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Van drivers sure to be part of sad statistics

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

It would appear from the latest unemployment figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) that there will be considerably less van drivers looking for commercial vehicle insurance over the next few months as the jobless total grows.

Women bear the brunt

The biggest victims of the latest round of job cuts appear to be young people in general, and young women in particular. The statistics show that 1 in 5 people aged between 16-24 who are eligible for work (students are not included in the figures) have no job, and in some areas of the country, for young women in this age group the figure increases to 1 in 3. Older women are not faring much better either as unemployment in the age group between 25-44 reached almost a quarter of a million for the last quarter of 2010, the highest since records began.

Winter weather played its part

Of course there will be many van drivers in these statistics, as some companies are being forced into shedding jobs due to the financial climate, to add to the misery many self employed van drivers will have seen their businesses fail. The seemingly endless increase in the price of fuel will have played a big part in the loss of jobs as will the spending cuts brought about by the Government. However, it is not only the stormy financial situation that has brought about these sad statistics. It is for certain that some haulage companies and self employed delivery drivers have suffered from the snow storms that engulfed the country in December 2010. Many transport businesses in Scotland ground to a complete halt in the weeks before Christmas leaving just the Post Office to deliver millions of parcels. It could not have happened at a worse time of year, and many have never recovered.

At the time many van drivers found themselves stuck in snowdrifts for days on end and had a thoroughly miserable time. They probably found that their courier van insurance covered them for some of the losses they incurred then, but it seems that the general public have remembered who literally came up with the goods, and those that didn’t. Many Christmas presents never arrived and it seems as though some hauliers are now paying the price.

Tags: Advice, commercial vehicle insurance, van drivers
Posted in Guides, commercial vehicle insurance | No Comments »

How often do you wash yours?

Tuesday, February 15th, 2011

A recent survey has shown that van drivers are not only quick to clean up on any good van insurance offers; they are pretty smart when it comes to cleaning their vans too.

The survey carried out by a company offering commercial vehicle insurance to van drivers showed that the White Van Man was more conscious of the outside appearance of his vehicle than any other road user. Apparently almost 40% of van drivers clean their vehicle on a weekly basis compared to only 15% of car drivers.

Vested interest

It is fairly easy to find reasons to explain this. Many van drivers use their vehicle as a means of achieving an income. The van therefore is not only an integral part of the business, in many cases it is a moving advertisement of the service on offer. It would indeed be wasteful to spend a fortune on a spray job in an attempt to draw attention to your business and then leave the van looking dirty. Consumers today are choosy when it comes to selecting tradesmen and service providers; they are unlikely to phone a number on a grubby looking vehicle.

DIY is cheaper

The survey also showed that van drivers are more careful with their cash. A clean van is, more often than not, a safe van. A safe van is less likely to have an accident which in turn will lead to cheap van insurance. The survey showed that almost 50% of van drivers clean their vehicles themselves using a bucket and soapy water. This not only saves money in regard to not having to pay charges for someone else to do the job, it also means the owner can often pick up little faults and niggles early and stop them turning into something more serious. Tyre faults are a good example of this.

Of course not all van drivers wait until they get home to wash their vehicle. Apparently 1 in 4 now use the burgeoning roadside valet services that are springing up all around the country and challenging the position of costly automated car wash stations.

Tags: Advice, business, commercial vehicle insurance, style customisation, Van Safety, van sales, van wash, vans
Posted in Advice, commercial vehicle insurance | No Comments »

Vauxhall enter the fray

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

The fight for supremacy in the van market continues apace as one manufacturer after the other release statements assuring the industry that they are putting their best foot forward in offering commercial enterprises a green solution to their motoring. Not to mention the fact that they hope their latest offering will have van fleet insurance providers knocking at the showroom doors.

Cheap van insurance or lower emissions?

It is now accepted by the industry as a whole that the first question one should ask when buying a van is exactly what green credentials the van has. Whether the industry has actually asked prospective van purchasers for instance, whether they are more interested in a good commercial vehicle insurance quote or lower CO2 emissions has not quite been verified yet but suffice it to say that the manufacturers know in their own minds what a van driver should want!

After Ford stole a march on the market with the new all electric Transit Connect, Mercedes were quick to point out the eco friendliness of the latest Sprinter. Now Vauxhall are the next manufacturers to lay down their green credentials for all to see.

They now say that their entire commercial vehicle fleet of vans can offer an “eco” model to would be buyers. They set the scene early last year with the introduction of the Corsavan ecoflex. They also offered an eco version of the Combo, Astra and of course the Movano ecoflex. Now two new Vivaro ecoflex vans complete the line up which according to Vauxhall make them the only manufacturers who offer a van with green credentials throughout their whole commercial line up.

