Van rental sector looks to 2012 with hopeful optimism 1

With all the doom and gloom surrounding the economy, still a week before payday since the last one before Christmas and the sun very definitely heading off back to warmer climes for a while, it’s good to see one sector of the fleet industry drawing positives to keep our spirits buoyant.

The BVRLA has just published its summary of 2011/forecast for 2012 statement, which, by its own admission in the opening paragraph, deliberately ignores the global negativity rife in the media (as much as possible), as there is enough of that to go around already.

You certainly don’t have to look very far to find it, especially with the forecasts which suggest that van insurance premiums are only going one way this year and that way’s up (and up and up), despite the government’s efforts to curtail the spiralling cost of motor insurance.

That’s where we come in, to help you at least reduce any existing van insurance quotes you may have acquired, to deflect the impact that the doom and gloom experts are predicting we’ll all suffer as commercial entities and individual households in the year ahead.

So, let’s start with a brief overview of the backdrop the BVRLA chief exec John Lewis paints for us of the sector, before we look into further detail into the individual aspects that make up the lease-hire industry, from whose pools it is forecast many more businesses will be drawing from, hereon in.

So, John Lewis (BVRLA CEO, not the clothes store), certainly envisages the battered global economy to take plenty more hits in 2012, as most analysts predict. This will impact on businesses but, as he states, commercial transport is a must, not a luxury. Businesses that have taken for granted fuel consumption, off-road time and fleet van insurance will be scrutinising these aspects more than ever. With order books promising to be less than bulging and firms looking to streamline their cash-flow hence, they will have more time to devote to this aspect of the business, too, making it even more important for van insurance comparison sites like ours to be used as a necessary tool in the constant search for cheap van insurance, online.

On the back of this, Lewis expects more businesses than ever to further cut the fat from their operation and be tempted to look at long-term commercial vehicle lease-hire as a viable option, compared to investing in entire fleets of commercial vehicles, thus not only cutting down on wholesale outgoings in purchasing the fleet outright, but handing maintenance costs and van insurance, although not the cheapest option for cover, back into the hands of rental agent.

More from BVRLA coming up; in the meantime, compare your van insurance, now, before the next set of increases take a hold on the market.

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