The Selfish Van Driver Myth

The RAC has estimated that van traffic on the UK’s roads will almost double by 2040.

This is based on research that showed that the number of vans on Britain’s roads has been rising more than 2.5 times quicker than cars. Between 2002 and 2012, the number of vans increased by 29% to 3.3 million.

The suggestion is that one reason for this is that consumer shopping habits have changed dramatically with more people now shopping online leading to a need for more courier services providing home deliveries.

Also, since the 2008 credit crunch many more people have become self employed, in particular those in trades providing building-related services such as plumbing, boiler servicing or house repair or renovation.

Will this increase in vans on the road reinforce the common belief that van drivers are more dangerous and more selfish than other road users?

Again according to the RAC this is myth and in fact van drivers are responsible for far fewer accidents than other motorists.  While a survey it carried out in 2012 found that 60% of other motorists felt that van drivers deserved their reputation when the RAC looked at official accident statistics from the Department of Transport it found that there was no difference between van and car drivers.

For businesses cheap van insurance is a crucial component in keeping their costs down so anything they can do to show the insurers that their drivers are safe and careful can help.

A simple way to d this is to install a so-called “black box” that monitors drivers’ behaviour. This can help to lower premiums significantly.

Insurers primarily assess premiums on the type of van and its use, not on the make of van.

So if you were looking for Vauxhall Insurance, for example, the insurers would consider firstly:

• The value of the vehicle
• How much damage could be done to the vehicle and how much the parts would cost to replace/repair
• Performance, acceleration and top speed
• What security systems are in place

 

Premiums should only be affected if the insurer had evidence that there was a higher incidence of accidents for a certain type of van. If your business needed a van configured to a specific purpose, such as a tipping mechanism or side loading it would be worth comparing quotes before choosing an insurer.

So installing the driver black box if you have a potentially high risk vehicle could be a good idea.

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