What makes the Vauxhall vans so special?

All of the eco models have the latest start/stop technology, which it is now agreed cuts down on emissions and fuel use especially in urban situations. Vauxhall believe the new Vivaro, although not the lightest of vans, can compete with any when it comes to CO2 output. At a miserly 185 grams per kilometre it is, say Vauxhall, one of the most environmentally friendly vans on offer in the UK today. Vauxhall reckon their obsession with reducing weight in their vans has given customers a cheaper more efficient product and the convenience of having an ecoflex version of all models tells the consumer immediately which van is the most economical on emissions.

Tags: Advice, commercial vehicle insurance, Van Insurance
Posted in commercial vehicle insurance | No Comments »

Government road safety campaign awaits final figures

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

The Government’s THINK! Road Safety campaign is becoming more relevant than ever with many town and county councils across the UK thinking of turning off their static speed cameras. Local Authorities are suffering under the massive budget cuts imposed on them by Whitehall and just like a van driver seeking a good deal on his van insurance they are looking at ways in which to save money.

Unfortunately it appears that road safety may well be one of the early casualties in the scramble to survive, and many charities and organisations set up to improve the public awareness of accidents on the Public Highway are dismayed at the decision to turn off the cameras.

The THINK! road safety campaign has always been keen to promote the idea that everyone is involved in making the roads of the UK safer, not just van drivers and motorists in general but also pedestrians, horse riders, motorcyclists and anyone else who uses the streets of Britain to go about their business.

What is the aim of the campaign?

It started off with the premise of cutting the rate of deaths and serious injuries on the roads of the UK by 50% for children and 40% overall. The campaign took the figures of 1994 as the start line and the end of 2010 has the finishing line. The results will be announced soon and many observers think the target will have been reached.

When cheap van insurance becomes unimportant

It has not been an easy road for the campaign to travel down. They have used emotive campaigns throughout the media to convey the devastation a family feels when they have lost a loved one. They have also aimed campaigns at drivers, pointing out the folly of drink driving and one in particular at a van driver who realised that he would probably lose his job because he had decided to take a chance. The campaign made the most of the fact that losing your licence and seeing a hike in your commercial vehicle insurance was nothing compared to injuring another person or losing your job.

The basic concept behind all the campaigns has been right there in the title, they ask the public to THINK. Statistics show that most accidents don’t “just happen”. There is nearly always a human reason/fault behind the majority of accidents and by taking care and just thinking about ones actions, many accidents can be avoided.

Tags: Advice, commercial vehicle insurance, road safety, road safety campaign
Posted in Safety, commercial vehicle insurance | No Comments »

A van is never more than a few minutes away

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

The famous or infamous “white van man” is known throughout the entire United Kingdom. Usually they are misrepresented and classed as a notoriously poor driver, weaving their way in and out of traffic at high speed, tailgating whoever is in front of them and all in all generally irritating every other motorist in their path. In truth this kind of white van man is actually very rare because no firm wants a company van damaged.

Millions of small businesses use vans everyday as their vehicle of choice, carrying goods or equipment the length and breadth of the United Kingdom. Take a look at any road in the United Kingdom and it will not be long before an incredible range of vans will be seen driving past. Florists, gardeners, delivery, TV/Cable engineers, gas fitters and plumbers to name just a few all rely on a van to keep their businesses afloat. Finding the best van insurance at the best price is probably the most difficult job for any small business because the choice is staggering.

Generally speaking, a van is a small goods vehicle with a fixed axle and will not require any additional license to drive. The smallest vans are just a small step up from the estate car range, and insurance to cover this type of van is very similar in price to that of a car of the same spec. A commercial van will need specific business use additions to its commercial vehicle insurance. Because small vans are very easy to break into, having extended cover which includes theft of goods or equipment is highly recommended. Most firms whether big or small insist their drivers never to keep goods or valuable equipment in a small van overnight because of the chance of theft. Time is literally money when a firm has commercial vans on the road, and a missed appointment due to lack of equipment is money lost to the company.

The term “White Van Man” was first coined in 1997 but he is increasingly becoming a thing of the past. Even blue, green and yellow commercial vans are losing popularity in favour of the more sophisticated looking silver, aluminium and black colours. The White Van Man is not only becoming the Silver Van Man, but also the Silver Van Woman, as the female van driver becomes a more common, and welcome sight on the roads of the UK.

