Author: News Desk

Cost savings will offset price-increase on new Transit

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There are so many savings to be gained with the new Ford Transit – other than the up-front price – it’s difficult to know where to begin.

From saving on emissions to extended service intervals to fuel to van insurance, the new model seems to have thought about it all – what’s more, delivered it. The cost-savings it envisages are set against similar brands within its class but even on paper, you can see Ford have a justifiable argument for making those claims.

The hot potato that everyone’s being judged on at the minute is: how green is your new model? And Fords answer has been not to just look at a nett CO2 emission rate, but at all factors along the way to deliver a lower carbon footprint.

The Duratorq 2.2l TDCi engine which has replaced the 2.2 and 2.4l diesel predecessors is more fuel efficient and has more filters to help reduce pollution. If even greener is your aim then you can improve on this already greatly reduced emission engine by opting for one of the two models monikered ‘Econetic’.

All of those factors, reduced top-end cc, extra filters and lower emissions will make you smile as they all deliver cheaper van insurance as well as reducing our carbon footprint and getting more mpg.

If you’re traversing London and conscious of Euro 5 legislation, there is that option under the Econetic range. More than adequate for driving around the capital, the Euro 5 model is limited to 62mph and with six gears to get through to attain, it ensures maximum fuel efficiency delivering a reasonable 43.5 mpg. The standard TDCi will reach 70mph for motorway driving but that’s your limit – one thing about the governor stopping you there is that there is no chance of you picking up points for speeding whilst cruising the motorways so no nasty shocks in store on that score when you come to look at your company’s fleet van renewal policy.

And there is still more to come, with Ford looking at further enhancements to connectivity within the cab, extra driving features and, to compliment the improved cab technology, a rear camera to enable reverse-parking is also planned.

That means less wear and tear, as does the 33% increase between services derived from more efficient engines now scheduled at every 20k miles instead of every 15k; less damage = less claims = cheaper van insurance – Ford really have put a lot into this new range, giving you less off-road time and a much healthier fleet and environment.

To see how much you could save on your van insurance by opting for the new-spec Transit, compare commercial vehicle cover using our online form.

Nissan and Renault headline together again

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I’m not one to start rumours all too easily, but in the celebrity world, if two big names made the headlines together twice in one month, the paparazzi would have them married off in no time.

So, is there more than just a little bit of love in the air between Renault and Nissan as they make simultaneous announcements backing the Con-Dem’s extension of the Plug-in grant to commercial vehicles as well as to the domestic market? If the announcement had come from a Yoshi Blanc, I would have had grave concerns.

Instead it was the very Englishly named James Wright who made the statement for the Japanese manufacturers in his role as MD of Nissan Motor GB. On the back of FedEx running trials of the eNV200 in London, putting it through its paces on the capital’s streets, he was quick to endorse the governments commitment in tackling CO2 emissions in this manner. With the tax benefits, cheap van insurance and cost-effective fuel, perhaps Renault’s vision of UK roads becoming swiftly populated with electric modes of transport is a little less like a vision of The Jetsons as once believed.

From Wright’s statement, it would appear that Nissan played a very active role in lobbying parliament to get vans included in the discount for electric vehicles. The government have not only incorporated them in the savings, but acknowledging the fact that without encouraging cost-downs for vans in the heart of the capital the emission savings for cars alone would have been largely nullified, they’ve discounted e-vans even greater than they have e-cars.

It is perhaps a bitter-sweet pill to take as it was, at one point, thought that the LEZ would be a huge money spinner with commercial vehicles having to pay up to £100 per day for failing to comply to the Euro III legislation levels. But van drivers have cottoned on very quickly.

Towards the end of last year and the beginning of this, there was a huge rush in the used van market as models manufactured between certain recent dates automatically nipped in under the levels set. Not only did that damage new van sales but those seeking cheaper van insurance were able to find it, given that the vans they were driving were not pristine.

As the economy is still pulling the strings, yet the eyes of the world are wary of where feet tread carbon footprints, with electric vehicle sales flatly failing to take off last year as hoped, the government are not only seeing boosts to the economy go down the swanny as plug-in vehicles struggle to realise list price, but they’re having to subsidise the market, to boot. I bet they feel well e-fitted up!

