Member Article

Rental van drivers warned of speeding pitfalls

Drivers of hire vans are being warned of the pitfalls of driving a van for the first time. According to a survey of VanRental.co.uk visitors*, 96.4% do not rent a van more than once a year - meaning that many rental van drivers are unfamiliar with the vehicles they are driving.

One of the most common problems is speeding; many van drivers do not realise that speed limits for vans are lower than those for cars. Most vans are limited to 50mph on single carriageways and 60mph on dual carriageways.

Roland Head, the founder of van hire price comparison website VanRental.co.uk, says:

“Our customer data shows that 96.4% of drivers do not rent a van more than once a year, with many renting one even less often. This means that they are often very inexperienced in vehicles of this size.

In our experience, most drivers become comfortable driving a van quite quickly - but ignorance of van speed limits is a widespread problem that also applies to many regular van drivers,who assume the speed limits are the same as for cars. They aren’t.“

VanRental.co.uk has published a new guide for first-time van drivers to help them avoid problems when hiring a van for the first time. Areas covered by the Driving A Van For The First Time guide include advice on height restrictions, driving and manoeuvring tips and advice on loading a van safely and securely. A final section includes advice on parking – often one of the biggest challenges for first-time van drivers, who often need to park their vans in fairly tight spaces that are only really suitable for cars.

The VanRental.co.uk Driving A Van For The First Time guide is available to download free from the VanRental.co.uk website.

To download the guide, visit: http://www.vanrental.co.uk/drivingahirevan.php

*2,612 visitors to VanRental.co.uk participated in the survey in October 2011.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Roland Head .