In the wake of research from the Freight Transport Association (FTA), which highlighted a first-time MoT failure rate for vans of almost 50%, Ken McCall, Europcar’s UK boss, said: “These figures illustrate something that has been known within the industry for a long time – businesses are holding onto vans for longer without having them properly maintained. This is a false economy – eventually the vans will either breakdown or fail their MoT.
He added: “Rental provides the answer. Vans that are on average under nine months old and maintained to the highest standard are available at short notice, providing a flexible fleet of vehicles for usage which can save businesses money.”
Europcar now has 172 branches in the UK offering vans for hire. McCall claimed owning and maintaining a fleet of vans was no longer the “default option” for operators and that renting vehicles did not just provide a supplementary service to ownership but a “viable alternative”.
