deal extend to PSA producing an i Miev van?

It would fit perfectly into the urban/electric market and would give the company a valuable starting point in bringing to market all-electric vans. Given recharging concerns, electric vans often make more sense than electric cars, as vans are typically used on fixed routes, with known mileages each day and a fixed base to recharge at each night.

Vivaro Beats Official MPG Figure By 60%

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We’ve grown used to treating manufacturers’ official fuel consumption figures with a pinch of salt, thinking of them more as an ideal than a reality. That attitude could need some revision, however, even for van drivers.

The winning team & their Vivaro - © GM Corp.

The winning team & their Vivaro - © GM Corp.

In the recent Fleetworld/ALD MPG Marathon, drivers had to complete a 360-mile course over varied roads using the least fuel possible. Granted, the vans weren’t loaded and didn’t have to contend with the demands of multi-drop, the M25 at rush hour and other such fuel-guzzling activities.

All the same, the results were remarkable – the Vauxhall Vivaro’s class-winning result was an overall 55.25mpg over the entire course – a massive 60% above the Vivaro’s official combined fuel consumption figure of 34.4mpg. Participating vehicles also had to maintain an average speed of 30mph – so their progress was fairly realistic in terms of road speed.

Also competing was the Citroen Nemo, which took the title of “Britain’s Most Economical Van”, beating all other light commercial vehicles with an overall consumption figure of 75.8mpg – more than 20% above the Nemo’s official combined figure.

What this highlights is how big an effect the driver of a van has on its fuel consumption. Sure, real world factors like load, multi-drop, traffic and routing restrictions mean that results like this won’t be achieved by working vans – but worthwhile improvements should still be possible, especially for vehicles on longer-distance work.

I’m going to have to try and squeeze more than 35mpg out of my Transit…