The BVRLA forecast for vehicle registrations for 2012 has identified two certain areas of growth to look out for, this year: based on improved manufacturing facilities, and concerted effort to up their game on after-sales care, Korea will compete with traditional manufacturers and a sea change in the way shoppers are buying their goods will see light commercial vehicle (up to 3.5 ton) registrations exceed previous years.
Fleet vehicle registrations will hold up market as domestic sales flounder
2011 saw fleet vehicle sales grow beyond all expectations, providing a challenging time for van insurance brokers as organisations had bigger negotiating tools to command cheaper insurance deals, whilst the domestic market for private sales fell against year-on-year sales at an alarming rate, finishing almost 5% down on 2010. Not a good sign of consumer confidence as the pinch became very real for millions of households across the UK.
The BVRLA expects similar patterns to follow in 2012, although business streamlining may lead to a slightly less total than the 1.9 million achieved last year for commercial vehicles; there are, however, two areas of growth to watch out for within the LCV sector that may get us close.
As more big high street names fall into administration, it sends out a clear signal to SMEs that economic uncertainty and swathing cuts are still very much the agenda of the day. As such, it is expected that 2012 will see smaller businesses seek to protect any profit they’ve achieved and, should the need for increased fleet arise through unexpected growth, they will turn to the lease-hire market due to that long term lack of confidence. For small businesses who look to this totally understandable lack of considered investment, it’s essential that they search for cheap van insurance for their existing LCVs to combat the higher premiums they may have no choice in paying if they are duty-bound to insure their vans through the lease-hire’s brokers.
Where outright investment in light commercial vehicles will be imperative is in the sector for courier firms and home delivery services, purely down to mileage factors – how far you drive can be a factor when considering both lease-hire, with extra charges to cover the wear and tear and van insurance, which, really needs to be adaptable to suit the cargo you envisage transporting and kept under control by the delivery firm.
2012 may also be the year that Korea enters the fleet market as a serious player, with their engines built for low emission in new quality-conscious factories and immense improvement in their after-sales targeting field sales vehicles. With the focus on Europe and its manufacturing capacity, everything is pointing in the right direction for the Korean manufacturers to make an impact this year.
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