In the UK, we take it for granted that we have some of the best van insurance firms in the world at our fingertips, but we hardly ever use them to the best of our – and their online – ability.

Taking the time to build a website that can literally answer everything you need to know about UK van insurance is one thing; however, does an all-singing, all-dancing van insurance website, no matter how cheap you promise to find the customer’s renewal quote, matter a tap if the only mouse the customer has encountered this year was the one trying to nick the bacon sarnie from its home inside the drainage pipe or the only site they’ve visited is covered in rubble, packs of bricks and pallets of readymix?

How much new van insurance business are Internet firms missing out on because their sites try to include everything and customers just get too confused by the amount of information being asked for? People of all generations, but more so those in the latter years of life (where the hidden wealth of the country is) are genuinely scared of the Internet.

If ‘Bill’, whose accumulated a modest amount as a tool maker over the years but still has fifteen years of work left in him, needs his new van insurance and thinks – I know, this time I’ll try t’Internet, how far is he going to go when faced with such required* fields as ‘e-mail address’* and ‘mobie phone’* information?

Great, we understand that firms, especially online ones that do not have the opportunity to build up a face-to-face relationship with their clients, have marketing needs and everyone knows that you grow your business through your existing customer base rather than attract new ones; well, good job on the latter, boys, with this level of intrusive information before ‘Bill’ even gets through to the van insurance quote screen (that’s, of course, assuming that he has both mobile* and e-mail accounts*, otherwise he’s stuffed for using the online van insurance facility), you’ve done your job, there – new custom vanished before they were a real prospect.

The other concern, of course, with asking for this level of information is: who’s it going to be sold to? Okay, your organisation may not be into that (good), but fly-by-nights who are handy with an i-frame and can knock up a comparison website whilst they sleep, build in the right SEO tactics and have their site on top of Google double quick only need be there for a couple of weeks before they have a mailing list worth gold to the right bidder. Ok, the older generation maybe don’t know the under the hood stuff but they do know they are called seven times a day by people trying to sell everything from awnings to solar panels and those people get their details from ‘somewhere’.

Your site may have the best information about van insurance online, have the best scripts and even offer the very cheapest van insurance that this customer could have got hold of, but is all of that information really necessary to be ‘captured’ at this point, killing off a potential sale in the hope of an upsell or renewal? Some sites even have the audacity to say ‘if you find cheaper, ring us and we’ll beat your quote’ – after promising to compare 70 top van insurance providers. Well what’s the point of having the van insurance comparison site in the first place?

All ‘Bill’ wanted was a cheap van insurance renewal quote, or is that too much to ask?  To get a quote in 3 minutes, visit our cheap van insurance comparison facility, without the hassle.

Van drivers – do you want to put £5k back to your bottom line and contribute to saving the planet at the same time? That’s on top of cheap fuel costs and probable savings on your current van insurance policy – talk about a no brainer!

Although the subsidy for buying electric cars has been in place in the UK, Norman Baker confirmed yesterday that the sizeable grant will also be extended to electric vans, too, and that you’ll have until 2015 to take advantage, so don’t worry if you’ve just invested in a new van and its subsequent van insurance; you’ve got plenty of time.

In a statement in Gateshead yesterday, the Transport Minister reflected on the ‘real shift’ being seen in the UK automotive industry, dropping carbon emmissions to achieve targets seet by the EU in timely fashion.

His visit to the Gateshead Skills Academy for Sustainable Manufacturing and Innovation was a real insight for the member of parliament and confirmation that electric power and other sustainable fuel sources are a very real prospect in this government’s term of occupation of number ten, not just a pipe dream.

Take up has been slow for electric power

It was no coincidence that the Minister for Transport held the conference where he did. The performance track upon which Norman Baker was invited to ride around in a Smith-Edison van runs adjacent to the Nissan plant and in a region that now has 300 electric ‘pumps’ ready for when the initiative does catch on as more people sign up to electric driving in the future.

Figures must improve, though, to make the investment in the elecric outlets viable and maintainable. To date, fewer than 1,000 applied for the grant last year; Mr Baker acknowledged this, yet asked the manufacturers to plough on until a boomtime arrives.