If you’re thinking of plugging in to the government hand-outs with a view to cutting down on fuel outgoings this year, why not check out how much you could save on your e-van insurance with our quick and easy online form?

Van drivers stick to their guns with fully comp cover

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One thing that van drivers are not scrimping on as thought may be the case this year is the level of their van insurance cover. One of the obvious cost-savings for many sole-traders and small businesses would have been to drop their existing comprehensive policies in favour of third party, fire and theft or third party only, but that’s just not happening.

According to Swinton, who published the results a little under a week ago, many van drivers have actually enquired about a downgraded policy but, after weighing up the pros and cons, 93% who asked the questions about the cheaper alternative have stuck to their guns and renewed their fully comprehensive van insurance.

That has contributed to the company seeing seven out of ten van drivers in all going for optimum cover, based on the nett results of their brief van insurance survey. In a manner of speaking, this figure actually contradicts the outcome of the same insurer’s survey of van driver skills earlier in the month.

Why? Well, fully comprehensive van insurance covers you for any damage to yours and other vehicles (and the drivers) as a result of an incident, even if you are found to be at fault, whereas third party only covers the van, its driver and its contents who were not at fault – if that is not you, then you are not insured. The results of the earlier survey attested to van drivers – mainly young ones – almost believing they were infallible on the road. If that were truly the case, one would imagine that the majority of policies taken out by van drivers – if their self-assessed driving skills are to be believed – would see them only taking out cheaper third party only or third party, fire and theft cover.

Whatever the case, Phil Moss, the insurer’s commercial vehicle manager, commended his customer base for their beliefs and finding that little bit extra, even though times are tough. He went on to point out that, although third party only may be the lowest point of legal entry onto UK roads and is therefore the cheapest van insurance policy on the market, if a van is stolen or you are proven to be at fault in a road traffic accident, it could end up costing a lot more than the difference between fully comp and third party van insurance policies.

To find out how much you could benefit from either upgrading your existing third party policy or switching your existing fully comp van cover to one of our 60 cheap van insurance providers, compare from brokers and direct insurance firms using our online form.

Van insurance savings through fleet management

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Every other day this year cheapvaninsurance.co.uk seems to be reporting on firms with large fleets of vehicles either installing and running the latest, technologically advanced management software or handing over the reigns of their fleet to a specialist to do it for them; today is no exception.

Osborne, one of the UK’s largest groups in the construction and property services sector, has awarded the contract for its fleet management software for 169 of its LCVs to GreenRoad in an attempt to curb spending on its fuel consumption and, through association, it fleet van insurance, too.

It is becoming more usual to find fleet management specialists getting into bed with one insurance provider or another, which is hardly a surprise as they share a similar goal. Saving customers money and reducing payouts is a win-win-win situation, and this new collaboration between GreenRoad and Osborne likewise sees a third ring join the circus, although it is unclear from the press release which party introduced the other to whom.

However, insurance broker Marsh seem to be the ones pulling the strings in this deal, which will take effect in the spring, at the expense of Osborne’s previous fleet management consultants, Riskmaster, although they did serve the purpose of highlighting to Osborne that much of their van fleet were running higher than average costs due to them operating at a higher risk level, meaning higher wear and tear, above-average fuel consumption and higher van insurance premiums.

Reading between the lines, Osborne’s van insurance broker, Marsh, picked up on these levels and, having a pre-existing relationship with GreenRoad, seeing the effect they had on reducing van insurance for other clients, have subsequently acted as the ambassador to Osborne.

As well as cheaper van insurance being a possibility for Osborne, derived from their existing high premiums, Marsh must have also been aware of GreenRoad’s commitment to CO2 emissions. As many of the 65,000 homes serviced by Osborne are in the London area, reducing emissions could play a vital role in keeping costs down further with the LEZ up and running as of the third of January, just gone.

Across all levels of the automotive sector we are seeing signs of collaboration, from the manufacturers sharing factories for certain components and now to insurance firms buddying with fleet management specialists right down to end-user level. Perhaps a common market is not so far in the distance, in the automotive sector at least, as one may imagine.

To see what effect adopting fleet management could have on cheapening your van insurance, save a packet in minutes with our easy-to-use van insurance comparison form.

