Author: News Desk

Van Drivers Hit By Soaring Theft Costs

Posted on by News Desk

Instead, they drag their feet, forcing you to wait for a payout.The Alarming Numbers You Need to Know

To begin with, a new report reveals that theft from vans is draining a staggering £264 million every single year.

Even worse, a study commissioned by van-insurance company Honcho discovered that each van break-in costs tradespeople an average of £5,584.

As if that weren’t alarming enough, thieves break into a van somewhere in the UK every 23 minutes.

Some Insurers Respond Fast — Others Don’t

So what does this really mean for you?

For starters, while some insurers act quickly — often providing 24-hour replacement services for stolen tools — so van drivers and tradespeople can return to work almost immediately, others simply don’t.

Instead, they drag their feet, which means you’re left waiting for a payout.

Consequently, as the delays mount, you’re forced to watch valuable jobs — and crucial income — slip away.

The True Cost Of Delays

Unfortunately, the impact doesn’t stop there.

On average, these delays can put a tradesperson out of work for roughly an entire month.

Worse still, if you’re a sparky or a plumber and thieves hit your van, you could lose nearly two months’ wages just replacing the stolen tools.

Clearly, the financial hit can be devastating.

Shocking Gaps In Cover

But here’s the real shocker…

Despite the risks, 89% of van drivers still skip full cover for goods stolen from their vehicles.

In addition, 84% go without a courtesy van in their policy, leaving them stranded when theft strikes.

What You Can Do Right Now

So what should you do now?

First of all, it’s essential to strengthen your van’s in-vehicle security.

Therefore, consider installing lockable storage boxes and reinforced locks on every entry point.

Moreover, if your existing policy doesn’t include these crucial extras, it’s definitely time to shop around.

After all, choosing a comprehensive new van-insurance policy could save you weeks of downtime — and protect you from an even bigger financial loss.

Van Drivers Face Tax Hike Double Blow: Fuel Duty Rise And NI Increase On The Horizon

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Double Trouble For UK Van Drivers

Brace yourselves, van drivers across the UK.

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has hinted at a double hit of tax increases heading your way next year.

And it’s not looking pretty.

Fuel Duty Freeze Could Soon Be History

Let’s start with fuel duty.

It’s been frozen for more than a decade, holding steady at 57.95p per litre since 2011.

But that’s about to change.

In an effort to recover the massive cost of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chancellor is reportedly considering lifting the freeze.

And here’s the kicker:

The proposed rise is between 3p and 5p per litre.

That means your average fill-up could suddenly cost you a lot more from April onwards.

Already Struggling? This Just Makes Things Worse

Let’s face it—this couldn’t come at a worse time.

The pandemic has already squeezed household budgets, especially for tradespeople and delivery drivers.

Many are still recovering from the loss of work and income during lockdowns.

So naturally…

Any increase in fuel duty is likely to hit van drivers the hardest.

Especially those who rely on their van for day-to-day income.

Self-Employed? Expect Higher National Insurance, Too

But wait — there’s more.

If you’re self-employed, you could soon be paying even higher National Insurance contributions.

At the moment, you pay 9%.

But from next year?

That could jump to 12%, putting you on par with employees.

Here’s the problem:

The self-employed don’t get the same benefits—no sick pay, no paid holidays, no redundancy.

So understandably…

The proposed rise is facing serious backlash.

What’s The Real Cost For Van Drivers?

Let’s break it down.

  • Rising fuel costs will eat into your take-home income.
  • National Insurance could increase, without giving you any extra rights in return.
  • Little government support exists for the newly self-employed.

Many van drivers feel the government is punishing them for working hard and staying independent.

But There’s Still A Way To Save

Here’s some good news at last.

At Cheap Van Insurance, we’re committed to helping you cut costs where it matters most.

While you can’t control the Chancellor’s next move…

You can still lock in great value on your van insurance.

So before next year hits your wallet harder than ever…

Make sure you’re not overpaying on insurance.

Because if these changes go through?

Every penny will count.

Time for an Electric Van?

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It seems the world of vans is heading into an all-electric future. This week, delivery giant Amazon unveiled their new custom electric delivery vans which they are rolling out on a large scale through the next few years, with plans to have 100,000 on the road by 2030. 

