Blog - Barnsley Commercial Sales Ltd

Why Nationwide Van Delivery Is a Game-Changer for Buyers

In today’s fast-paced world, convenience is everything. At Barnsley Commercial Sales Ltd, we understand that finding the perfect commercial van isn’t always easy, especially if you’re located far from our dealership. That’s why we offer nationwide delivery, allowing you to purchase your ideal van without ever leaving your location. Convenience…

Wednesday 16th October 2024

The commercial van market has evolved, with manufacturers continually adding features that make life easier for tradespeople. As we move into 2024, let’s take a look at some of the most popular features that are essential for tradespeople to stay productive and efficient on the road. 1. Advanced Safety Systems…

Wednesday 16th October 2024

How to Maximize Fuel Efficiency in Your Commercial Van

Fuel costs are a significant expense for any business using commercial vehicles. Fortunately, improving fuel efficiency doesn’t require major adjustments—just a few changes in driving habits and regular van maintenance can save you money over time. 1. Drive Smoothly and Steadily One of the simplest ways to improve fuel efficiency…

Wednesday 16th October 2024

The Importance of Regular Van Maintenance: MOT and Servicing Tips

Regular van maintenance is crucial to keeping your commercial vehicle running efficiently and reducing the risk of costly breakdowns. For tradespeople and business owners, downtime from van repairs can be more than inconvenient—it can impact your ability to work and meet customer demands. At Barnsley Commercial Sales Ltd, we offer…

Wednesday 16th October 2024

What’s The Latest On ULEZ in 2024?

In the face of escalating concerns about air pollution, nations worldwide are taking steps to curb emissions and foster cleaner air. The United Kingdom has been proactive in this regard, establishing Ultra Low Emission Zones (ULEZs) and Clean Air Zones (CAZs) to regulate and discourage the use of high-polluting vehicles. …

Tuesday 9th April 2024

Understanding Credit Scores As A Sole Trader: How Your Credit Affects Van Financing Options

In the dynamic world of sole trading and small business ownership, understanding and managing your credit score is crucial, especially when it involves significant financial decisions like financing commercial vans. For many business owners, commercial vehicles are not just a mode of transport; they are mobile offices, delivery centres, and…

Wednesday 20th March 2024

5 Tips for Financing a Van on Bad Credit

Securing financing for a van with bad credit may seem like a daunting task, but it’s not impossible. Many people face financial challenges at some point in their lives, which can lead to a less-than-perfect credit score. However, bad credit doesn’t have to stand in the way of your van…

Thursday 25th January 2024

Choosing the Right Van for Your Small Business Needs

For small business owners, having the right van can be a game-changer. It serves as a mobile workspace, enabling efficient transportation of goods and services while enhancing the overall productivity of the business. However, with a plethora of van options available, choosing the perfect one for your small business needs…

Tuesday 19th September 2023

Car-Derived Vans For Commercial Businesses

If you are looking to save money as a small business, you’ll need to know about every loophole in the book from tax reliefs to clever workarounds. As a business owner, you may be aware of the fact that there is tax allowance for Ltd businesses that allows the business…

Wednesday 3rd May 2023

Best Engine For Commercial Vehicles : Petrol, Diesel or Electric?

If you own a commercial vehicle fleet, you will have a familiarity and a likely fondness for diesel vehicles. They have been the staple for decades; reliable, longer mileages and longer lasting. For most commercial businesses, your fleet will mostly consist of diesel vehicles. But does that necessarily need to…

Thursday 23rd March 2023

Benefits of Buying a Commercial Van over Leasing

When it comes to acquiring a van for your business, you typically have the option to buy or lease. Both methods have seen major spikes and dips in popularity over the years as business owners are always looking for the best way to save money and build out their commercial…

Thursday 23rd March 2023

Six Benefits of Buying a Used Van

If you work in the commercial sector, you most likely rely on vans and commercial vehicles in order for your business to run smoothly. Many businesses rely on vans to keep operations running smoothly and most businesses will typically have more than one with major businesses having large fleets of…

Thursday 9th February 2023

Where do the Parties Stand on Motoring Issues?

It won’t have escaped your notice that there’s an General Election looming on the horizon. Politics is a subject that’s guaranteed to divide people – and in some cases cause them to shout at one another (and us). But it’s something that we can’t rightly ignore, especially when the people…

Wednesday 27th November 2019

The Problem with Engine Idling?