Tags: Advice, business, commercial vehicle insurance, white van man
Posted in Van Insurance, commercial vehicle insurance | 1 Comment »

Weather making earning a living hard going

Friday, December 10th, 2010

Although earning a living driving commercial vehicles up and down the main arteries of the UK’s road system can be quite a humdrum business a lot of the time, at least very few van drivers in the UK will be able to say the run up to Christmas 2010 was boring.

After enduring floods in early November the ice, snow and generally Arctic conditions of the past two weeks will have left hardly a van driver in the country without a tale to tell. Digging out of snowdrifts, ferrying pedestrians, sharing drinks with fellow drivers in the middle of nowhere while waiting for the emergency services. All these things have happened in abundance in places all over the UK. From Cornwall in the South to the tip of Scotland in the frozen North van drivers have struggled to earn their wages.

To cap it all the stories for the last couple of weeks of 2010 may well involve tales of running out of fuel while making a delivery and paying the highest price ever for a refuel. As attempts are made to get life back to normal in Scotland, delivery drivers and haulage contractors are now looking at a fuel shortage.

For drivers who are bound to have lost earnings over the last couple of weeks the irony of the situation may well be that now the Government have managed to sort out the chaos on the roads, no-one will be able to drive about because of the lack of fuel. Over 300 garages have reported either running out of fuel completely or that they are on very low supplies after the aftermath of last week’s snowfall. Scotland is desperate for fuel deliveries.

To make matters worse reports of petrol stations profiteering on the situation by inflating their prices are emanating from all over the UK as well as Scotland. It seems many garages are adding 1p per litre day after day and as the price of a barrel of crude oil hits record levels. It seems a foregone conclusion that van drivers will be paying a record price for filling up long before Santa Claus sets off from Lapland. And how many van drivers over the last few weeks must have mused while they were stuck in snow drifts, exactly what the commercial vehicle insurance cost would be on a sleigh!

Tags: Advice, driving, Van Insurance
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Van drivers reliant on an outboard motor

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

The connection between a charity that operates two life saving hovercrafts, an inshore rescue launch on a Somerset beach, and van drivers, should be a tenuous one at the very least. However, motorists and van drivers in particular have had the charity to thank on several occasions over the last 12 months. The charity have saved one or two van drivers from red faces caused by the embarrassment of having to explain to their commercial vehicle insurance company, why their van should be in the sea.

The Burnham on sea Area Rescue Boat (BARB) is a registered charity that usually helps unwary tourists that get stranded on the sandbanks in the area, or to animal and bird charities rescuing birds in difficulties. In the past 12 months however, they have rescued at least three cars and three vans in separate incidents, unbelievably, two of the vans were from the same company.

The story starts in May 2009 when BARB pulled a van and its very grateful owner out of the mud at Berrow sands and managed to get it on hard sand before the high tide. Just a couple of weeks later a van that had ventured onto the sand to take away a jet ski actually got caught on the incoming tide. The van owner had to scramble out of his window to safety before the vehicle was engulfed by the waves. BARB eventually rescued the van by using their tractor. The same company using an identical van actually got stuck again this weekend attempting once more to retrieve a jet ski. Fortunately this time the tide was retreating and with the help of a dozen holiday makers the van was rescued without getting its wheels wet.

In the intervening period, drivers of a Land Rover, Renault Scenic and a Mini Cooper have all had cause to thank BARB for rescuing themselves and their vehicles from the Somerset beach.

BARB is run completely by volunteers, and no-one is paid. The charity estimates their yearly running costs to be over £30,000 all of which is spent on training and equipment. The charity relies on support from the local community to cover the beaches at Brean, Berrow and Burnham on sea.

Tags: Advice, BARB, commercial vehicle insurance, Van Insurance
Posted in commercial vehicle insurance | No Comments »

Lollicam out to lick rogue drivers

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

Many van drivers have found their commercial vehicle insurance payments go up because of minor traffic offences recorded by fixed speed cameras. However, the collective sigh of relief from van drivers across the country at the demise of fixed position speed cameras may have been a little premature.

There is no doubt that drivers who earn a living traversing the roads of the UK were, in the main, delighted with the news that many local authorities were planning to turn off a great number of the speed deterrent cameras under their control. The planned turn off was in response to the cost cutting measures forced on them by the government and their cuts in the public purse.

The proposed turn off has prompted many protests from road safety groups who are concerned that deaths and serious injuries on Britain’s highways will once more start rising. Motoring organisations on the other hand have been in favour of the reduction in speed cameras and are keen to put forward the argument that the great majority of drivers in the UK are responsible motorists.

