Learning to drive is a big deal, the provisional licence, the lessons, the pressure of a test that will give you the ultimate freedom at the end of it, but despite the pressure of learning to drive, there’s a lot of anxiety around driving a van as well.
Whether you’re a new driver or really experienced behind the wheel, getting into a van can be a nerve-racking experience. Understandably the size of a van is different to a car, and there’s also no rear window to see out of, but those differences aside there’s little else to be concerned about.
In fact, vans are so car-like these days that for the small vans you’d barely notice the difference between driving one and a regular family hatchback. Likewise a medium van is no different to your average SUV.
We’ll answer some of the most common questions people have about driving a van, learning to drive a van or how to drive a van.
This is easily the most commonly asked question about driving a van. The simple answer is no, it’s definitely not difficult to drive a van.
From a simple how-to perspective, there’s no difference between a car and a van. Many have manual gearboxes with up to six gears, there’s a steering wheel and all the same controls you’ll find in a car.
But you’re not worried about the act of driving, you’re concerned about the size or what it’s like to thread a van down a narrow street. Well, from this point of view we don’t find it any different to a car. In fact, in many ways driving a van is even easier and here’s why.
With a car you have a long bonnet with the engine way out front. You often sit really low in the seat to give a sporty feel and there’s all manner of fancy dials and screens to divert your attention. Vans don’t suffer from any of these issues.
A van’s engine is usually tucked up right under the windscreen to ensure there’s a really short overhang to improve manoeuvrability. That means it’s much easier to see where the front of the van is and judge distance to obstacles in front.
If you’re worried about the width of a van think of its mirrors as cats whiskers. Ok, ripping off a mirror isn’t a great plan, but they really do act like physical width detectors. The best thing about vans is that they’re also flat sided. There are no curves or flared wheelarches. If your mirrors fit, the van will fit, and even if you need to get really tight to something, as long as you can keep the van in a straight line from front to tail you’ll be ok.
Finally, vans are fairly simple things, there aren’t that many distractions – unlike in passenger cars. We love the simplicity of a van. Some dials and a radio with few other distractions.
Most now come with parking detectors and even cameras, though. So if you take it nice and slowly – especially when manoeuvring – there really is nothing to be worried about. It’s certainly not difficult to drive a van.
Vans do require commercial vehicle insurance, but there’s no reason you can’t drive a van with the third-party insurance cover than many fully comprehensive car insurance providers give you.
If you’ve bought a van, you will need to get a van-specific insurance policy, and it can be more expensive than car insurance. That’s because van insurance takes into consideration the fact that vans carry goods and tools which area appealing to thieves. Not all policies cover the contents of a van, so be mindful of that when you are buying it.
For more information on van insurance look at our what you need to know about van insurance guide.
There’s no specific category on your licence to say that you can drive a van. If you’ve got a full driving licence (that’s to say a B Category) then you are able to drive any van up to 3.5 tonnes.
For more information on driving licences read our article – Can you drive a van with a normal car licence?
That means you can start driving a van as soon as you’ve passed your driving test.
In fact, we know several people who learnt to drive in a van, which leads us onto the next question.
Yes, of course you can. Driving a van is just like learning to drive in a car so that will mean you’ll need to be accompanied by someone over 21 who has had a full licence for more than three years. You’ll need to be insured and you’ll need to display L-plates.
Apart from that you’re absolutely fine to drive a van on a provisional licence.
