Tag: commercial van drivers
Vans, Vision, And A Greener Future: Ford And Turkey Drive Change
Two Things To Thank Ford And Turkey For Today
First, Ford Otosan announced they will produce the latest versions of Ford Transit vans. This includes fully electric vans as well. We all know the future is green. In light of this, many automotive companies are pledging to become fully electric within the next 15 years. Specifically, Ford aims to be completely green by 2030. Furthermore, they currently lead the commercial market in Europe. In the UK, they’ve topped the van market for an incredible 56 years. So, this is a big deal. We anticipate success in selling these Transit vans to delivery and courier companies. They want to offset carbon emissions and improve their environmental impact.But Wait, There’s More!
Have you heard of Dagenham Engine Plant? This British company, owned by Ford, plays a crucial role. It will manufacture diesel engines for the new Transit vans. Not the electric ones, of course. In the midst of Brexit uncertainty, this news is welcomed. It will help ensure the safety of 2,000 jobs at the plant. It’s a good deal. The hardworking staff at Ford’s Dagenham branch send diesel engines to Turkey. In turn, Ford Otosan equips these engines to the Transit vans. Consequently, you can expect around 30% of these vans to be exported back to Britain. Moreover, keep in mind that a substantial 85% of Ford engines are shipped from Britain to over 15 countries across six continents. Ultimately, this trade is valued at an impressive £2.5 billion annually. Thank you, Ford. Thank you, Turkey. This trade deal could yield even more benefits. Despite electric pledges, this ensures UK workers’ jobs are safe for now. As long as diesel and hybrid cars remain on the market, they can feel secure. Whichever van you choose in the future—electric, hybrid, or combustion—we’ve got you covered. You’ll find the cheapest van insurance quotes around.Van Insurance Is Cheaper Than Ever
Yes, more good news this week for our van driving men and women of the UK. We’re over all this doom and gloom, let’s find some reasons to be cheerful.
And one more bit of good news to follow from last week is the news that van insurance is now cheaper than ever. Well, not ‘ever,’ but it is now the cheapest it’s been in over four years. Since February, car and van insurance premiums have fallen an average of £56.
This is as a result of fewer cars on the road, and, fewer accidents as a result. This means that the pay-outs that insurance companies are making has dropped, and so they are able to reduce the price of your premiums. In fact, one or two of the insurers have even paid out to their customers in the form of a rebate because there has been such a dip in claims made, making it worth a phone call to your van insurer to ask what they are doing – after all, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. It’s also worth checking to see if your annual mileage can be reduced if you’ve been of the road at all these past few months, which could also save you money.
In other news, if you are in the trades and anticipating getting back to work in the next few weeks, be aware about new coronavirus restrictions on who you can have in your van. Yes, it’s now illegal for there to be anyone in the middle seat of your van, unless you are all members of the same household, in which case, you can fill your boots and your van with as many as you please. If your van is a two-seater, there’s only the driver allowed to be in it. And if you do have back seats, the second person needs to be sitting there, on the passenger side. So, getting everyone on site might become a bit of a nightmare.
Whatever you are doing, stay safe and keep at it, our UK van driver heroes.
Worst drivers in the UK revealed – guess who they aren’t?
Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 21 Feb 2014:
This week, new research findings were revealed that will finally set the record straight as to who the worst drivers in the UK are – and where to find them.
Car insurance and van insurance companies simply love to charge you astronomical rates based on rather arbitrary things such as your postcode, with their twisted logic being that if you live in an area with statistically higher accident rates that immediately means you’re going to be a poor driver as well. Whether or not this is true, it’s undeniable that insurers aren’t going to let go of this criterion any time soon – and the DVLA has recently announced that there’s one particular place in the UK that has the highest concentration of terrible motorists.
The West Midlands seems to be the region with the biggest problem, the research data suggests, with the town of Smethwick holding the dubious honour of having the highest number of banned drivers on a percentage basis. Out of the more than 20,000 licence holders living nearby, 0.77 per cent of them have had their privileges stripped from them after repeated offences – and that’s the highest percentage in the entirety of the UK.
There’s even more shocking news this week as well though, where an independent research study discovered that there are certain kinds of Brits that are worse drivers than others. By profession, some of the safest motorists turn out to be people who drive a commercial van for a living – something that hopefully all those commercial van insurance companies will start taking into account!
This bit of information just chuffs me to bits. I enjoy any opportunity I can get to stick my thumb in the eye of anyone who swears up and down that van drivers are poor motorists, so this data quite simply fills me with unbridled glee. Meanwhile the professions most likely to be awful drivers are all in the medical field – in fact, a full 8 out of the 10 worst motorists in the UK by profession were all medical professionals like doctors, dentists, and other health workers.
This is simply vindicating to me, and I can’t wait to rub it in to everyone who trots out that old chestnut of the white van man being a terrible motorist. I wonder if this will lead to any higher rates for family doctors. Probably not, but it would be some nice poetic justice!
Accidents drive up insurance costs for everyone
Van insurance news roundup: 7 days ending 31 Mar 2013:
There’s a good reason your van insurance premiums keep going up: the number of accident claims have been soaring, which drive costs up for absolutely everyone.
Whether you’re a White Van Man or you just drive your Vauxhall Astra to work and back home every day, you’re sure to feel plenty of pain whenever it comes time to renew your van or car insurance. The driving force behind these massive premium hikes has been revealed to be largely tied to the number of accident claims being brought against the insurance industry.
The worst part is that there’s really no reason for these heightened number of claims, as roads in the UK are actually safer than they ever have been before according to the Office for National Statistics. Recently released figures from the ONS show how the number of accidents occurring on UK roadways has plummeted over even just the past few years, yet the number of claims arising from these accidents seem to be going up; some of this could be related to fraud, and the nation’s scammers are indeed out in force whilst looking to make a few extra quid at someone else’s expense, but if you ask me the big reason here is the economy: in tough economic times, people involved in accidents are much worse off than they are in times of plenty, which means they are in more dire need of compensation.
it’s certainly a mess, and the only real way to drop accident claim figures is to make the roads just that much safer. One way to do this is to keep a lookout for cyclists, according to driving charity Brake, which recently discovered in a survey that more than 8 out of every 10 cyclists have either been struck by another vehicle or suffered a near-miss.
Cyclists seem to be a favourite target for commercial vehicles in particular, as more than one out of every ten bicycle accidents were at the hands of a van or other commercial vehicle. Based on these results, Brake has urged fleet managers to get their drivers some proper training on manoeuvring their vehicles and keeping an eye out for blind spots, as cyclists are often so small as to slip by nearly unnoticed in a blind spot, only to end up eating pavement thanks to a sudden movement on the part of the van.
Of course, I’m not about to let cyclists off the hook here completely themselves: plenty of time it’s not the fault of the van driver. Cyclists like to squeeze through tight fits if they’re feeling especially cheeky, even though taking these risks certainly exposes them to heightened risk of being involved in an accident, so as much as Brake may say that van drivers need to watch out I think it’s not out of line to tell cyclists to quit mucking about quite so much as well!
