Setting up your Own Van Hire Business

For many the recession has meant that they have found themselves unemployed and as a result new start-up businesses have become more and more popular. After all, if you can’t work for someone else, why not work for yourself? A great choice of business is setting up a van hire business. VanQuoteDirect have provided to helpful hints and tips to get you on your way to running a successful business.

First of all you need to consider what you actually want your business to be. Many people become confused between hiring out a van for locals to complete jobs such as moving furniture, and courier work. Neither option is better than the other you just need to choose which business you want to be in and stick to it. Having said this the courier market is saturated so asses your local market and see which has more demand.

Next you have to choose the right vehicle. This will be based on what your consumers will be hiring the van for. Once you have established what need you are going to fulfil you can choose a van accordingly. If you can, try to purchase your own commercial vehicle rather than leasing one. This is because you won’t truly have an understanding of your customers till you actually have some so if it turns out you need to up or downsize, this can be harder with a lease. Remember livery for your van too so the public know who you are.

You need to ensure that you are offering value for money and this comes from the cost at which you set your vehicle hire to be. You do need to ensure that it covers the costs of van insurance, road tax and maintenance but you need to make sure that you are competitive.

Once you are all set up you need to market yourself otherwise the public won’t know you exist! The livery will help but get some business cards printed and get some posters to pin up in the local DIY stores. Consider doing a letter drop and setting yourself up on social media. You should also register yourself on marketplace websites and interact of forums to get yourself noticed.

Once the work starts rolling in it is essential that you offer an impeccable service as this will add to your value for money. Word of mouth is going to be the best publicity you can have in this industry so you need to build up a good reputation. Ensure that you are always on time and friendly. If you do come across any issues, ensure that you communicate them to your customers. The majority of the time they will understand and be thankful that you gave them enough time to either arrange to use another service or help you solve the problem. Even if this time they use someone else, they are likely to return to you next time as you engaged with them appropriately.

Setting up a business is always going to be hard work in the short term but you will be able to reap the benefits soon enough and have the satisfaction of watching your business succeed.