The Department of Transport published some interesting provisional statistics back in September 2020 about vans some of which we thought we would share with you. The figures are based upon responses from private and business owners of 17,600 vans covering things like environmental issues, the ownership of vans and the mileage done by vans.

When looking at what vans were used for in Great Britain in 2019 to 2020, the survey found that 41% of vans were used for carrying materials, tools and equipment. 16% of vans were used for collecting and delivering goods, 16% of vans were used for private/domestic non-business use, 9% of vans were utilized for leisure/recreational purposes and holidays, 4% were used for providing transport to others and 14% did not state what they used their vans for.

Businesses owned 58% of vans with 42% being owned privately. It is interesting that 55% of vans that were owned by businesses were new vehicles with 34% being owned outright and 21% purchased on hire purchase. 81% of vans that were owned privately were used vans with 93% of them being owned outright.

In 2019, there were 4.1 million licensed vans in Great Britain with this being 93% more than 25 years ago.

In 2019, vans drove 55.5 billion vehicle miles. On average, a van travels around 13.000 miles per annum in Great Britain with this being similar to the number of miles done over the last 25 years.

It is interesting to read that 96% of vans used diesel fuel as at the end of 2019. Only 0.3% of vans were ultra-low emission.

27% of vans were no more than 3 years old, 40% were 3 to 10 years old and 33% were more than 10 years old. 54% of vans owned privately were in excess of 10 years old whereas 17% of vans owned by businesses were in excess of 10 years old.

On a daily basis, 50% of vans travelled within 15 miles of where they were based, 34% travelled on a regional basis, 14% of vans travelled on a national basis and 1% of vans travelled on an international basis. Vans used for business purposes on a daily basis were more likely to travel on a national basis than vans used privately on a daily basis. 67% of vans used rural or local roads 4 or more days in a week. 61% of vans used A roads or main roads for the same period each week. Interestingly, only 40% of vans used dual carriageways and 22% of vans used motorways for the same period each week.

You can find more van statistics relating to the above on the gov.uk website.