The van was designed in part with input from Amazon delivery drivers, and features in built Alexa, state of the art traffic sensors, hands-free, real-time navigation, an ergonomically designed driver’s seat, improved access to packages, thanks to a new interior layout, and 360-degree cameras around the vehicle. The company developed the vans as part of a wider green initiative to be carbon neutral by 2040. 

Meanwhile, Kier group, who are responsible for many of the motorway and major road repairs in the UK have also just added electric vehicles to their fleet, in the form of electric taxi vans that are capable of carrying two Euro sized pallets with a payload of up to 830kg. 

These taxi vans will deliver supplies to roadwork sites up and down the country and are currently being tested around the UK. Again, these form part of a bigger goal towards carbon neutrality for the Kier Group. 

The good news is that the drive for electric vehicles by these companies is seeing electric technology being integrated into many commercial vehicles rather quickly. This means that prices are starting to become realistic, the technology more reliable and the savings from owning an electric van are becoming something worth considering for many van drivers. Maybe next time you are due a van upgrade, it will be worth taking a look.

Van Driver Heroes

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You know here at CVI, we’re always doing our bit to celebrate you, the unsung heroes of the UK, the relentless van drivers who get out there come rain, shine or COVID 19 to get things done. And what a lot of grafters you are. 

But it isn’t just us who want to celebrate the great British van drivers of the UK. What Car? Magazine have teamed up with Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles to find those great British van driver heroes that we all know and love. 

We know you’re a modest lot, but friends and family can also nominate you, and as a thank you, the best 10 van driving heroes will be chosen and their achievements and examples of going above and beyond will be celebrated across social media for their commitment to getting it done. 

The competition is fronted by TV personality Edd China and he too, will be sharing on his socials those winners, giving them a great bit of free publicity and of course, the recognition that they deserve. 

Getting involved is easy – just send in up to 300 words explaining why you, or a van driver you know, deserves the recognition and any supporting photos or video and send them using this link. But you need to move fast – entries close this Friday, 9 October. 

This has been quite an extraordinary year, so what better time to celebrate those extraordinary van drivers of any trade or profession who have done their bit and made a difference?

Adding some flex to van insurance

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It’s a dog eat dog world out there and latest news shows that, with an uncertain future ahead of us all, and no knowing if we will be locked down once more any time soon, it seems that more people are turning to van driving as their career of choice.

Latest news suggests that van insurance policy numbers are on the rise, with more people looking for job certainty and, faced with another potential lockdown, many have decided that working as a delivery driver is the career for them.

And we can’t blame anyone. While the world ground to a halt earlier this year, one of the careers that endured was that of delivery driver. Likewise, the building trades appeared largely unaffected, with more people deciding to spend their holiday savings on home improvements instead. So it’s fair to assume that should we face another national lockdown, that those trades will be the ones that carry on as before. 

In fact, there was a 52% increase in requests for van driver insurance quotes between April and June of this year as lockdown started to ease up. 

Van driver insurance companies have begun to respond to this with improved, more flexible van insurance policies becoming available, from single, by the day cover, to monthly policies that can be used as and when people need it. We welcome this, as with other changes in the van insurance world, to a more flexible approach that can mix and match with people’s needs. The car insurance world recently saw a new type of policy come on the market, where people pay to unsure by miles driven and we suspect that some bright spark won’t be far behind doing something similar for the van drivers of the UK soon. With such uncertainty of where we are headed as a nation this winter, we can imagine some people will be very happy to see this kind of insurance policy around. 

Another Lockdown Looms?

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Well, today we find ourselves – van drivers and non-van drivers alike, on a precipice. While we don’t mean to come over all prime minister on you all, it appears that today or tomorrow might see the UK go back into some form of lockdown which may be two weeks, may be longer. Either way, it’s going to be pretty crappy news for van drivers. 

A short lockdown will see many things once again grind to a halt – from beauty salons to builders’ merchants, shops to suppliers, the only upside for those who drive vans is going to be food delivery drivers once more, we suspect. Which kind of sucks. 

Of course, we can speculate as much as we want, we don’t know and to be honest, it doesn’t really feel like those in power have much of a clue, either. All this talk of ‘circuit breaks’ and new laws imposed… who knows? 

While it appears that much of the building industry is enjoying something of a renaissance as those in power chase their tails and those who were off on holiday decide instead to spend a little on some DIY, the rest of the UK is left in limbo, with furlough due to end, which will inevitably lead to some job losses and another lockdown could see many local businesses collapse, forced to close their doors once and for all. All of which will inevitably affect van drivers of the UK in some way shape or form.