So far, almost all of the European car manufacturers have released plans for electric vans, Renault already have the production line ready and working. The French manufacturer has predicted that 10% of all vehicles on UK roads will be electric powered within five years – that’s a bold statement and, if it transpires, fleet and van insurers will have to do some pretty nifty calculations to make their budgets reflect the marketplace, otherwise those not driving electric may see the revenue lost for the cheaper van insurance these models attract (Renault maintain ownership of the battery, making it their responsibility – you just lease it from them, even though the shell is yours) passed back to drivers still running on fossil fuel.

One thing’s for certain, and that’s the fact that the electric market’s future is uncertain. With such a great package from the government yet so few takers, what is it that we’re not seeing here?

If you’re interested in converting to a renewable fuel model and dropping a shoe-size in your carbon footprint, compare van insurance prices here, on cheapvaninsurance.co.uk

Organisations operating with remote staff in environments where their safety may be deemed as at risk ought to consider investing in the ‘lone worker’ tracking system, and pronto! As well as being able to know the whereabouts of any one of their staff and their vehicle at any give time – an aspect looked upon with favour by the majority of cheap van insurance companies in the market – it greatly improves an employees visibility, hence safety.

This could become quite critical, in some instances, where an employee has no option but to enter a civilians’s household in the course of their normal duty. Paramedics, certainly, who often attend diabetics who have had a hypo and can lash out or epileptics, fitting upon arrival, certainly may be in no position to call for back up if their priority is defending themselves or the patient is in too much distress.

As many large organisations who would benefit from this type of device already operate a fleet management system, monitoring this type of device would fit seamlessly into their existing environment, with staff and hardware in place to deal with its implementation.

For the employee, they would also hardly be aware of its existence until they had to use it, and would in no way impede their duties. The SOS alarm installed into the lone tracker forms an integral part of their mobile phone or their i/d badge and can be triggered using a pull-chord or push-button mechanism.

There is no reason why organisations who have not yet invested in a fleet management system could not use the lone tracker as a viable alternative. If your van drivers historically do not leave their vehicles for long periods and many cover the same area, it would be instantly noticeable if the device was stationary in known traffic hot-spots for any length of time. Most of the latest versions operate using GPS tracking, have standard SMS or e-mail communication as well as the panic facility so are well placed to be a roving eye for the fleet management control room, back at the office.

The cost savings of such a device far outweigh the investment in the long term. Productivity by employees has been shown to rise through tracking, traversing roads has become less of a headache and, with the mileage reductions and traceability of a vehicle if stolen with the tracking signal on board, systems in place like these will win you brownie points with your broker, helping you achieve greater savings on your fleet insurance premiums at a time when cheap van insurance quotes are few and far between.

If you have such devices or are considering investing in such a system, see how much discount you can achieve with our comparison feature, here at cheapvaninsurance.co.uk.

A new report into the lifestyle of van drivers and long-distance lorry drivers has revealed that they are the ‘most-risk’ category for the day that has come to be known as Blue Monday. This year, that day falls on Monday 23rd January as it is, as every Blue Monday is, the last working Monday of January.  Fleet managers are being warned that, of any day, this is the one day of the year that their no claims bonus could go up the spout, blowing their chances of a cheap van insurance renewal quote, because their drivers are depressed!

Anyone who has ever watched ‘Dinnerladies’, where Norman the breadman informs the cafeteria that, according to the Daily Mail, delivering bread was the third most stressful job, will be awaiting the Victoria Wood punchline about now, but there is none – this is absolutely gospel and there’s research to back it up.

Blue Monday – how does it feel?

The day, the last working Monday in January, is attributed as the most miserable working day of the year due to a number of factors. Mondays are horrible, anyway – anyone who has ever held down a job will tell you that. After a weekend of relaxed days or elation on nights out, you have to come down sharpish; your body and mind struggle to cope with that rude awakening in such a short space of time.

Couple that with it being so long since the drivers have been paid – many workers on salaries having been paid before Christmas by benevolent bosses doing their employees ‘a favour’ – are totally skint. With that weighing heavier on their shoulders, drivers have time to dwell on it and it can be a very real distraction that causes them to lose concentration, hence leading to incidents which mean fleet managers subsequently have to rely on van or fleet insurance as a result. It has been predicted that as many as 4 out of 10 drivers will suffer from this condition on Monday coming

Diet and long nights out play their part, too

The study also deduces that the difficulties faced by long-distance drivers and their lack of quality lifestyle whilst out on the road is as much to do with the condition than any hangover from Christmas.

