Do what with your van?

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has launched an on-line survey of van users. On the Industry Issues page of the SMMT website at smmt.co.uk/industryissues it aims at van operators, particularly those with smaller fleets.

“It is quick and easily done and the information from it will help van makers and users,” said Robin Dickeson, manager commercial vehicle affairs at the SMMT. “The more we understand what makes van users tick, the better.”

UK van sales have more than doubled to over 380,000 a year in the past ten years. “This is the fastest growing vehicle market in the UK,”

“There is less information on the way people use vans than we’d like, so we’re running the survey to see how much more data we can find. We’ll use our findings to help us and our members understand the market and some of the pressures that shape it.”

The survey is entirely anonymous and won’t leave people open to spam. “But we may make some of the results available for research by carefully vetted third parties.”

“Nearly half the vans on the road seem to work delivering goods, with the other half delivering services, many run by quite small firms. We’d like to know more about how and why people run their vans so that van makers can use the information to deliver even better products and services,” said Dickeson.

The survey will be open till the end of August on the Industry Issues page of the SMMT’s website, smmt.co.uk/industryissues “We’re particularly keen to hear from people with smaller fleets and from people and firms like builders, plumbers, electricians and others that use their vans as mobile workshops rather than simply as delivery vehicles.”

Depending on what this survey shows, the SMMT may do others to look more closely at other industry points.