Oxfordshire has been hit by a spat of van break-ins since the turn of the year, it has been revealed. Cowley saw one power saw taken as police believe the same gang of professionals committed a similar crime days later when more tools were taken from a van which had been parked up overnight (Why didn’t he stop it, Bodie?*).

The police are now appealing for witnesses after the thefts have been labeled ‘a string of crimes’ following a reported number of weighty claims against the victims van insurance policies, although it’s unclear whether the claims are purely for damage sustained by the vehicles themselves or whether they are for the cargo, too.

The crime committed in Cowley was perpetrated during daylight hours when the unwitting van driver left his Stihl power saw in the back of his unlocked Transit; the break-in which followed days later had a ‘number of power tools’ lifted, also; as such, police are asking all tradesmen working in the area to be extra vigilant and lock up their tools, even if they are on site. Claims are all well and good against van insurance but the victims in this instance have reportedly been left unable to carry out their jobs until they get replacements.

Oxfordshire PC Laura Mabbott later made an appeal in the Oxford Mail. With reference to leaving valuable goods in open view, she said that people were inviting opportunist thieves to steal, not safeguarding them by at least locking them away and not leaving items such as laptops in obvious places, namely underneath the passenger seat where thieves instinctively look.

In addition, she asked anyone offered cheap tools to think twice before accepting them as there was a likelihood of them being stolen. Irrespective of handling stolen goods being unlawful, the easier thieves sell on tools, the bigger the market they envisage, which only leads them to steal more readily. It’s a vicious circle and often, even though it is seen as a victimless crime, claiming against insurance, for the van driver involved who may have ruined his no claims bonus, he is unlikely to retain the cheap level of van insurance prior to the incident and may take him years to accrue that level of discount again.

To see how much you can save by adding your tool cover to your van insurance, compare providers at our cheapvaninsurance.co.uk online quote facility.

In the last article (or next, depending whether you’re a ‘start at the back and work your way forward‘ sports fan or prefer the titilations at the front of your newspaper and then progress in a more hardy fashion), we looked at how using a combination of variable, static and fixed variable factors (sliders, to you and me) could help you detract from the anticipated remunerable outlay for the LCV fleet at the beginning of a fiscal calendar (or: get cheap van insurance every year).

One other key strategy when searching for online van insurance is whether to choose approaching an insurer direct or going through a broker. Both have advantages, but the one option is a lot more equal than the other.

You can go to an insurance company direct – there are plenty who deal with both the public and business sector. But their service can be limited, and you’re often expected to know which of their products you want or is best for you beforehand.

For one, they are only drawing from their own portfolio of product and you may be tempted to take out van cover because it’s cheap, but not quite right for your business, yet it is the closest match; for two, that’s a bit like putting all your loot on ‘black/even’ at the casino – yep, you might need to claim, 3/1 on you’re not going to be covered. That, my friends, is the law of the sod – we have acquiesced more oft than I care to recount, herein (gets me every time). Also, the minute you pick up the phone to query an anomoly with a direct insurer, you may lose the online discount that you’d otherwise save going through a van insurance comparison site and booking online through their cheap insurance facility.

Which leads us nicely on to the broker, who can pull in quotes to match your credentials from a whole host of insurance companies. Yes, you pay the broker a premium for the service, but for a one-off fee that can save you traipsing the Internet entering the same old van insurance criteria seventy times, which can become a bit repetitive after the first, ooh, once, it is definitely worth the sacrifice.

You’d be surprised at how little that premium is, too.  Online brokers, those at the top of the rankings, anyway, can work on volume, rather than large margins, preferring to make a tenner ten times than £100 once (figures purely for illustration, like a ‘serving suggestion’ on your fish-finger packet) because ten hits on their site keeps them closer to the top of Google, whereas one hit would hardly count as a splash. It’s all good stuff, y’know.

Do carry out your research using your slider and, once you’ve tried one broker, I’d be very surprised if you saved a vast amount by going to another – the closest result to your search-criteria will always be the closest (you may never get an exact match, no matter how hard you try) – so, waste no further ado, my cheap van insurance hunter: compare cheap van insurance quotes to save a packet in minutes.