Jakes de Kockm, a member of the Blue Monday research group (not New Order, the people conducting the study) explained that long hours on the road away from the family can lead to depression. This is further compounded by the time spent not driving and unloading is often taken up by trying to find somewhere suitable to park the cab overnight or finding somewhere within budget to eat, which is often a stop-gap meal lacking in nutrition, leading to irregular sleep patterns, hence prone to bouts of tiredness during usual working hours.

In order to protect the integrity of your business, your drivers’ safety and safeguard any future prospects of your current cheap van insurance premiums, make sure your fleet vehicle operatives are treated with kid gloves on Blue Monday, before their hearts grow cold, grow cold…

There are calls from the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Assoc. for small businesses to look to taking vehicles on an ‘as and when’ basis going into 2012, rather than restrict their capital or cash-flow by committing to spending money on brand new commercial vehicles that they may need later on in the year elsewhere in the business.

Not wanting to be the one to point out the blinding obvious, but they would say that, even though there is some sound economic mileage in their statement.

From a cheap van insurance point of view, if you do choose to lease rather than buy your own vehicle, you lose any negotiating tool in the price and terms of your premium. You are in the rental company’s hands, more often than not, for that particular aspect.

If you have an exemplary driving record and only want the van for light, local work, the insurance premium part of the rental package may yet be quite cheap. If, on the other hand, you have a few blots on your copybook, you may have to take the van insurance part of your rental contract on the chin, as it is likely to be over the odds, even by today’s rising van insurance costs standards.

There are other massive pluses and minuses for vehicle leasing; with the uncertainty of the economy, especially with possible distancing of ourselves from Europe where the majority of our light commercial vehicles come from, the waters are muddied further.

If, as a businessman, you do not buy now and the supply routes are compounded by tax if we really do fall out with the EU, are you cutting yourself out of the cheap supply chain for the foreseeable future?

If, on the other hand, your business suffers because you have tied up too much capital in vehicle stock, will it matter what the market is doing three or five years from now, if you have long since gone into administration?

Toby Poston, of the BVRLA, in their attempt to persuade small businesses to lease instead of buy, has named one positive as the ability to fix costs for the duration of the contract or mileage to suit the business. One thing that is contradictory to that statement is that, with some rental firms, the rate you pay actually changes the more miles you drive. Therefore, surely it is not especially good for fixing costs if your business mileage fluctuates to wherever your customer takes you, as is often the DCA for the small businessman.

The one factor that many people have overlooked, and I’m surprised that not more businesses have picked up on yet, is that many of London’s drivers have ditched relatively new vans in favour of commercial vehicles that meet Euro III legislation.

For those looking at something between leasing and committing to a brand new vehicle, with 85,000 registered vans in the capital last year, I’m sure there are plenty of deals to be had down south, in order to shift the surplus of used motors.

Whatever option of ownership you decide is right for you in 2012, check out how much you could save on your commercial van insurance, here at cheapvaninsurance.co.uk

Following on from the announcement that BBC had awarded the contract to Total Accident Management last week, J. Sainsbury have awarded the management of their 3.5 ton fleet to another fleet management specialist, Fraikin.

Covering the supermarket giant’s South East online home delivery network, Fraikin will be in control of 220 commercial vehicles in total, looking after each van’s ‘first aid’ as well as dealing with the organisations needs to make claims on their van insurance policies delivering the swiftest possible down-time imagineable.

Why outsource fleet management services?

If your business grows beyond your wildest dreams, especially in the sectors of distribution, home delivery or automotive market, so will your fleet of commercial vehicles, meaning more road time, more mileage and most certainly a heftier van insurance bill, each term.

With so much extra time spent on the actual maintenance of the vehicles delivering your product, it can make commercial sense to hire someone to take on this aspect of your business.

What cost savings for hiring fleet management?

Do not be fooled into thinking that fleet management specialists do it for nothing. You already know the man hours, as well as expenditure per van, before you start looking to someone who has an in depth knowledge of the market place to take on the fleet responsibility.

