Hire A Van With Europcar From Just £14.50 Per Day!

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Europcar van hire

Hire a van with Europcar from just £14.50 per day

According to the Met Office, winter ends in 7 days, on the 28th February.

Personally, I think it’s a little early for spring cleaning, but with the housing market taking off and mild weather making gardening a reality, tips to the tip and DIY removals are definitely the order of the day.

To help you get things off to a flying start, Europcar is running a special spring offer:

THIS OFFER HAS NOW EXPIRED

Most cars aren’t really suitable for jobs like this, and using a hire van instead can take the strain off your car and prevent you having to make multiple trips and protect the inside of your car from scratches, dirt and damage. Although driving a van is a little different to driving a car, modern vans are quite easy to drive, here at vanrental.co.uk, we’ve put together these tips to help you get started.

Commenting on the offer, Ken McCall, Managing Director, Europcar UK Group, said:

“Removing clutter that’s been taking up precious space is a liberating experience and there is no better time to do this than during the traditional ‘spring clean’ period. With van hire from as little as £14.50 per day, hopefully that will provide families with the motivation needed to have a clear out and make a fresh start for spring.  And, because driving a van is different from driving a car, we offer advice to customers to help them stay safe, both on our website and when they pick up the vehicle.”

Europcar has over 200 locations across the UK, including a presence at all major UK airports, with many branches open 24 hours a day. The firm’s fleet contains a wide range of vans, and all popular van sizes are available, including Iveco Daily and Ford Transit panel vans, right up to bigger luton box vans. All Europcar vans are fully maintained to manufacturer specifications, and are covered by 24 hour breakdown, for added peace of mind.

UK Commercial Vehicle Manufacturing Down 14.6% In January

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Commercial vehicle manufacturing output fell by 14.6% in January compared to January 2013, continuing a decline that has seen output drop by 32% since January 2012.

The decline shows no sign of slowing, and perhaps worryingly, demand fell faster at home (down 17.9%) than it did in our primarily European export markets (down 10.8%):

CV manufacturing Jan-13 Jan-14 % Change YTD-13 YTD-14 % Change
Total 7,822 6,681 -14.6% 7,822 6,681 -14.6%
Home 4,196 3,445 -17.9% 4,196 3,445 -17.9%
Export 3,626 3,236 -10.8% 3,626 3,236 -10.8%
% export 46.4% 48.4% 46.4% 48.4%

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

CV output rolling Jan 2008-2014

Graph courtesy of SMMT.

Mike Hawes, the SMMT’s chief executive, believes the change is due to various companies’ restructuring their manufacturing activities in 2013, and to the introduction of Euro 6 emissions legislation for lorries:

“New Euro-6 engine emission legislation came into effect from January this year, a change which invariably results in a lull in UK heavy commercial vehicle manufacturing and a contributor to January’s 14.6% fall in output,” said Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive.

While van production was strong in the month, the 2014 market will, for some months, continue to be affected by the Europe-wide restructuring that occurred last year.”

It’s true that there was a dip in truck registrations in January, following the surge seen during the second half of last year, but it also seems clear to me that the UK’s CV manufacturing industry is now unlikely ever to recover the capacity lost by the closure of Ford’s Southampton plant and as a result of the other restructuring that took place in 2013.

Advertiser Profile: Jolly Good Van Hire

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Jolly Good Van HireWrexham-based Jolly Good Van Hire has expanded steadily in since its foundation in 2009, and now boasts no fewer than six branches, in Chippenham (near Bath), Colwyn Bay, Deeside, Ely, Shrewsbury and Wrexham.

Jolly Good offers small vans, short and long wheelbase panel vans, and luton box vans with tail lifts for hire, covering all popular sizes. The firm’s branches are open seven days a week, at the following times:

  • Monday to Friday: 7am – 5pm
  • Saturday: 7am – 12pm
  • Sunday: 8am – 10am

Sunday opening is still relatively unusual in the van hire industry, but it provides a welcome level of flexibility, particularly for retail customers needing a van to go to the tip or move home — rather than being forced to return the van on your way to work on Monday, you can drop it off on Sunday morning, instead.

All Jolly Good vans are less than 12 months old and include RAC cover as standard. The firm also specialises in offering European van hire, and its all-inclusive European package includes everything needed to get you across the Channel and back again, including the essential VE103B document, European sat nav, European breakdown cover and insurance and unlimited mileage and drivers for the duration of your hire. (All six of Jolly Good’s branches are listed on our European van hire page.)

