Wayback Wednesday: Vintage Ford Transits Plus One Of Vauxhall’s Finest…

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It’s a quiet day today — perhaps because with election day tomorrow, anyone wanting press coverage might be holding off until there are fewer distractions around.

However, the lull in serious news has provieded me with a great opportunity to publish some photos of classic commercial vehicles — last weekend saw the Simply Ford event take place at Beaulieu, bringing together a stunning range of vintage Fords, including a number of vans:

First up is Tasha Rose’s impressive 1969 Transit Campervan, complete with unique Jimi Hendrix-inspired artwork. Are you experienced?

Tash Rose Hendrix Ford Transit Campervan

Next up is one of the legends of the Transit world — and always a major crowd pleaser, the V8-powered Transit Supervan 3:

Ford Transit Supervan 3 at Simply Ford '15

The V8-powered Ford Transit Supervan 3 at Simply Ford 2015. That bloke at the back — he’s looking at the engine, which is mounted in the load bay in this fire-breathing one-off…

The Transit Supervan 3 only seems to have been on static display at Beaulieu last weekend — it was fired up several times, but not driven. However, this beast does go — here’s a video clip of the Transit Supervan 3 in action at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2013, in the hands of former BTCC driver Anthony Reid:

What about Vauxall?

By sheer coincidence, today also marks the day when General Motors — the owner of Vauxhall — becomes the first car manufacturer in the world to produce 500 million vehicles.

A significant number of these have been British-built Vauxhalls, such as the new Vivaro: the Luton-based firm has been owned by GM for 90 years, but the UK is GM’s fourth-largest market, and many Vauxhall models are designed and built in the UK, for the UK and European markets.

Today’s Vauxhall’s are civilised and sensible models, suitable for modern life — but it wasn’t always thus. Here are a couple of wartime specials which were built at the firm’s Luton plant, where today, the Vivaro is built:

Vauxhall D-Type WW1 Staff Car

The Vauxhall D-Type Staff Car was made for the British Army during WW1.

Vauxhall also made an important contribution during WWII, when it built the Churchill tank at the Kimpton Road plant:

The Vauxhall-built Churchill tank

The Vauxhall-built Churchill tank was one of the heaviest tanks used in WWII

That’s all for today — normal service will be resumed once the dust has settled after tomorrow’s General Election.

vanrental.co.uk is neutral when it comes to politics, but I would encourage everyone to vote — as my French teacher used to say at school, “use it or lose it”…

Anglian Buys British With New Vivaros

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Anglian Home Improvements Vauxhall Vivaro

One of Anglian Home Improvements’ new Vauxhall Vivaro vans

Double-glazing and conservatory specialists Anglian Home Improvements decided to buy British when they needed some new vans for their engineers’ fleet.

The firm recently added 29 new Luton-built Vauxhall Vivaros to their existing fleet, which are expected to deliver reducted fuel consumption and lower operating costs than the firm’s existing vans.

Anglian’s new Vivaros are 2900 L1H1 models — 2.9t short wheelbase low-roof vans — powered by the entry level 1.6CDTi 90PS engine, in ecoFLEX specification with Start/Stop.

The vans will cover around 30,000 miles per year and boast official an fuel consumption figure of 46.3mpg, along with CO2 emissions of 160g/km — both figures are an improvement on Anglian’s existing fleet average.

Anglian Fleet Manager Michael Shepherd says that feeback so far is positive:

“We’ve already received excellent feedback from our drivers who have said that the vehicles are both comfortable and good to drive. Keeping our employees happy is extremely important to us, so we’re very pleased with the comments.”

The new Vivaro went on sale in the UK last summer and is one of the biggest-selling UK-built light commercial vehicles (although sadly, there isn’t much competition in the volume stakes).

Will Your Audi Automatically Open Up For Parcels When You’re Out?

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Audi connect easy delivery service with DHL & Amazon Prime

Would you trust your Audi to unlock itself and accept parcels for you?

Missing parcel deliveries can be a major pain in the neck: long trips to the nearest depot, failed redeliveries — or worst of all, parcels that have been left somewhere ‘safe’, but somehow get damaged or disappear.

Audi, DHL and Amazon Prime have come up with a solution, which will allow you to specify the boot of your Audi as a delivery destination.

The delivery driver will be provided with a one-time access code that will be available for a fixed period of time, allowing them to unlock the boot without a key, before closing and locking it again with your parcel inside.

I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that this sounds too far-fetched — or too damn risky — to be attractive, but the reality is that cars are becoming increasingly connected, and services like this could become commonplace.

Starting in May, this service is going to be trialled in Munich, Germany. If it goes well, I’d expect it to expand — although in reality this may simply be one of those experimental services that provides data for future ideas but doesn’t take off in itself.

After all, let’s face it: modern cars are now computers with an engine and wheels. In a world where self-driving cars are already technically possible, having your boot unlock itself for a couple of minutes doesn’t seem that far-fetched, does it?

Why van hire companies may refuse your UK driving licence without online access code

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Update 19 May 2015: We’ve produced a step-by-step guide showing how to get a driving licence check code.