You will have this cost as an actual set figure in your budget, and visibility to where you will save in three key areas which, if not curtailed, can run to a substantial figure that you may not have factored into your profitability.

Although most fleet management specialists are not body repairers, mechanics or commercial van insurers in their own rite, they do put a whole lot more business to these types of organisations, enabling cost-savings; these discounts can be quite substantial when you think that this volume of business is done, not at a bar over a pint but almost all the way to the top at senior management, if not executive level, taking it far away from a 5-10% discount of any trade price list that may be in existence.

However, fleet management systems are not all about big business. Certainly, the term ‘fleet’ management does give the clue away a little; you do have to have a volume of vehicles to whet their appetite. If you do have multiple vehicles on the road and cannot stand dealing with your van insurance broker or bodyshop repairers and find yourself moving insurance for your fleet and maintenance contracts every year, you may want to consider outsourcing your fleet management as a viable option.

In the Sainsbury example in the lead, Fraikin have committed to providing a first aid kit for each van, containing replacable items such as light bulbs that savvy drivers could replace themselves, rather than face steep breakdown callouts or van insurance claims for what are, in essence, the simplest of tasks when you know how.

Over and above servicing the 23 stores in the south east that Fraikin have undertaken with this contract, they have promised 90-minute response maximum for any of mechanical failure – you have to have some friends in high places to be able to extract the promise of that capability in any auto circle.

This means identifying the driver’s location, contacting the breakdown and assessing whether its viable to do so with the van insurance cover or just write it off as a sundry expense if the cost of repair is negligible – that takes some doing in a hour and a half, especially over a 220 vehicle fleet. Just imagine what Total Access have undertaken looking after the Beebs envisaged 24,000 commercial vehicle fleet! Gives you a headache before even picking up the phone.

If you’ve been quoted a price by a fleet management firm and want to see if you can get your van insurance any cheaper, please feel free to use our van insurance comparison facility, here on cheapvaninsurance.co.uk

As we’ve alluded previously, one of the best ways organisations can expedite cheaper van insurance is by installing fleet management software to keep a track on their vehicles. Not that this is an exercise in trust of your drivers, although it could be used as such if you ever had doubts about any one of your fleet operatives, but rather a way to manage your fleet economics.

Van insurance providers do not only value tracking systems as a way to trace a vehicle if its stolen – theoretically, if you have a tracking system fitted, the GPRS will enable police forces to identify wherever it is once reported stolen, but it also shows that you are indeed serious about managing your fleet, hence your business.

Will fitting vehicle tracking mean my fleet is off the road?

For the time it takes to set up and install, vehicle tracking will save you as much time – and more – than prior to investing in this type of management system. Irrespective of some of the questionable times it may have taken some of your drivers to complete certain runs than compared with others, there is always the ’emergency’ at one of your customers that will put you in the best possible position to know which driver you can either send into them to sort the problem out if they are qualified or, in the case of distribution outfits, send a driver into a supplier to collect a product en route which will get your customer out of trouble and make you look like a hero.

The installation itself, although it may mean several trips to your office for the IT gurus to iron out inevitable glitches on your computer network, will not actually keep any one of your vans off the road for very long.

Installation into your van, truck or even field agents’ cars, depending upon what level you want to go and how much time and money you want to save on your fleet and its subsequent insurance, is relatively quick and painless. Usually, there is only the need to secure a small box to the engine which can be located just behind the dash, and the vehicle is back on the road in no time.

What does tracking have to do with cheaper van insurance?

As well as the reasons mentioned above, namely your ability to command a cheaper van insurance quote from any number of van insurance providers if you can confirm you have the software installed, but it also helps you reduce the amount of miles your fleet travels per annum, if utilised correctly.

The lesser the road travelled, the less exposure your commercial vehicle fleet has to opportunities for incidents on the road.  There are, of course, other benefits to not having to travel so far. Less wear and tear, less maintenance, a reduced garage bill, hence greater profitability.

If you have installed tracking on your commercial vehicles, or are planning to, and are yet to see how much cheaper your van insurance quote will be for it, compare our van insurance providers to see what discount you are entitled to, here on cheapvaninsurance.co.uk