Mercedes Sprinter

Can you still hire a van in lockdown?

Mercedes Sprinter

The UK is in lockdown again. Government rules say you should stay at home unless you need to leave for essential reasons. If you do venture out, stay local unless you are required to travel for work or other permitted reasons.

Car and van hire has been designated as an essential business by the government, so most van hire companies are still open as usual. Our van hire price comparison system is working as usual to help you find van hire near you.

If you’re moving house, you should still be able to rent a van to help on the day (moving house is still allowed).

How Covid-19 lockdown is affecting van hire

To ensure customers and staff stay safe, most van hire companies have implemented thorough deep cleaning routines for all vehicles between hire bookings.

Although most van hire companies are open for business, our experience is that you may find some differences in availability compared to normal. Our information suggests that some large companies may have closed selected branches. Some local independent companies may be busier than usual, others may be less busy.

If you’re looking for van hire in your local area we’d suggest booking a little further ahead of time if possible.

There’s also a second consideration. Is your journey essential? We’re not here to enforce the lockdown rules and neither are the hire companies. But we think it’s only right to say that unless you need to rent a van for essential activities, you should perhaps delay your hire until the UK lockdown is eased.

It’s possible that you’ll be asked about the purpose of your journey, especially if you travel outside your local area. We know of several people who’ve been stopped by the police on motorways when travelling long distances recently.

With all that said, if you need to hire a van, you should be able to do so during lockdown.

Stay safe out there!

VWFS Rent-a-Car Liverpool

Liverpool van hire with VW Vehicle Rental

I’m very pleased to welcome VW Vehicle Rental in Liverpool to vanrental.co.uk.

This business is based at the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle centre in Speke, Liverpool, and supplies Volkswagen vans only for van hire customers.

VWFS Rent-a-Car Liverpool normally has the following types of van available to hire:

  • Volkswagen Caddy (small van)
  • Volkswagen Transporter medium van
  • Volkswagen Transporter Kombi (5-seat crew van) – also available as an automatic
  • Volkswagen Crafter MWB (large van)
  • Volkswagen Amarok 4×4 pickup

The company’s aim is to give you the exact vehicle you booked every time — not just an equivalent or similar model.

Contact details

  • Address: VW CV Centre, 2 Evans Road, Speke, Liverpool, Merseyside, L24 9PB
  • Website: vwvehiclerental.co.uk
  • Telephone: 0151 728 4702
  • Email: L.Tyrer@liverpoolvwcv.co.uk

If you’d like to list your van hire business on vanrental.co.uk, please check out our advertising options or contact us directly.

Man loading boxes into van

Enterprise opens new Amesbury Car Club van hire location

Enterprise van hire

Van hire giant Enterprise has opened a new Enterprise Car Club location in Amesbury, Wiltshire. Vehicles available at the new location include several cars plus a Volkswagen Crafter van, which will be based at the Amesbury Holiday Inn.

Car (and van)-sharing clubs are an increasingly popular alternative to vehicle ownership and daily rental. For town and city dwellers who need a vehicle for a few hours every now and then, we think they’re a superior alternative to owning a vehicle.

In some situations, they’re even (dare I say it) better than standard car and van hire.

Enterprise’s Car Club charges start at £3.45 per hour for regular users and £4.95 per hour for regular club members. There’s even a student hire option which allows drivers aged 19-21 to hire vehicles from just £5.95 per hour. Kudos to Enterprise for making this available — most companies exclude drivers under 22.

As you’d expect, all vehicles receive a comprehensive clean between hires. This does mean that availability is lower than usual at the moment, as longer than usual is required between hires to allow the vehicle to be cleaned.

You can find out more about Enterprise Car Club on the website – or for more options, check out our hourly van hire page.

Hertz Van Hire – save 10% in March [EXPIRED]

With the weather starting to warm up, it’s a good time to start thinking about DIY and big garden projects. Or perhaps you’re planning for a student move back home at Easter — or even moving house yourself.

Whatever your plans, hiring a van will save your car from damage and dirt and enable you to transport much more in a single trip. You could end up saving time and money.

To cut the cost of van hire, Hertz is offering a 10% discount code for van hire bookings and rental made in March. Here are the details:

Book now button
Cambridge Car and Van Rental

Van hire with Cambridge Car and Van Rental

We’re very pleased to welcome Cambridge Car and Van Rental to vanrental.co.uk.

This family-run business has been providing car and van hire in the Cambridge area for 29 years. With a fleet of c.100 vehicles, CCVR can meet most requirements, including automatic van hire.

The company is conveniently located on Newmarket Road, from where a range of vans are available (these are manual models):

  • Small vans – e.g. Peugeot Partner or similar
  • Medium vans – e.g. Ford Transit Custom, VW Transporter
  • Large vans – e.g. Ford Transit LWB (long wheelbase)
  • Extra-long vans – e.g. Volkswagen Crafter XLWB or similar

The following automatic vans are also available:

  • Medium van – e.g. Volkswagen Transporter automatic
  • Large van – e.g. Ford Transit LWB automatic

Cambridge Car and Van Rental takes prides in its links with local businesses and the wider community and offers a 15% discount for NHS staff and Cambridge University members (ID required).

