The reasons for renting a van

When it comes to hiring a van, the reasons for this can either be personal or for the sake of business, and in this Hub we will take a look at both situations.

When it comes to people hiring a van for their own personal use, the biggest reason for this is when the time comes to move home.

With regards to removal companies many will charge an exuberant sum of money for just the basic bog standard service. This basic service usually just includes having your goods moved from once location to another, with you having to stump up extra cash for the removal company to pack your belongings for you, as well as charging you for the boxes and other packaging material.

Packing up belongings can be done easily on your own and therefore you should not need to pay for this service.

Similarly unless it is the case that you have extremely heavy items, there is no reason as to why you couldn’t load up a rented van yourself. Even if it were the case that you have some items that are heavy, it wouldn’t be outwith the realms of possibility to have a friend or family member to assist you with this.

In terms of cost comparison, by and large renting a van to do a home removal will cost around the tenth of the price of what a removal company will charge. The only difference between getting a removal company and renting a van yourself is that they will drive a van for you as well as loading and unload the van for you. This extra bit of labour it not worth a tenfold increase in price.

Further, many business owners frequently hire vans. The reason for this is that during times when their own van is getting repair work done on it, or it is in for a major service, this is time that they are unable to carry out their job.

Whilst in the case whereby they have been in an accident that isn’t their fault in which the liable parties insurer will provide a courtesy car, this is not always the case when the accident is caused by yourself. In this situation there are two reasons as to why you wouldn’t get a courtesy car. The first is that you may have never opted to pay extra when you took out your policy to get a courtesy car during times when you have had an accident.

The second case would be that when you do not want to charge the accident repair work to your insurer. The reason behind this is that you may have a high excess, and less than the cost of the repair work. In this case the insurer wouldn’t pay anything towards it anyway so (presuming that you have only damaged your own properly), there is no benefit in putting the repair through the insurance.

Secondly, it may be the case that you have not protected your no claims bonus. In this case, depending on the cost of the repair ten gain it would be better not to put it through the insurance company because otherwise it will result in your insurance premium going up in price for the following year.

Regardless of the scenario as to why you can’t get a replacement van, the end result is the same in that you do not have any form of transportation for your work.

The end result of this is that you can end up losing a lot of business through this, which depending on your area of expertise could be cheating you out of getting a repeat customer. Due to this it would be beneficial in this case to rent a van for the period of time that it takes for your van to be repaired. Whilst there will be a small outlay for this, it will not affect your no claims bonus and you should still make a profit after you have paid for the van and also carry out the work for your customers.

When it comes to self-drive van hire, you need to ensure that if you’ve only rented it for a few days that you return it within the time frame. If you don’t, and you haven’t forewarned the hire company then you can end up costing yourself a late return penalty charge.

Similarly, you should always return the van with at least the agreed level of return fuel in it. Most hire vans will have a few gallons in the tank when you pick it up, and it is your responsibility to top the van up with fuel whilst using it and not letting the tank run dry. Again, failing to do so can result in a penalty charge from the hire company.

Further, when you do hire a van you are responsible for any fines that you may incur. This would include parking fines as well as speeding fines. The hire company can and will pass your details on to the enforcement company in the event that you have caused an infraction.

Lastly, as some hire vans also come with insurance included in the price you should state at the point of renting it if you are going to be using the van for personal or business use as this could affect any insurance claim in the event that you have an accident.