If you did skip out on MOT-ing your van during lockdown, we do suggest doing it now, while you can, because who knows if there could be another blip which means that those without MOTS who can’t then get one as a result of a lockdown could find themselves up the creek without a paddle. 

Of course, we will know by this time next week what is going on (perhaps, maybe… maybe not), but for the self-employed and small business people like the van drivers of the UK, it could indeed by the apocryphal winter of discontent. 

Don’t Let Your Tools Go AWOL

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Here at CVI, we are sure you’ve heard ad infinitim about the risk of keeping tools in your vehicle. We know our readers are generally a pretty smart and savvy bunch, and so those of you who do carry tools, are, we are sure, know to display all the warnings, such as one of those stickers saying ‘no tools left in the van overnight.’

And it’s a good job you’re cautious, too While we know that tool theft was a thing (incidentally, catalytic converter theft is also on the up), did you know that tools are actually stolen from the vans of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland a shocking once every 20 minutes?

20 minutes?

That is a ridiculous number of tools to be going AWOL each year. 

According to research, tools went AWOL from vehicles 28.681 times last year. And that is just the thefts that were reported, so we can only imagine what that tally may be when you included the ones that didn’t even get reported. 

That equates to 78 incidents of tool theft every single day of the year. 

Of those thefts that were reported, the majority happened in London, followed by the North West, Yorkshire and Humberside. A whopping 4,400 crimes were reported in Lancashire alone last year.

This just goes to show how important a great van insurance policy is. If you don’t have your tools covered, you can wave goodbye to that job – and that’s something none of us can do with as things stand with the uncertainty of a winter of coronavirus approaching. 

Of course, personal responsibility also plays a part, and ensuring tools are well secured inside the vehicle, that the van is kept locked and well supervised can all help to reduce incidents of told theft from vans.

The good news is that some instance companies are now offering specialist tools insurance for van insurance policies, some even offering full replacement of any stolen tools within 24 hours – so there is no waving goodbye to those jobs you’ve got lined up, after all.

To stop the chances of it happening, here’s our advice:

  • Leave your van where you can see it – on site, if possible
  • Always lock it between trips to load and unload
  • Make sure you have a sticker advising you don’t leave your tools in there overnight and that your van is alarmed – it’s always worth deterring them from trying
  • Make sure you have lockable storage inside your van that is fixed to the vehicle – there are some great storage cages which can prove worth every penny
  • If you have safe overnight storage for your tools – use it!
  • Try and park the van somewhere secure overnight

We can’t guarantee you won’t get your tools nicked, but you can do your bot to try and prevent it from happening. After all, it’s another insurance claim that nobody needs to make….

Top Tips for Keeping Van Insurance Down

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You know us, here at Cheap Van Insurance. Always on your side, always backing the little guy, the honest van drivers of the UK, as you speed up and down the country, doing what you do best – getting stuff done.

So, this week, we thought we would put together a little aide memoire of all those tips and tricks we like to share with you each week, of how to keep your costs down when taking out your next van insurance policy. 

1: Shop around

It goes without saying, but you’re in the right place to start. Everyone should shop around for their van insurance, to find the best possible deal, but there’s no need to traipse from site to site, or broker to broker. Who has time for that? Our simple form gets the brokers and insurance providers coming to you, with their best deals and offers. 

Because let’s face it, life is hard enough. But shopping around for the best van insurance deal doesn’t have to be.

2: Don’t auto-renew.

Shop around! Last year’s van insurance may have been the deal of the century at the time, but as we have reported here, a lot has changed in the last 12 months (even more than usual), so it makes sense to see what new deals are out there and have some better quotes to go back to your current insurer with, should you really want to stay with them.

Knowledge is power.

3: See what else you can get:

Once you have some competitive quotes, see if you can haggle a bit. See if one of the companies will throw in a useful added extra (we don’t mean a cuddly toy – something actually useful) that will save you money. 

4: Mileage:

Don’t underexaggerate how far you travel. Often, the difference between mileage is negligible when it comes to the cost of your van insurance premium, so do the right thing and tell the truth. The same goes for where your van is kept and what it is used for. 

5: Named drivers

You may have always had the missus on your van policy, just in case, but if she has got some points on her car license recently, you may wish to reconsider if she doesn’t actually drive the van. It’s the same with employees – only have those ones on the policy that will actually drive the van. And make sure you are hiring people with a clean license that won’t cost you a fortune to cover in van insurance fees.