The company’s minimum age limit for hiring a small van is 21, so this is a realistic option for student van hire, such as moving house, gigs and field trips.

To find out more or to arrange van hire, contract Cambridge Car and Van Rental directly:

If you’d like to list your van or minibus hire business on vanrental.co.uk, check out our advertising options here or contact us directly.

The Storage Factory

Salisbury van hire with The Storage Factory

We’re very pleased to welcome The Storage Factory of Salisbury to vanrental.co.uk.

This friendly local firm offers a range of vans to hire from its Salisbury branch on the Milford Trading Estate.

Three sizes of van are available:

  • Small vans (e.g. Citroen Berlingo) – from £45 per day*
  • Large vans (e.g. Ford Transit MWB) – from £65 per day*
  • Luton Vans – from £100 per day*

*prices correct at time of publication (Feb 2020)

Students with a valid photo ID can obtain a 10% discount when booking van hire. The Storage Factory also supports the Blue Light Card scheme and the Defence Discount Service, so miliatary personnel, emergency services and NHS workers are all entitled to discounts when booking (valid photo ID required).

As the company’s name suggests, The Storage Factory also offers self storage services at the same location. To find out more, contact The Storage Factory directly:

If you’d like to list your van hire business on vanrental.co.uk, check out our advertising page to see what we can offer – or contact us direct.

Classic 1965 Ford Transit now available in Forza Horizon 4

The 1965 Ford Transit being photographed for Forza Horizon 4
The 1965 Ford Transit is now available for drivers to race and modify in Forza Horizon 4

Driving games are usually associated with high-powered supercars and heavy-duty trucks. But the Forza Horizon 4 driving game is going one better and has included something that’s much more fun for van lovers — the 1965 Ford Transit.

By modern standards, this 75 horsepower vehicle is slow and handles like a bath tub. I suspect the “faithfully recreated … driving experience” will seem fairly agricultural alongside high-powered alternatives like the Ford GT.

But as we all know, driving a van is always much more fun than driving a car. And vans don’t get much more classic than the 1965 Ford Transit.

1,000 photos don’t lie

To measure up the van for the game, Forza’s photographers took about 1,000 photos of an original van from Ford’s heritage collection. Every detail was recorded, right down to the door hinges and the inside of the engine bay. These images were then used to create a digital replica of the van.

Alongside this, Forza’s physics team recreated the driving experience of the original van so that game players can enjoy an authentic Transit experience and load-carrying ability.

The end result is one of the most authentic game driving experiences you’ll find. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself!

driiveme.co.uk logo

One-way van hire for £1 from Edinburgh Airport

driiveme.co.uk logo

I wrote recently about how you can hire a van (or car) for £1 using an exciting new service, Driiveme.co.uk=>*

The company says that a new contract win means that a significant number of £1 one-way van rental deals will now be available from Edinburgh Airport, to popular destinations across the UK.

As you may have guess, the reason why these one-way hires are so cheap is that you have to drop the van off in a certain destination, within a fixed time limit. What Driiveme.co.uk does is find drivers for rental companies who have vehicles that need moving around the country.

Effectively, you’re acting as a free delivery driver. In return, you get (almost) free use of the van. That seems fair to me. To look for £1 van hire in your area, click here=>*

*Driiveme.co.uk website⇒This is an affiliate link. If you book a hire with Driiveme.co.uk after clicking on this link, we’ll receive a small payment.

Questor Insurance logo

Exclusive: Questor Insurance discount code July 2019 [expired]

Questor Insurance logo

Summer is here and it’s time to get started on those big DIY and garden projects.

If you’re thinking about hiring a van you might want to consider purchasing van hire excess insurance to protect yourself from the risk of accidental damage. Excess levels on van hire vehicles can be very high.

To help you stay in control of the pennies, we have an exclusive discount code from Questor Insurance for van hire excess insurance. Here are the details:

This discount code has now expired. Please check our van hire excess insurance page for the latest offers.

Terms and conditions may apply, see Questor website for details

Nissan e-NV200 electric van

Van hire companies add more electric vans to fleets

Nissan e-NV200 electric van
Northgate has added an extra 25 Nissan e-NV200 electric vans to its UK van hire fleet.

Momentum is continuing to build in the electric van market, led by one of the most significant buyers of new vans — the van hire sector.

In recent weeks, two of the UK’s largest van rental firms, Europcar and Northgate, have both added extra EV capacity to their hire fleets.

Northgate has added 25 Nissan e-NV200 electric vans to its fleet, which will be available for hire from July. We expect demand for these vans to be strongest in London, where the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) now means that all pre-Euro 6 diesels must pay a £12.50 daily charge.

Europcar has added new EV capacity to the opening fleet at its new Purfleet van rental supersite, which is located just inside the M25, close to the A13.

As I’ve said many times before in these pages, EV technology is probably better suited to urban-use vans than it is to family cars at the moment. I can only see this momentum increasing as EVs become better understood, more widely used and gain longer ranges.