If you’re reading this blog, you probably own a van, or you are indeed thinking of buying a van, which is great, however that also probably means you need your van every day for business purposes. Well, not all vans are owned by those that need them for delivering goods or shifting around heavy loads. Sometimes, you come across those that simply drive a van for the fun of driving a van, instead of a regular road car.

Car or Van?

It’s a true story that a close friend of mine once owned a van simply because they preferred the way it drove, the way they could go anywhere in it without worry of it being dinged by someone else or even stolen and because it was so practical; they used to load it up after a long day shopping.

I remember the van well, it was a W-reg Citroën Berlingo that had clearly been bashed about by previous owners, but the little Berlingo just soldiered on, without a care in the world. It was a brilliant little van with just two seats in the front, a gearstick, a steering wheel, and that’s about it. Simple, straightforward motoring.

It was light too, with a 1.6 litre engine that anyone could rev hard without worry of it failing, and when carrying particularly heavy duty goods or tools in the back you would need to rev it hard to get it to move! But that was fine because it would happily comply without any struggle or strain.

Economical Too

It was a pretty economical little run-a-round as well, as its 1.6 litre diesel engine would produce 149g/km of CO2 emissions, which isn’t bad at all by standards from around a decade ago and it rarely seemed to need a fill at the diesel pump. Berlingo’s have even been used as police vans, not just in the UK, but overseas also, so it must be pretty nippy too in the event of them having to give chase.

Furthermore, it seems that a van insurance quote can indeed be cheaper than just normal car insurance as the van is likely to be valued lower than a car with an equivalent engine capacity. Insurers may also see a van as a vehicle with less risk attached, the fact that they have fewer seats than normal cars may be a big factor in deciding the price of the insurance. This is because the fewer people that could potentially get hurt, the lower the insurance quote may be. That isn’t to say however, that a two-seater sports car will be cheaper to insure than a four-seater family hatchback.

If you drive a van but do not need it for business use, then why not let us know!