Finally, although Jolly Good started out as a van hire specialist, the firm now offers car hire and campervan hire, too, so you can travel in style and even go on holiday with Jolly Good!

For more information or to arrange a booking, contact Jolly Good Van Hire directly:

If you run a van or minibus hire business that you’d like to list on vanrental.co.uk, visit our advertising page to get started.

Austin 7 Rally Delivers Commercial Theme in 2014

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Austin 7 van

A ‘C Type’ Austin 7 Commercial Van

Butcher, baker, candlestick maker… whichever of these trades you were involved in, if you operated a delivery van in the 1920s or 1930s, there’s a good chance it was an Austin Seven — one of the original vans.

The Austin 7, the ‘baby’ Austin, was the first truly mass-produced British car and between 1922 and 1939 some 290,000 were built.

Today, enthusiasm for owning an Austin 7 is as strong as ever and the National Austin 7 rally never fails to attract a strong entry from all over the UK and Europe.

The theme for this year’s rally is ‘Commercial Austin 7s’, and some wonderful examples will join the hundreds of vehicles on display at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu on the 6th July, 2014.

The official rally is on the Sunday but many entrants take advantage of overnight camping to make a weekend of the event. On the Saturday there is an organised run around the New Forest followed by an evening barbecue. Austins form the core of the event, but all tax-exempt historic vehicles of all makes are invited to attend and will have a designated parking area on the rally field.

Visitors to the Beaulieu attraction on the day can also see the rally and the venue makes for an ideal day out for all the family. Beaulieu is home to a wide variety of attractions and the rally entry ticket also gives access to the historic Palace House and gardens and the National Motor Museum.

For more information on Beaulieu, visit www.beaulieu.co.uk. For more information and entry forms for the rally, visit www.750mc.co.uk/austin7.

Van Journo Uses Press Vehicle To Help Berkshire Flood Victims

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Isuzu D-Max helping flood victims

Neil’s Isuzu D-Max helping flood victims in Wraysbury, Berkshire.

Sometimes, common sense does prevail — as was the case when VansA2Z.com editor Neil McIntee asked the Isuzu press office if he could use one of their demonstrators to help out flood victims in the Berkshire village of Wraysbury.

The vehicle in question was a D-Max pick-up, so Neil immediately realised he had the perfect vehicle to help in the rescue effort and spent a day helping local emergency services, retrieving stranded residents from the their homes and shifting sandbags to where they were needed.

After a busy day, Neil explained:

“One of the VansA2Z team lives in Wraysbury and with a D-Max demonstrator sittings outside my house we were more than happy to help with delivering sandbags to residents in their hour of need.

The D-Max never missed a beat, despite being overloaded most of the time and at one point was even called upon to rescue a stranded family”.

The D-Max is available in three cab configurations (single, extended and double) and the popular double-cab models are available in four specifications. Prices range from £14,749 (CVOTR) for the entry-level 4×2 single cab to £23,649 for the top-of-the-range Utah 4×4 double-cab automatic.

Used Van Prices Hit New Record In January

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BCA van auction at Blackbushe

Used LCV values hit a new record in January 2014, but price growth appears to be slowing.

The relentless march upwards of used van values continued in January, as I predicted.

According to the latest figures from vehicle auctioneers BCA, average values for all light commercial vehicles increased marginally in January 2014 to £5,322 – a rise of £11 compared to December 2013.

January’s average value was the highest since BCA began reporting monthly sales in 2005, and was the sixth month in a row that average values across all light commercial vehicles exceeded £5,000.

On a year-on-year basis, January’s used LCV prices were 13.9% — or £653 — higher than in January 2013, despite the average age of vans being sold having risen by 1 month over the same period.

The average sale price relative to the CAP [book] price remained unchanged on one year ago, with vans selling for an average of 102% of their book price:

All vans Avg Age (mnths) Avg Mileage Avg Value Sale vs CAP
Jan 2013 56.64 80,736 £4,669 102.24%
Jan 2014 57.90 79,654 £5,322 102.24%

Data courtesyt of BCA (www.british-car-auctions.co.uk)

Duncan Ward, BCA’s General Manager – Commercial Vehicles, confirmed that January had delivered as expected:

“January essentially delivered more of what we saw throughout the previous 12 months – a shortage of stock allied to decent levels of demand that generated exceptionally strong prices in the used van market.”