Although the demise of fixed position speed cameras seems assured, most police forces will still be operating mobile speed cameras which they believe are more successful in catching rogue van drivers and other motorists who are flouting many traffic laws and regulations.

It now appears that mobile cameras will have another partner in the fight against speeding drivers. A council in Wales worried about losing the fixed cameras in sensitive areas such as areas around schools are trialling a ‘lollicam’. The trial will take place in Flintshire and will work by installing a camera on the road patrol officers ‘lollipop’ which will be activated whenever the pole is grounded, which means that children are crossing and traffic should be stationary. The camera will record the registration number of any cars or vans not stopping and action will then be taken. At the moment the Road Patrol Officer can only take the registration number of law breaking motorists on paper, which is difficult as they are busy supervising children at the time.

The ‘lollicams’ could well catch on and the great number of motorists would probably see greater value in cameras recording traffic transgressions in areas around schools rather than on the ring roads surrounding our towns and cities.

Tags: Advice, speed cameras, Van Insurance, Van Safety
Posted in Advice, Van Insurance | No Comments »

Speed cameras; the big switch off

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Van drivers along with other motorists must be preparing for life without static speed cameras, and many will be rubbing their hands with glee. As the debate over their use has been in the political arena for many years, it seems fitting that a political decision albeit one about finances should precipitate their disappearance.

With road safety groups absolutely adamant on their valuable contribution to cutting loss of life in motoring accidents, motoring groups accusing the government of using them as no more than a cash cow and the government itself announcing they are a more than useful tool in identifying illegal drivers, the static speed camera has never been without controversy.

The arguments by both sides seemed set to continue for eternity. Although one town council, Swindon, in Wiltshire, had turned their static cameras off in 2009. It was seen as little more than a protest against the old Labour Government’s method of using local councils to collect taxes for Westminster. The removal of Labour from power brought a new coalition government and a set of austerity measures that sent shudders down the local council offices of the UK.

Cost cutting on a massive scale has suddenly brought the usage of static speed cameras into the spotlight. Councils across the UK are now saying they cannot afford the man power needed to run the cameras efficiently and they are being switched off.

Devon and Cornwall will lose 10 cameras at the start of next month and van drivers will be really put to the test, as well the motoring organisations that have campaigned against them. It really is an acid test. In Devon and Cornwall, road safety groups point out that at their inception speed cameras caught 49,000 speeding motorists, last year the figure was 20,000. This they say was because motorists were aware of the penalties and aware of the cameras.

What will next month bring, van drivers know the complications speeding fines bring, a hike in their commercial vehicle insurance, penalty points on their licence and the threat of a ban much nearer. Will motorists prove they have learned the lesson that speed kills or will the disappearance of cameras bring a disappearance of good motoring sense. The nation awaits.

Tags: Advice, commercial vehicle insurance, Information, Van Insurance
Posted in Advice, Van Insurance, commercial vehicle insurance | No Comments »

Clampers on the way out

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

In what must be one of the best pieces of news for urban van drivers in some time, it appears that at long last, wheel clamping on private land is to be outlawed.

For many years delivery drivers, tradesman and removal van drivers to name but a few, have been plagued by the actions of unofficial clamping firms blatantly abusing their powers to harass motorists. Fines of up to £400 have been commonly administered on hapless motorists unaware that they were contravening parking restrictions, as signs informing the public that clamping was carried out in the area were not easily seen.

In one high profile case a couple of months ago, a lady in Kent was actually blocked in her car by clampers eager to tow her vehicle away and impose a penalty. She had in fact only been turning her car round on a piece of what she thought was spare land and had never left the vehicle.

Vans and cars have also been damaged by clampers towing vehicles away. This had led to court cases and frustrated van drivers having to make claims on their commercial vehicle insurance.

Case studies like this should now be a thing of the past as Lynn Featherstone, a Home Office minister, is understood to be preparing a statement in which she will announce that the laws in England in Wales on wheel clamping on private land will be rewritten to mirror those in Scotland. Wheel clamping on private land was banned in Scotland a short time ago.

Landowners will now have to rethink their policy on how to protect their private property, but fencing the land off is always an alternative and few would object if landowners turned spare land into official car parks that were charged and administered fairly.

The aptly named ‘cowboy’ clamping firms who will now be outlawed, are going to be out of pocket to the tune of £1 billion according to some experts. It is doubtful they will be missed by anyone.

Tags: Advice, commercial vehicle insurance, Fines, Law, Van Insurance, Wheel Clamping
Posted in Advice, Law, Van Insurance, Wheel Clamping, commercial vehicle insurance | No Comments »