Anyone planning to hire a van (or a car) in June, including overseas, needs to remember that the paper counterpart of the UK driving licence will no longer be valid from 8 June.

Currently, details of any endorsements and convictions are kept on the paper part of your licence, which you need to show when you hire a vehicle. However, from 8 June, this information will only be available online, so hire companies will need to check drivers’ details online when checking their licences.

This applies when for car and van hire abroad, as well as for car and van hire in the UK.

How will it work?

Although it’s possible for a hire company to phone the DVLA and check your licence details, they won’t be keen on this, as it costs around 51p per minute and is not a 24/7 service.

The only practical solutions will be online — and that means that you, the hire customer, will need to be prepared to help.

1. Share My Driving Licence

Most hire companies are going to be relying on hire customers providing them with access to their online details using a new DVLA system called Share My Driving Licence.

You will need to visit this site within 2 days of picking up your hire van or car in order to generate a unique access code that the hire company can use to view your driving licence details online.

Share My Driving Licence is free to use, but to generate your access code, you will need to provide the following information:

  • Your driving licence number
  • Your National Insurance number
  • The postcode on your driving licence

(this system doesn’t work for licences issued in Northern Ireland)

If you try to collect a hire vehicle without providing a Share My Driving Licence code, you may be able to do it on the day — but only if you have your National Insurance number with you and are able to get internet access. It’s definitely going to be easier to do it in advance.

2. Surely there’s a better way?

LICENCECHECK RealTime

LICENCECHECK RealTime is the first product to provide real-time UK driver licence checks for companies ahead of the abolition of the paper counterpart.

Obviously, the sensible solution to this problem is for hire companies to be able to check your driving licence details online for themselves, without you needing to jump through hoops beforehand.

This will be possible, but the DVLA is relying on commercial partners to develop new systems to provide real-time driving licence checks, and at present, there’s only one such system available in the UK, to the best of my knowledge.

What’s more, that system, called LICENCECHECK RealTime, was only launched at the start of March, so it won’t be in widespread use, yet.

I suspect that all the big companies will rapidly develop or buy in real-time licence checking systems like this, to avoid huge disruption to their business, and to ensure that licences are all checked properly — not just nodded through with a look at the photocard only.

However, many of these systems aren’t ready yet, and smaller van hire companies may take longer to adopt these solutions. In the meantime, you will be required to provide access to your own details using the Share My Driving Licence system, which you can find here: https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence.

You can find more information in this article on the gov.uk website.

Moving House? SAVE up to 10% on Hertz Van Rental [EXPIRED]

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Hertz van supersiteAre you moving house or planning a big DIY project — and need to hire a van?

Hot on the heels of the launch of our new mobile-friendly website design last week, we’ve got a great vanrental.co.uk exclusive offer lined up for you this week, thanks to the good people at Hertz Van Rental.

** THIS OFFER HAS NOW EXPIRED **

Here are the details:

  • SAVE up to 10% on Hertz Van Rental
  • Valid from: 27 April 2015
  • Expires: 3rd May 2015
  • DISCOUNT CODE: 778648

Bookings made with this discount code must start between 27 April 2015 and 24 May 2015.

 

 

 

Terms and conditions may apply, see Hertz website for details.

Thrifty Car and Van Rental now offers hourly hire

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Thrifty Car & Van RentalHourly van hire is a popular service in urban areas, where you may only need a van for a couple of hours in order to move a few pieces of furniture or collect a bulky item and deliver it locally.

Not all companies offer this service, but the good news is that Thrifty recently launched its own hourly hire service, which could lead to big potential savings for anyone needing a van for less than half a day.

You can book hourly hire rates on Thrifty’s website by simply setting the pick-up and drop-off dates to be the same, and then choosing collection and return times.

I tried a couple of quotes and found that the rates for smaller vans especially can be significantly cheaper — I found that a short wheelbase van like a Ford Transit SWB hired for a couple of hours could be around 35% cheaper than the same van hired for 24 hours.

For some reason, the hourly rate savings on larger vans were less, or sometimes non-existent — but availability and rates on different dates and locations are likely to vary, so I’d suggest trying a quote for yourself if you only need a van for a few hours and are close to a Thrifty branch (you can see a list of Thrifty branches here).

Other choices: It’s worth noting that Hertz and Europcar also offer hourly van hire and have done for a while. You can see full details on our hourly van hire page (click here), where I’ll also add details of the Thrifty hourly hire service shortly.

CV manufacturing up 43.3% in March as demand surges

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CV output March 2008 - March 2015

CV output March 2008 – March 2015 (courtesy of SMMT)

Good news for at least some of the UK’s hard-pressed manufacturing businesses: commercial vehicle manufacturing output was 43.3% higher in March than it was during March 2014.

The increase in output came as a result of a 63% surge in UK demand and a 31% rise in export (mainly European) demand during the month, according to the latest figures, published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

The figures extend the growth we’ve seen already this year, and mean that 23,435 commercial vehicles were made in the UK during the first three months of the year, up from 19,678 during the first quarter of 2014.