“With stock remaining thin on the ground, buyer demand is focused on the best quality commercial vehicles and this is driving values up.  BCA saw lots of activity in the online arena with around a quarter of all vehicles being purchased by internet bidders and BCA’s Video Appraisals are helping to create additional confidence for remote buyers.”

Mr Ward also confirmed that used van prices were rising at the bottom end of the market, in a sign that the rising tide of demand is lifting all vans, regardless of quality or age:

“The rise in average prices at the ‘value-for-money’ end of the market also continues and dealer part-exchange values reached a new record level. In fact, demand has been right across the board, from older higher mileage vans through to younger ex-fleet and lease vehicles.”

Although average values fell in both the ex-fleet/lease and nearly-new categories, BCA says that this was largely due to changing model mix in the fleet market and the volatility created by very limited volumes in the nearly-new market. Overall, demand remains strong, although my interpretation of the graph below, showing all sales, is that the growth in demand may have reached a peak and be beginning to slow, as you’d expect in a market where new van registrations are rising strongly:

BCA LCV prices 2011-2013 (Jan 2014)

BCA LCV prices 2011-2013 (Jan 2014)

1-in-5 Vans Sold In UK Is A Ford

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The new Ford Transit

The new Ford Transit is now on sale, with first deliveries due later in the first half of this year.

The Ford Fiesta and Ford Focus are the UK’s two top-selling vehicles. The third, perhaps surprisingly, is a van, the Ford Transit.

The Transit has been the biggest selling commercial vehicle in the UK since its launch in 1965, and there are currently more than 700,000 Transit on the road in the UK, according to Ford — one in four of all the vans on the road.

The blue oval’s success doesn’t end there: in 2013, Ford sold 72,238 commercial vehicles in the UK, giving it a 20.9% market share.

Across Europe, patriotic preferences shape the market differently, but Ford’s share increased from 8.5% in 2012 to 9.2% last year, nevertheless, thanks in part to the success of its Ford Ranger, a model that only has one equal amongst European marques, the Volkswagen Amarok.

Ford’s big new van bet

Ford has taken the unusual and bold move of replacing its entire CV line-up in the space of 24 months. The process started last year, with the introduction of the the new Transit Custom and Fiesta Vans, while this year has already seen the launch of the new Transit Connect, which will shortly be followed by the full-size new Transit and a long-awaited replacement for a discontinued model, the Transit Courier.

The outgoing Transit was neither as big as the largest vans on the market, like the Sprinter and Ducato, nor quite as small as vans such as the Vito and VW Transporter. This unique size formula has worked well for many years, but Ford has decided to go mainstream with its revamped CV range, and the new Transit — referred to as the two-tonne model — will be a full-size large van, aimed squarely at the Sprinter, Ducato, Relay et al.

Filling the smaller space vacated by the outgoing Transit is the Transit Custom, which sold 41,500 units across Europe in its first year of production, and by all accounts is an extremely accomplished van.

Ford is taking a risk by changing a winning formula, but I suspect it will pay off, and if the new Transit is as good as early reviews suggest, it could increase the firm’s market share still further, as van operators for whom the old Transit wasn’t big enough will be able to meet their requirements with the new model, including van hire fleets, who may finally have a realistic alternative to the big Sprinter.

Mercedes Vito Sport-X Is Key Van For Halesowen Locksmith

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Dr Locks Vito Sport-X

Jason’s new Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport-X

A 100-yard test drive of a dynamic Vito Sport-X van was all it took to convince locksmith Jason Gould to sign on the dotted line.

Jason, whose firm Dr Locks is based in Halesowen, West Midlands, had owned a string of Vito and Vito Sport models – but then he strayed from the three-pointed star and bought another make of van.

“I fancied a change, and it was a nice vehicle,” he recalls. “But it very soon dawned on me that it just wasn’t a Mercedes-Benz. It lacked the quality and comfort of the Vito, and it didn’t have the ‘feel good’ factor I’d been used to.”