There are certain aspects of your business that you’re not going to change just in an attempt to get a cheaper van insurance quote, for sure. But being aware of those factors when you go online for van cover can help you in the decision-making process alongside other key features that drive down the cost of van insurance; enough, anyway, to know enough not to fret about what you can’t change. Done bun can’t be undone, to coin a phrase from the great Mr King, himself (which has just made sense to me for the first time writing this article, although I must have first read that line in Insomnia – and again and again, since – ten years hence, at least).

Use tools like calculators to discount your van insurance renewal premium

One of the great evolutions of the latter day Internet is the ‘slider’ or, in rudimentary terms, aspects that you can tinker with when you’re making up your quote to deliver the best (not necessarily cheapest) van insurance quote for your business. Yes, you want to save as much as possible on an expense that you may never need, but not to the extent that if you do need to claim on it, you jeopardise its to you.

The factors that can’t change, such as location, your age, even to some extent, the amount of miles you’re going to drive to service your customer base – they’re not going to come to you, after all – they’re pretty much set in stone; albeit adjusting the frequency of the latter without compromising service issues could be something to look at to save all manner of costings, like wear and tear, fuel, man-hours and, of course, cheaper van insurance.

The aspects you could look to change with the aid of a slider, or calculator, is the ancillary products to your van. What level of security delivers you the best cost-saving, even to the extent of paying for itself, for instance. For the sake of spending £80.00 on a good steering lock, for instance, what is the equivocal discount and at what period of time would that article be an asset to your business and not an expense?

The same with immobilisers and vehicle trackers. Okay, they may seem like extensive outlay when you’re starting out in business but, providing they work as the deterrent you anticipate, they will prove beneficial in the long term, especially when you factor in any no claims bonus that you may otherwise not have saved on over the course of time you have had them installed.

More coming up about making cheap van insurance quotes online work for you, even if you think the odds are stacked against you.

Concluding our overview of BVRLA‘s look-back at 2011 and peep into 2012, we look at what effect the (predicted) demise in the availability of used vans will have on the new and lease-hire market, discuss whether 2012 will be the year that electric vans eventually take off and view a summary of how tax amendments for company fleet vehicles and new measures for tackling spurious injury claims under consideration by the government will affect the prices of road-tax and (eventually) cheapen van insurance costs – but maybe not this year.

Used van prices to hold their market value

The beginning of last year saw a massive influx of used LCVs originating from the fallout of the 2010 economy collapse, which saw many large operations go under. Despite the unprecedented volumes, the actual average price across the range only fell by 1.3%, expressing the demand driven by those organisations conscious of their bottom line looking to save more money by buying second-hand over new, with the bonus that used vans equate to cheap van insurance premiums, as a rule of thumb.

There will be fewer used vans available this year as a result of a steadier year in the economy in 2011, but firms in the UK are still very aware that we are not out of the mire yet and will be worried about investing large portions of any profit into new vehicle fleets.

Manufacturers eyeing the rental market for growth

The beneficiaries of this unwillingness to invest in new commercial vehicles against the backdrop of the size of the diminished used vehicle pool will undoubtedly be the lease-hire market; manufacturers from both Europe and Asia have foreseen this eventuality.

According to John Lewis, BVRLA CEO, manufacturers have increased their allocation – or will return to this sector – for 2012. Not only is this for the commercial sector, but it is also expected the ‘urbanites’ will look to leasing with a lack of capital in their household budget.

Will it, won’t it? is the question hanging over the electric van market, as in: will people sacrifice capital in the name of reducing their carbon footprint? With the LEZ now in place in London, it may make commercial sense there; the possible reduction in van insurance premiums due to a reduced top speed may also attract new customers, but the price packages are complicated and will prove expensive anywhere other than the capital.

2012 should also see further clarification of company vehicle tax issues, with more and more vehicles arriving on the market that are emission-conscious. The less cynical may say the government is revamping tax to help out the business sector, but in reality, the tax office is seeing less revenue from this levy than they once were.

Whatever your situation, it is imperative that the one aspect you do not overlook in 2012 is your fleet insurance running costs. Even though Mr. Cameron is cracking the whip when it comes to personal injury solicitors referral fees claims derived from staged accidents, they may not take affect this year.  So for this year, compare your van insurance quotes right here, right now.