One of the UK’s most well-known van insurance brokers currently ran a survey on its site for 1,000 drivers to self-assess their driving skills. Whether or not it identified areas for drivers to hone those skills is unsure, but one thing it did highlight is the fact that van drivers don’t half fancy themselves behind the wheel!
More than two thirds of van drivers who expressed a preference scored themselves five out of five when it came to performing tricky manoeuvres behind the wheel, whilst less than one eighth admitted reversing around a corner gave them any difficulty, the majority giving themselves eighty percent there, too.
If this is the case, it will be great news for fleet managers in their strive for cheap van insurance as their no claims bonuses all look to remain in tact for at least another year, based on this evidence!
Young male drivers think they’re invincible
Sadly, what this does highlight, according to deeper research into the results, is the extent to which young male drivers have an almost blind faith in their own ability to drive perfectly – almost half stating that their methodlolgy for any manoeuvre was ‘flawless’ – whereas the claims against van insurance policies for young drivers statistics tell a completely different tale.
Given that many vans inclusion of a rear-view mirror is purely a distraction to hang the fragrant pine tree on, as their view behind them is completely blocked by the construction of the van, drivers can become heavily reliant on the use of wing mirrors, which can in turn lead to over-estimating the room between their rear end and that of the obstacle to which your reversing up to. Certainly, when pulling up to a female driver it is always best to under-estimate, leaving you a little bit in reserve and them pleasantly surprised.
Phil Moss, Swinton CV Manager, did concede that the amount of drops van drivers make in any one day would perhaps give them the edge at performing the more delicate practices of driving than someone who makes one straight journey to and from work every day. He also made the excellent point that, as many commercial vehicles are bigger than domestics, the ability to accomplish such skills in larger vehicles would make them more adept in smaller ones once they abandoned the van at the end of the day in favour of their personal vehicle.
However, if all the stories are to be believed, van drivers prefer their work mode of transport above all other…
…perhaps that has more to do with the high results in the survey than anything else. If you live and love your van and are looking to find cheap van insurance, for profession or pleasure, use cheapvaninsurance.co.uk to save a packet in minutes.