Demand For White Vans Up By 25%

Van rental has jumped by almost 25 per cent in the last five months and there’s been a similar surge in short-term lease deals, according to Peter Davenport, managing director of Motiva Group.

Gerry Keaney, chief executive of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association, reckons increasing demand for vans is good news for the country as a whole.

He said: “Van rental serves as a useful barometer for the state of the UK economy as transport is obviously a vital tool of any growing business. There was a particularly strong demand in 2013 and a 20 per cent increase in our members’ short-term van rental fleet. It’s an encouraging sign and we hope it’s a trend that continues.

Motiva Group, based in Stoke-on-Trent, has this week added an extra 50 small, short wheelbase and long wheelbase panel vehicles to a van fleet which now totals around 650.

Davenport added: “Those figures mean we’ve increased our van fleet by almost a quarter, so it shows just how much demand has picked up in a few months.

“In fact, we’re now back to the levels of trade business we were seeing before the economy took a nosedive in around 2007/2008.”

The increase in van rentals seen by Motiva is being echoed by the demand for HGVs, which more than doubled in 2013. After completing 48 contracts for HGVs in 2012, the company’s M-Way truck solutions arm took 98 over the course of last year.