As figures are analysed to piece together a picture from last year’s European van market, there is a very clear parallel being drawn between a country’s overall economy and the registration of new vans. With perhaps the UK being the exception as citizens prove industrious in seeking out new opportunities as traditional industry and shopping habits encourage growth in the service industry.

This shift has lent to more cheap van insurance policies being upgraded to include courier services within their remit as armchair shoppers steer clear of the High Street and prefer their goods brought to the door. This, in a round about way, makes sense in a nonsensical manner.

Looking at the major European contributors to the Eurozone for reference, registrations of new vans drew direct comparison with their economies. Germany and France, whose economies seemed to escape the worst of the global downturn, finished 2011 recording high levels of new vans. France, the largest user of new vans on the continent, almost reached half a million units with Germany selling ten percent more than the UK’s final total of slightly more than 300,000 units.

Italy and Spain, whose economies are in grave danger of leaning on the central funding of the Eurozone, saw their van registrations fall, as did their countries outputs. This is obviously good news for van drivers as those who do register their new vehicles have the edge of competition on their side in the search for cheap van insurance as, with fewer units to insure, brokers sharpen their pencils to secure the business that is out there.

What has made the UK different is, although their economy grew by only 0.8% on the year, new van registrations were hiked by 17.6% on the year – this is a massive imbalance, compared to the rest of the continent, which finished up 7.5% overall for 2011.

The Low Emission Zone helped, with van drivers looking to escape the £100/day charge for non-Euro III compliant vehicles that came into being on January 3rd.  On top of that, organisations, seeing their niches contract, hoped to capture more sales in different areas by offering larger fleet services. And, as mentioned above, the growth of courier services, as suggested by courier van insurance policy registration and more online organisations to help those looking to start a courier service springing to life on the Internet, the mix seems to justify the amount of new van registrations compared with the economic stagnation of last year.  Confused?  Me, too.

The question facing the industry this year, as the austerity drive seems to be hitting home harder rather than relenting, is will the home-shopping market record figures this year as it did in 2011 and sustain the fleet courier van market? We will have to wait and see, there.

To go along with the recent thefts of complete exhaust systems and increased numbers of tool theft from unsecured vans that has been sweeping the country recently, causing havoc with van owners’ van insurance quotes when it comes to renewal, having had to have made sizeable claims to cover their replacement costs, there is now a new warning being posted for van drivers up and down the country.

As organisations look to cut back on costs, the market for used vans has seen massive growth, with auction houses BCA and Manheim reporting record figures going through their books and predicted shortfalls in units for certain sectors of the used van market inevitable later in the year. The savvy crook has already picked up on this fact and the new warning is being issued by van insurance firms to be on the lookout for those in the market who may be approached by people claiming to be the van’s rightful owner but are instead fronts for organised gangs stealing vans lock, stock and barrel.

There are guidelines for buying second hand commercial vehicles and van owners are being urged to follow them. It is only when van drivers get the vehicles home and come to register them or search for cheap van insurance that they’re realising they’ve purchased a stolen vehicle.

Following a statement by a spokesperson for one such van insurance company, which urges tradesmen to “take the necessary steps to protect themselves”, here are a few recommendations before you part with your cash:
• Wherever possible, buy your vehicle from a recognised used van outfit. There are legal requirements for the roadworthiness of a van so that it can meet MoT and van insurance prerequisites before they’re allowed to hand over the keys that they must follow
• If buying privately, ascertain the make, model, year, chassis number and registration details of the van from the private owner and check the van out on the web before travelling to make the purchase
• Once satisfied that the van is legal, have the van properly looked over by a mechanic (again, from a recognised franchise if possible); they will give an unbiased view of any tweaks needed to comply with the updated regulations for the MoT test
• There are times when owners sell the van due to financial issues and they may have outstanding debts on any hire/purchase agreement; you will not become liable for those debts, but outstanding finance records against a vehicle may impact your van insurance quotes when you come to compare van insurance online
• Check with the DVLA that the car has not been registered as a write off or been involved in any major road traffic accident that the private owner may have neglected to tell you about.

By following these guidelines, you should ensure that your van has no hidden past and that there will be no nasty shocks awaiting you when you thought that by buying second hand, it would avail you of cheap van insurance. But get in quick – it’s a sellers market and with businesses hanging on to their vehicles eleven months longer in these austere times, quality used vans are not on the market for long.

