You need to move flat. You want to collect some furniture from Ikea. You need to hire a commercial van.
But you’re concerned that the excess on the self drive hire policy for the commercial vehicle is incredibly high. And if that hasn’t put you off, the insurance costs for the commercial vehicle hire are also ridiculously expensive.
Well there are good reasons for the sky high costs. In all my time in insurance the least profitable policies for insurers I’ve ever seen, with the highest frequency of claims are self drive hire vehicles. The worst amongst them is the commercial van insurance covering hire use.
And the reason there are so many claims is that the people who hire these vehicles simply aren’t used to driving them and get thrown in at the deep end.
Take my girlfriend for example. She normally drives a match box sized Citroen C1. However her work gave her a Ford Transit to use for a couple of days. She’s a very confident, competent driver but she admitted to being a little nervous when attempting to park.
- When you collect your commercial van from the rental office listen ask the person you are renting it from to give you a full run down of how the vehicle operates. Where the fuel cap is and fuel type required are always a good things to ask. And make sure they note any existing damage before you set off.
- Take a little extra time before starting the engine to make sure you know where all controls are. There’s nothing worse than needing to indicate but only being able to turn the window wipers on.
- As always make sure you feel alert. I’m certain the surrounding areas of foreign airport hire car collection points in countries driving on the “wrong” side of the road must have ridiculously high occurrences of crashes involving us Brits. Long flights, unfamiliar vehicles and confusing roads sound a disastrous combination don’t they?
- If you can become familiar with the size and responsiveness of the van by initially driving in an area with little traffic.
- Wear sensible footwear that allows the correct use the pedal controls.
- Position the rear view (if it has one) and wing mirrors so you have optimum visibility. You may need to lower head rests if they obscure your view. Remember there may be blind spots when switching lanes so watch out for motor cyclists especially.
- Remember that the vehicle you’re driving is likely to be much higher than your own car. So be aware whilst driving that height could be an issue at barriers, car parks, petrol stations, car washes and even low hanging trees. This is a crucial point as some commercial vehicle policies have scandalous exclusions for incidents involving roof damage. And you wouldn’t believe the number of incidents involving bikes mounted on roof racks.
- Take tight bends slowly as taller vans can tip more easily due to increased centres of gravity.
- Be aware of the additional width when driving in narrow stretches.
- Control your speed and never follow other vehicles too closely. Vans take much longer distances to come to a stop especially when travelling at higher speeds or when carrying heavy loads. I learnt the hard way once when I stopped abruptly at a set of traffic lights and heard the coffee table I was transporting for work that was worth 5k slide up the transit van and hit the driver compartment. One lapse in concentration and I wasn’t a popular boy with the office manager.
- Pay extra attention when reversing or parking. Some vans have censors to make things easier for you. But if not don’t get panicked or rushed by impatient road users. It’s your driving record and insurance excess at risk not theirs. It might be worth thoroughly planning your journey to avoid having to do too many u-turns after going the wrong way.
- If needs be and as long as it’s safe to do I’d recommend asking someone to guide you into a space or get out of the commercial vehicle yourself to check the amount of space you have left. Don’t be embarrassed but do keep an eye on the keys.
- Try not to leave anything valuable in the van overnight as it’s a well known fact thieves do target vans.
Remember if you do have to make a claim on the commercial van insurance of a vehicle you’ve hired it can still affect your own insurance costs as you’ll need to disclose any incident you’ve been involved in to all the insurers you ask for a motor insurance quotation.
So with that and the high excess it’s definitely worth taking that extra bit of care. If it’s already too late the expert insurance brokers at Plan Insurance maybe able to help reduce your motor insurance costs.