Jason hotfooted it back to his local Mercedes-Benz dealer,  Midlands Truck & Van, where he was invited to take a quick spin in Managing Director Jon Divers’ ‘company car’, a fire-breathing Vito Sport-X. It was love at first sight, as Jason explains:

“I’d scarcely left the forecourt before I realised that this was the van for me. It really looks the part and the fact that it’s so quick makes it a real joy to drive. I dropped Jon’s van back at the dealership and ordered my own there and then.”

Jason isn’t the only company boss to choose a Vito Sport-X as his company car, and given the van’s spec, this doesn’t surprise me: the Vito Sport-X is powered by a V6 engine that delivers an eye-watering 167 kW (224 hp) output to the road via a five-speed automatic transmission.

The Sport-X is not just a standard Vito with a big engine, either — it boasts styling by renowned Mercedes tuning and body styling specialist Brabus, which designed its 18-inch alloy wheels, customised front spoiler and chrome sidebars. Sport-X models also feature powerful bi-xenon headlamps with LED daytime driving lights.

A former Birmingham City Council carpenter, Jason started his own business in 2005 after buying specialist tools and teaching himself to pick locks. The company was a success from day one and its expert team now provide an emergency 24-hour call out service, as well as offering bespoke security and alarm solutions.

Van Registrations Rise 12.9% In January

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The UK van market has made a strong start to 2014, with new registrations rising by 12.9% in January, compared the same period last year, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT):

UK van and truck registrations: 2014 and % change on 2013

January % change Year-to-date % change Rolling year % change
Vans 18,122 12.9% 18,122 12.9% 273,146 13.2%
Trucks 1,817 -37.0% 1,817 -37.0% 55,153 22.6%
Total 19,939 5.3% 19,939 5.3% 328,299 14.6%

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

Demand was particularly strong in the large van (2.5t – 3.5t) sector, where registrations rose by 27.1%, from 8,084 in January 2013 to 10,274 this year.

Commenting on the figures, Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said that he was confident about the outlook for van demand in 2014:

“The overall commercial vehicle market grew 4.4% in January as more robust business confidence boosted van registrations. Looking ahead, SMMT is confident that van registrations will continue to grow at a sustainable rate, while truck demand should level out over the full year.”

As the graph below shows, demand for all categories of commercial vehicle finally started to pick up towards the end of last year. The sudden surge in truck demand is linked to the introduction of Euro 6 in January — as hauliers rushed to buy Euro 5 vehicles while they were still available.

SMMT commercial vehicle registrations Jan 2014

SMMT commercial vehicle registrations Jan 2010 – 2014 (courtesy of SMMT).

Surge In Van Rental Demand From Trade Customers

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vanrental.co.uk vanWhite van man could be making a comeback, according to new figures from hire and leasing firm Motiva Group, which has seen a 25% jump in van rental demand over the last five months, along with a similar surge in short-term lease deals.

Peter Davenport, managing director of hire and leasing firm Motiva Group, said:

“Demand for vans has shot up massively in recent months. That part of our business was busy throughout 2013, but things really picked up around the end of last summer and there has been a noticeable difference ever since.

“As soon as we bring vans in, they’re gone and we’ve boosted our fleet twice in five months just to keep pace. Businesses are taking on new trade vehicles in big numbers and I can only see the trend continuing into the second quarter and well beyond.”

Gerry Keaney, chief executive of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association, reckons increasing demand for vans is good news for the country as a whole, saying:

“Van rental serves as a useful barometer for the state of the UK economy as transport is obviously a vital tool of any growing business. There was a particularly strong demand in 2013 and a 20 per cent increase in our members’ short-term van rental fleet.

Motiva Group, based in Stoke-on-Trent, has this week added an extra 50 small, short wheelbase and long wheelbase panel vehicles to a van fleet which now totals around 650.

Davenport added:

“Those figures mean we’ve increased our van fleet by almost a quarter, so it shows just how much demand has picked up in a few months. In fact, we’re now back to the levels of trade business we were seeing before the economy took a nosedive in around 2007/2008.”

The increase in van rentals seen by Motiva is being echoed by the demand for HGVs, which more than doubled in 2013. After completing 48 contracts for HGVs in 2012, the company’s M-Way truck solutions arm took 98 over the course of last year.

“There was a predictable drop in the call for both vans and trucks during the midst of the economic downturn”, said Davenport. Businesses weren’t sure when the market would recover so they were keeping their vehicles much longer.

But the economy has picked up and it seems like companies and even independent tradespeople are now showing much greater appetite to renew.”