Unlocked vans targeted by professionals in Cowley

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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.

Taking the jargon out of online van insurance

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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.

Sliders: like legs, useful tools if you know how to use them

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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.

Van drivers showcase their skills – in online survey

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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.

Kangoo starts 2012 the way it left off 2011 – winning awards

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For the driving set, there can be no better endorsement of a product than it being awarded an accolade by the What? consumer group. Their programs are, unlike other consumer groups, based on series of tests that drivers want to know about, that businesses look to for efficiency and cost-savings and that have no bias to one manufacturer or another.

Not that Renault will change their tack by winning the What?Van Van of the Year Award 2012 – they have a strong vision of where the future lies and are one of the very first companies to put their Euros where their mouths are and invest in production line facilities for the all-electric power driven Kangoo ZE before many other manufacturers have finished road testing their prototypes.

It is perhaps this blind commitment to their own cause, being able to deliver a light commercial van that is a known winner fuelled by diesel in an electric format, that has seen them make this leap before any of their competition. With zero emissions and a limited top speed, owners of this nippy city model will not only see fuel savings and be exempt from charges in the LEZ, but should also, in time, see cheaper van insurance, too.

What has failed to convince the LCV market about going electric in the past is the sacrifice of payload due to pulling power. But What?Van have not only tested the pre-production model, that you think as a sampler for such an institution would be made guaranteed as infallible by Renault, but What?Van have now, in order to include the Kangoo in this year’s award, test-driven a production model, with similar findings.

Although their admiration for this light commercial vehicle is limited, addressing the obvious point about the van’s limited range on one charge, the statement made by Renault holds true that the average van driver does only drive a limited number of miles every day, and they have taken this very much into consideration with the size of battery they have market tested and installed (and retain ownership to – you have to pay a rental fee for the battery, irrespective of the outlay for the rest of the van). Again, if this set driving range is within your scope of business, not only should you be considering the Kangoo ZE as an investment, but you should be using limited mileage to ensure you are getting the respective cheap van insurance from your broker!

The more cities that introduce congestion charges or low emission zones, the greater the rate of appeal of this type of van will grow amongst the commercial sector. I guess for Renault, the question really is: how soon is now?

To compare your existing premium with a cheap van insurance quote for going green, ‘get a quote‘ using our comparison facility.

License Link – a different type of driver surveilance

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How often have you had to wait until your admin staff has had time to check out the details of a new driver you may wish to employ before you can send off the necessary job offer? You may have necessary checks to do to complete your own assessment risks, such as: do they have any convictions or is their license clean as they claim; if not, how is that going to affect your fleet van insurance policy, especially if they have been convicted of a serious driving offence?

Well now that can all change, in a flash. Drivers have to give a potential employer the authority to check out their license information. Now, if you want to employ a driver there and then, the mandate form is filled in with the driver information pre-loaded onto a form on the DVLA site – all that needs to be done is to check the details online, print off the form and get the driver to sign it and you have the necessary documentation to add to your employee file and to present to your van insurance provider to get him covered immediately.

The system is tagged License Link and not only does it provide a point of confirmation at interview and appointment, but it can also provide an ongoing status report for the employee once you register them as working under your employ.

This is a further step along the road to overall fleet management, another aspect that scores highly when looking for cheap van insurance. It shows to your insurance provider that you are serious about the responsibilities undertaken by running a fleet, like investing in vehicle tracking and immobilisers.

License Link is designed to be very user-friendly and easy to adopt to run alongside any existing fleet management system that an organisation has in place. Once a driver is registered on the DVLA system, they can then form part of a risk report which can be delivered at a frequency controlled by the organisation and set to criteria appropriate to the individual needs of the company.

For example, if you are completely trusting of your drivers, a once a year summary may be all that you require. If, however, one or more of your drivers has accumulated points and you feel the need to regulate them more closely, you can assign them a higher risk category and have that report sent more regularly. Additionally, if there are significant changes to a drivers license, such as being qualified to drive greater capacity vehicles or if they are disqualified between check-ups, you will be notified automatically.

This way, you are always on top of the information required to ensure your entire fleet has the adequate levels of van insurance necessary. To stay on top of your van insurance costs, compare your quotes online now at cheapvaninsurance.co.uk.

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