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296 – Overloaded car dangers

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22 September 2009

Students at university

October: back to university time for undergraduates

Staying safe and lawful on the road

THIS story on overloading caught my eye, partly because we are in the midst of looking at potential universities for our son Matt.

On Saturday Matt and my wife Alison travelled down to Exeter university. It’s a long haul. But with a sensible stop easily and comfortably done in our Audi A6. Indeed, the satnav proved invaluable on the way back, diverting Alison up the M5 and then along the M4 rather than along the more direct A303 route – presumably because of traffic congestion. Satnav with real time traffic avoidance guidance is truly marvellous.

Anyway, I digress slightly. The story from daily rental company Avis was about students overloading their old bangers on the return to uni run this October. Or parents doing likewise in their own car and following the student’s car down the road.

Of course, the Avis agenda was to suggest a shiny new and up to date rental car (from Avis) that was appropriate for the journey. But that aside, Avis makes a good point. Overloaded cars are a safety risk and illegal.

“An unsecured or incorrectly secured object in your vehicle is a potentially deadly risk. If you crash or suddenly brake, these objects could smash into you or your passengers with devastating consequences,” commented Katie Shephard from road safety charity BRAKE. “Students and parents need to think about this and pack their car correctly, before making the journey back to university this autumn.”

Overloaded cars can make a vehicle less stable and more difficult to steer as well as increasing braking distances. It can increase fuel consumption and there is the possibility of insurance being invalidated should there be a crash. Certainly the police are much hotter on pulling over cars that look unroadworthy or in an unsafe condition.

Now whether you are taking your offspring to university this autumn, or doing business during the normal course of your work, the advice is still good. If your normal-sized car is insufficient for the job, then do think about renting.

It’s about being flexible and using resources efficiently. There’s no point in a tradesman running around in a Ford Transit for the two days a month the size is required when a Citroen Nemo would be more appropriate most of the time. Rent the bigger van when you need it; save money for the remainder of the month in the smaller van.

The same with cars. There’s little sense in having a Ford Galaxy because you need to take staff and materials to a client twice a month when the rest of the time a Ford Fiesta would do perfectly well. Rent the bigger car when you need and pay only for the use. After all, if it’s only for a day or two the rentals will be fully claimable against tax and you can reclaim all the VAT.

Which seems efficient all round. And what small businesses do best.

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Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Business Car Manager (now renamed Business Motoring). Ralph writes extensively about the car and van leasing industry as well as wider fleet and company car issues. A former editor of What Car?, Ralph is a vastly experienced writer and editor and has been writing about the automotive sector for over 35 years.

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