Words About Things

The Fleet Van Awards 2010 have been decided and the top award of Fleet Van Manufacturer of the Year has been given to Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. VW’s fleet, which includes the Caddy and Crafter vans was judged to offer the “best brand value for UK fleets”. This is further good news for the brand who saw an 8% rise in global sales last month.

The Fleet Award judges explained why they had chosen Volkswagen from the shortlist of commercial vehicle manufacturers:

“Quality, quality, quality; Volkswagen has products across the range that are among the market leaders in each category.  It offers the best brand value for UK fleets with excellent back up from the manufacturer. Engineering, image, residual values, competitive running costs, new, more economical engines and a brand revitalised under MD Simon Elliott – it’s all translated into significant sales growth this year.”

Volkswagen also picked up the Medium Panel Van of the Year award for their Transporter van. The Transporter is one of the most popular Volkswagen vans for sale and is aimed primarily at the commercial vehicles market. The Fleet Van Awards judges said “The Transporter has dominated the market on residual values this year.  It has been upgraded with more efficient engines and improved build quality.  Well made, competitive running costs and a big seller – a winning combination.”

The Director of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Simon Elliott said ‘This award is a great honour. I am really proud, and pleased that the Fleet Van judges have recognised the quality and cost effectiveness of our vans and the professional customer service provided through our fleet team and dedicated Van Centre network.”

The Governement’s car and van scrappage scheme was statred last May and proved to be quite popular. The original £300m set aside for the project is due to run out by February although some have said that it may not even last that long.  The scheme offers £2,000 off the price of a new car to customers trading in one at least 10 years old.

At the Labour Party conference Lord Mandleson has pledged to provide funding for another 100,000 cars and vans. This extra investment means that the scheme is likely to last until next February or perhaps sooner if it remains popular. A slight change has been made to the rules of the scheme in regard to used vans. which only need to be 8 years old now rather than 10.

The recession may technically be over but there are a lot of people still struggling to make ends meet (or make ends meat as I used to think the saying went). The rise in unemployment has lead to an increase of people trading as a man-with-a-van according to classifieds website VivaStreet.co.uk.

For those overseas who may not have heard of the MWAV the premise is very simple: you pay the man to help you to transport stuff in his trusty white van. It’s like van rental but without the need to do any driving yourself. All you really need to set yourself up as a MWAV is a van, preferably a white one with ‘clean me’ written in the dirt on the back. Those of us who know people who own a van are lucky enough to be able to get this service for free or in exchange for some beer or egg custard tarts.

A man with a van can sometimes be better value than normal van hire depending on your needs. A word of warning however: it is not acceptable to hire a man with a van to go and fetch you some fish & chips, apparently.