Van fleets are overweight and under-laden

Date: Thursday, February 14, 2008

Van fleet operators should take another look at the mix of vehicles they are running in order to save themselves money and improve business efficiency says EurotaxGlass's. The publisher of Glass's Guide to Commercial Vehicle Values reports that large numbers of fleets do not require the cargo space and payload capacity provided by 3.5-tonners; yet these are the vans they usually select.

“A mixed fleet, with a number of 3.5-tonners to tackle the big jobs and smaller vans being utilised where appropriate might be a more suitable answer for many operators,” suggests chief commercial vehicle editor, George Alexander. “This approach would lower a company's initial financial outlay and result in less fuel being used.”

When reviewing their requirements van users should bear in mind that the amount of weight light commercials can carry is falling. That's because all the safety and comfort features that are being installed are forcing them to pile on the pounds, leaving them less scope to transport heavy cargo.

On certain new models payload capacities have dropped by almost a quarter of a tonne when compared with their predecessors, says Alexander. Ignore this phenomenon and you may find your van is overloaded, he adds; and that could spell trouble.

“Enforcement of weight limits is taken very seriously these days, with substantial fines on conviction for any business caught breaking the rules,” he observes.

That includes fines for overloading axles. “Many operators do not know how to distribute weight in their vehicles properly,” Alexander contends.

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