Using comparison websites to find cheap van insurance deals is without a doubt the most effective way to ensure that you have the best deal for the cover you need for your business. However, there are two assumptions there:
1. the customer knows which van insurance is best for their business
2. the customer is familiar with how a van insurance comparison website works

A couple of things to consider when deciding what type of cover you’re looking for are: whether it’s a cheerful cheap van insurance policy if you only travel short distances, not often and is locked up safely overnight or whether your light commercial vehicle takes you up and down the country transporting expensive tools of the trade that you could just not do without and may be prone to spending nights on hotel car parks if a job is far from home with a lengthy duration, even to Europe.

If your van fits into the first category, and you only need cheap van insurance such as a third party fire and theft, there are still things you ought to consider to bring the quote down even further. Extra security features, increased voluntary excess and no claims bonuses to name a few. Don’t think that because you’re opting for the cheapest van insurance policy on the comparison site that you can’t negotiate down further!

Cheap van insurance is no good to you if it does not cover your van’s purpose in business

If your job takes you into the second category, you are travelling more miles and are seen as more ‘at risk’ by a broker than the local van driver. Should this be you, then you really ought to consider hi-tech security, such as immobilisers that work on personal identification to prevent theft, GPS trackers so that in the event that your vehicle’s stolen from unsecured premises it can be easily traced anywhere on UK roads as well as the no claims bonus and voluntary excess.

However, you will need to tag on extra cover, such as a Green Card if your automatic base van insurance policy document doesn’t incorporate EU travel, certainly tool cover or goods in transit and possibly breakdown cover if you do not have this as a separate commodity. And certainly go fully comprehensive if you spend a lot of time travelling as you’re statistically more likely to be involved in a major RTA the further you drive – the simple law of averages works that one out, as well as your van insurance broker.

All these will be extra costs over and above the base cheap van insurance policy, but worth the extra premium should you need to rely on the extra cover in light of a claim, either made by you or against you.

With regards to filling in the online form, the best advice is to gather as much relevant information about your organisation and the way you use your van before you compare van insurance online. You’ll soon get used to the type of question and they’re not there to trip you up, unlike the impression you may get when obtaining a quote from a van insurance company, direct. The whole purpose is to find you the cheapest deal, but still cover you in anticipation for the way you use your van in your day-to-day business activities, and no more.

Try not to adopt the ‘just in case’ methodology. If you don’t currently carry expensive tools or travel to Europe on business, don’t include it in your quote – you can always speak to your broker about getting ancillaries tagged on as and when the occasion arises that you actually need them. Remember, the online form is there to help you save money, not give you the opportunity to spend more than you should.

Van insurance can be as cheap as you want to make it, but many traders, in their attempt to cut costs, can often leave themselves exposed by not having adequate cover in the event of an accident. As well as negating the point of having van insurance at all, it can also have dire consequences on the individual’s livelihood in the event of a claim against them.

As well as providing cover for third party only or ‘and theft’, it is imperative that a sole trader has made sure that their van insurance quotes incorporate some type of liability insurance within the policy somewhere.

The level of cover for this aspect of your van insurance will depend upon the nature of your business and how much your driving brings you in contact with the general public and how ‘at risk’ you perceive your business activities make you. Admittedly, the higher the value of liability you ensure your van for will add to your initial cheap van insurance quotation, but it is worth that little bit more for the peace of mind.

If you are using a van insurance comparison site, they are often excellent ways of factoring in this extra cover. But you will need to know what to look out for when you’re building in the aspects applicable to your business when you’re constructing your van insurance quote online.

Tradesmen’s liability is probably the one you’ll want to be looking out for as it incorporates both employer’s and public liability in one fell swoop, which in their own rite cover the tradesman for £5M and £1M as minimum legal requirements, respectively. This will then extend the van owner’s cover to staff, customers and anyone with whom ‘the business’ comes into contact with during the course of its day-to-day activities.

If your trade is purely as a driver for a larger organisation and you are an employee, it is highly probable that the firm for who you work will have built this cover into their fleet van insurance and you should not have to worry about insuring yourself over and above the level whilst carrying out activities on behalf of the company.

However, if the company has deigned that employees can utilise their commercial vehicles for personal use outside of working hours, it is critical that you confirm what level of van insurance is applicable to their benevolence and who is liable in case of any incident.

If you are dealing with a van insurance broker rather than with a specialist cover provider direct, it is possible that you will be able to get even cheaper van insurance by taking out more than one type of insurance with them, as long as they are licensed to provide a variety of policies, accordingly.

Take this opportunity to compare van insurance using our online form and see how much you could save by having liability insurance bolted on to your base cheap van insurance quote.