Most sole traders start out with one van as their main form of business transport, but when it's time to expand and buy another van or maybe more, you start to get into 'fleet' territory.

Knowing how to manage a fleet of vans, even a relatively small fleet, can be crucial to maximising profits and minimising the risk of being unable to deliver your full service levels.

Here's what you need to know.

Your vans are an important asset

If your company is operating more than one van, or a combination of vans, lorries, cars, construction vehicles or minibuses, you should adopt a fleet management strategy to assist with the successful running, maintenance and upkeep of the vehicles.

Fleet management will involve some or all of the following responsibilities:

• Purchase or lease considerations: Achieving the right price and keeping to payment plans and lease agreements
• Insurance: This could be fleet van insurance, any driver van insurance or single vehicle insurance. Speak to your van insurance company to understand what the best plan is for your fleet.
• Maintenance: Every minute a van is off the road is costing you money. Making sure you have a van maintenance programme in place for your vehicles can help you to minimise the effects of broken down vans and maximise the efficiency of your fleet.
• Upholding traffic laws: Understanding and adhering to the applicable rules and regulations for operating vans and commercial vehicles in the UK and abroad.
• Fuel management: If your vehicles are not driven efficiently, there will be a significant impact on your profit margins.
• Safety, training and accident management: Making sure your drivers are properly trained to drive your vehicles safely and having processes in place to deal with accidents and repairs.
• Route planning and optimisation: Some businesses will need to ensure their vans are travelling the most direct and time efficient routes in order to fulfil deadlines and create optimum productivity.
• Upfitting: The installation or upgrading of features that allow the occupants to do their job more efficiently.
• Vehicle disposal: Making sure your fleet is kept efficient through the disposal of old vans and purchase of new models.

Fleet van insurance or any driver insurance?

You can buy fleet van insurance for two or more vans. Fleet van insurance helps you to keep things simple because you will have one insurance policy providing consistent cover across all your vans. There's one renewal date and you choose the features you require across all vehicles.

Any driver van insurance means you can insure each vehicle separately, with different levels of cover and insurance features, and each van can be driven by different members of your team.

What is best for your business's fleet will depend on a number of factors, so it's best to talk to insurers who know what they're talking about.

Contact iVan today, for van insurance that's built for your business.