6: Tools:

We talk about this in-depth next week, but it’s essential that your tools are covered with a good policy. The optimum is the firms who offer 24-hour replacement for stolen tools, so you’re not stuck twiddling your thumbs, waiting for your replacements to come through.

Do all the above and make the most of our free quote tool, and you can thank us for making your life that tinny bit easier. 

You’re welcome. 

The Irish Example

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Good news for Irish van drivers this week, with the launch of a scheme that we very much hope to see cross the Irish Channel and trickle into the British system.

If you are fortunate enough to be living and working in Ireland, you will no doubt have heard about the new grant scheme that has been launched to support tradespeople in this post-COVID economy.

Yes, over the water, they have launched a new Enterprise Support Grant, which offers tradespeople a grant of us to €1000 per sole trader who do not qualify for other government support. 

Welcomed by tradespeople over, there, the grant is helping take the strain off the nation’s sparkies, plumbers, builders and carpenters who are able to claim the grant to help make their life a little easier in this post-COVD economy. 

What is really great about the grant is that not only can it be used for stocking up on tools and equipment, but the money can also be put towards vehicle running costs, including fuel, servicing, and van insurance too.

As we all know, insuring a van is not cheap. For many tradespeople, it represents a large chunk of expense towards doing and running their business. And while here at CVI, we do our very best to ensure that all van drivers get the best possible deal on their van insurance, irrespective of age, gender or trade, we know that since the economy ground to a halt earlier this year, getting back up and running has been a massive struggle for many. 

We very much welcome this news and hope that our own Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, sees this initiative and takes inspiration from it, and offers a similar scheme to the van drivers of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

After all, with the government desperate to get us all back to work, we can only hope that they don’t forget the role of the British van drivers play in the economy and that they do their bit for those who may have missed out from other initiatives, such as the furlough scheme or self-employment grants. 

Here’s looking at you, Rishi.

COVID Cycle Lanes – Coming to a Town Near You

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You know when you open up Cheap Van Insurance to see what’s new, that you’ll always be met with the latest news, views and opinions from the world of van driver news and motoring. And, dear readers, while we don’t like to blow our own trumpet (bar the odd toot), it seems rumblings posted here first are gathering momentum.

Yes, it seems the mainstream media have cottoned on to our lament of some weeks now – that cyclist groups and teams of eco-warriors are using the COVID crisis to take advantage of local councils and use the current health crisis as an excuse to close roads and put restrictions in place.

Yes, we called it some weeks ago, but it seems our local case is not in isolation. Up and down the country, including London, Manchester, Birmingham, York, Oxford, Derby, Nottingham and Cardiff are all seeing the very thing we warned against. 

Thanks to these groups, van drivers up and down the country are seeing road closures, parking bay suspensions, major diversions and extra cycle lanes appearing out of nowhere. But, far from making everyone’s lives better, these restrictions and alternations are making the life of van drivers in particular, absolute hell.

Traffic jams, causing pockets of super high emissions and pollution hotspots are springing up left, right and centre, as tailbacks mount as a result of these changes. Not only are van drivers getting held up on their deliveries, but once they reach their destination, they are finding parking to drop off impossible, thanks to parking bays being suspended in a bid to free up road space for pedestrians’ use. 

Cycle lanes that are barely being used are causing huge tailbacks as roads are narrowed to single lanes to accommodate them. 

The movement is said to be spending upwards of £225m on these changes, most of which are being sneaked through without any, or very little, public consultation. Were there consultation, we know that ordinary motorists, van drivers and business owners would all have quite a lot to say about these changes. Business owners are not only struggling to get deliveries, but also missing out on vital business that comes from people who need to drive to reach them and find themselves unable to park.

Think about it – those who are reluctant to use public transport – quite a few in these COVID teams we are living in, are being prevented from getting into their local towns because the local councils have made it all but impossible for them to park.

The knock-on effect is catastrophic. No businesses means no van deliveries. Which means no jobs. These short-sighted councils are seemingly hell bent on putting green policies ahead of keeping struggling small businesses (and all the trade they generate) out of business. 

If it is happening near you, we urge you to take action. Speak to your council. Sign petitions. Speak out. Otherwise we all face a future where you may not need the best deal on van insurance – because there are no businesses to deliver to.

It’s time for UK van drivers to come together and have their say. 

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