Commenting on the figures, Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said:

“The commercial vehicle sector has enjoyed a strong resurgence so far in 2015 after a subdued couple of years. Driving this readjustment is a home market invigorated by new product, increased consumer and business confidence, as well as an upturn in demand for UK-built vans and trucks across Europe.

“This growth will help return the sector to a stable natural level following major restructuring of the industry in recent years.”

Here’s an overview of the figures:

CV manufacturing Mar-14 Mar-15 % Change YTD-14 YTD-15 % Change
Total 6,732 9,648 43.3% 19,678 23,435 19.1%
Home 3,109 5,068 63.0% 9,517 13,041 37.0%
Export 3,495 4,580 31.0% 10,003 10,394 3.9%
% export 52.9% 47.5% 51.2% 44.4%

Data courtesy of SMMT (www.smmt.co.uk)

Domestic demand was firm last year, too, but perhaps the biggest change this year is that the European market appears to be improving, after a severe decline. New commercial vehicle registrations in the EU have risen by 8.8% so far this year.

A second reason for the output growth seen so far this year is the introduction of key new models — most notably the new, Luton-built Vauxhall Vivaro, which have stimulated demand and required increased production levels after periods of disruption for retooling last year.

A new look, mobile-friendly vanrental.co.uk

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Regular visitors to vanrental.co.uk may have noticed that we’ve rolled out a new look to the website over the last couple of days.

If you visit on a tablet or smartphone, you may also have noticed that vanrental.co.uk adapts to smaller screen sizes much more effectively than it used to.

The changes are part of our plan to address the needs of the growing number of visitors who visit this website using their tablets and phones — only half of our visitors now use traditional desktop or laptop computers, so updating the website to meet the needs of all users was a top priority.

I’m really pleased with the new look and functionality of vanrental.co.uk and believe it’s a big improvement — but I’d love to know what you think too, so if you’ve got any comments or are having any problems with the website, then please don’t hesitate to let me know — get in touch via the comments form below or on Twitter @vanrentaluk.

New Vito on UK shopping centre tour

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Mercedes-Benz Vito

The new 2015 Mercedes-Benz Vito

If you’re tempted by the new Mercedes-Benz Vito and would like a change to get a closer look and perhaps arrange a test drive, without having to schlep off to your nearest Mercedes van dealer, then here’s your chance.

Over the next month, the new Vito is going on tour, and will appear at many of the UK’s largest shopping centres.

Local dealer staff in attendance to answer questions and arrange test drives.

The Vito pop-up stand will also include a pro sports-style BATAK reaction game, for visitors to test their reaction times, and (I suspect), to keep the kids entertained while Dad’s having a good look at the van.

Here are the dates:

  • Cabot Circus, Bristol (25 and 26 April)
  • Bluewater, Kent (2, 3 and 4 May)
  • Buchannan Galleries, Glasgow (9 and 10 May)
  • Trafford Centre, Manchester (23, 24 and 25 May)
  • The Centre MK, Milton Keynes (30 and 31 May)

For more information, you can visit the New Vito website at www.newvito.co.uk.

Used van values expected to fall by up to 10% by 2020

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James Davis, Manheim

James Davis, head of commercial vehicles at Manheim

Used van values could fall by up to 10% between now and 2020, according to James Davis, head of commercial vehicles at Manheim, one of the UK’s largest vehicle auctioneers.

The firm has one of the largest databases of used vehicle data in the UK, and has recently analysed the trends seen in the used van market over the last five years.

The results may surprise you: despite the average used van being 12 months older and having 8,200 extra miles on it, when it is de-fleeted by its first owner and hits Manheim’s salesrooms, it now sells for 9.5% more than it would have done in 2010.

At the start of the current decade, the average age of a van sold by Manheim was 4.5 years. Today that figure is 5.5 years, demonstrating how the worst recession in recent decades forced many van operators to extend fleet replacement cycles and run older vans for longer.

Big van price explosion

The biggest volume sector of the van market is the large panel van, and here the changes have been slightly different. The average age of large vans hitting the salerooms has only risen by 4 months over the last five years, but the average selling price has exploded, rising by 33% in just five years.

To me, this suggests that buyers were getting desperate for additional vans but couldn’t enter the new market, so were happy to pay over the odds. In my view, this is a price rise that is almost certain to unwind, possibly quite dramatically.

I suspect we’ll see a fall of more than 10% in this sector, especially as Manheim says that the average age profile in this sector remains high: 37% of the large panel vans sold by the firm in the first quarter of 2015 were more than seven years old.

The latest SMMT figures show that the majority of the volume increase in new registrations is in the large panel van sector. If this continues, it could flush out a large number of older vans onto the used market, weakening prices.

The outlook for used vans

Mr Davis’s estimate is that used van prices could “re-align” (that’s fall) by up to 10% by 2020. That seems a reasonable estimate, although if the current economic growth continues, I wouldn’t be surprised if the fall is greater, especially in the overheated large van market, as I explained above.

Manheim’s view matches that of competitor BCA, and this should be good news for used van buyers: over the next 2-3 years, better quality, younger used stock should start coming onto the market in greater volumes, as fleet replacement periods return to historic norms.