One of the unexpected by products of Euro 5 emission legislation for larger commercial vehicles has been highlighted today by industry price specialists, CAP. The possible knock on effect of continued investment in new filters and their constant reliance upon cleaning or replacing in order to attain their level of effectiveness to meet the new emission sanction levels suggests that, as the older diesel vans hit the second hand market, they will be looked upon as either too much work or too costly to operate long term.
This is some good news for van insurance firms, at last. It may mean brokers being called upon less for any breakdown services drivers have taken out as an ancillary to their base van insurance policy as more people opt for newer vans with more fuel-efficient engines. It will also present them with the opportunity to expand into higher profit if people opt for new vehicles over used.
This news may still force inner city drivers to look at electric models for the shorter journeys they undertake in the stop-start of highly congested roads, over diesel. It appears that, in order for the filters to achieve their maximum cleanse function, the van has to go through the drive cycle regularly. This will not be achieved by constant urban driving alone.
The other alternative is to ‘blow the dust off’ the engine by taking each van for a spin along the motorway, whether there’s a job scheduled there or not. If you’re looking for cheap van insurance the last thing you want is to be adding miles to your fleet journey, exposing them to more risk of accident and increasing the fleet van insurance premiums accordingly.
The used van market held up well last year, dropping just 1.3% despite the influx of vehicles from the economic fall out. This news may seriously impact on a repeat of that performance as the vans it effects are the commercial vehicle of choice for the UK van driver, as suggested by sales figures posted at the end of 2011.
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