How would you feel if you were pulled up in your van, waiting for someone, and a stranger knocked on your window and demanded that you turn off your engine? For many, this might seem like an unreasonable demand. But the fact is that air pollution is something that increasing…

Friday 22nd November 2019

Breathalysers to be Mandatory from 2022

Buried in all of this month’s political news is the announcement that, from 2022, all new cars sold in Europe will need to be fitted with breath-testing devices. Moreover, existing cars will have until 2024 to get with the program and have the necessary modifications fitted. This is part of…

Friday 22nd November 2019

French MPs scrap Breathalyser Law

Improving road safety is an ongoing struggle for just about every government in the world. Sometimes they intervene, and in the process genuinely help the situation. Sometimes these interventions aren’t quite so successful. Recently, we have the case of the French government, which in 2013 decided to require that foreign…

Monday 11th November 2019

Fuel Theft: Why is it so Easy?

If you’re like most people, you’ve gassed your motor up hundreds of times without once even considering the idea of getting straight back in and driving away without paying. And yet that’s what thousands of people do, often completely brazenly. They’re right to be brazen about it – according to…

Monday 11th November 2019

Councils ask for power to deal with reckless Lorry Drivers

You might recall the incident earlier this year where a lorry driver tried to drive under a low bridge in Middlesbrough and ended up smashing into the bottom of it. The road had to be cleared, causing a great deal of frustration for everyone who wanted to drive along it…

Monday 11th November 2019

Hands-free Phones: just how Dangerous are They?

Since 2003, we’ve all been banned from using our phones while driving. Picking up a phone and placing it next to your head means that you can’t steer the vehicle and change gears. The same goes for texting, tweeting, and scrolling through Instagram: they’re all insanely dangerous activities if you’re…

Tuesday 8th October 2019

Saudi Oil attacks: what do they mean for the price of fuel?

In this blog, we’re going to take a look at commodities markets and how they’re effected by enormous fireballs. It’s usually a bit tricky to see exactly how the goings-on on the other side of the planet will affect our day-to-day lives in Britain, but where recent events in Saudi…

Tuesday 8th October 2019

Which Songs Make You Drive Dangerously?

We read with interest the findings of the good people over at the South China University of Technology, who’ve been hard at work discovering which songs are most likely to encourage erratic driving. Their results aren’t terribly surprising: loud aggressive music makes you drive more aggressively; soft passive music makes…

Tuesday 8th October 2019

How Long Can You Safely Drive Without a Break?

A van is a wonderful thing, capable of traversing long distances on a single tank of fuel, and transporting all manner of heavy goods at the same time. And many of us take advantage of this by pushing the vehicle to its absolute limit, driving all the way to central…

Friday 30th August 2019

Rubberised Roads: What’s the deal?

This week, Highways England have experimented with a different approach to motorway resurfacing. They’re laying rubber from old tyres into the surface of a major British motorway for the first time. The logic behind the move is pretty obvious: when you have loads of old tyres knocking about, why not…

Friday 30th August 2019

Cleaning your Van

Hampshire police recently took to Twitter to publicly shame a driver whose car was so messy that they couldn’t actually reach the handbrake. The vehicle in question was so crammed full of cigarette butts, old newspaper, potted plants and plug adaptors that, at the crucial moment, said driver could not…

Friday 30th August 2019

Clean Air Zones in Leeds: What you Need to Know

The imminent arrival of clean air zones is setting off something of a wave of panic among our customer base. But we’re pretty sanguine about the matter. There are a few misconceptions around the issue, which we thought we’d take the time to clarify. The idea behind a CAZ is…

Friday 12th July 2019

What are these French Clean Air Laws About?

If you spend any amount of time driving on the continent, whether it’s for business or pleasure, then the chances are that you’ll need to worry about France’s clean air laws. These require action on the part of visiting motorists. In response to mounting concern about air pollution the powers-that-be…

Friday 12th July 2019

What’s with all of these Potholes?

It seems an unassailable a fact of geography that potholes will be forever gaping from our roads, and that British motorists will be forever complaining about them. In the latest episode in a long-running series, a House of Commons Committee report to the government provided a no-holds-barred takedown of the…

Friday 12th July 2019

Keeping Cool in Your Van

The sun has finally got his hat on and come out to play, and motorists across the country are being once again forced to sit sweating in baking-hot traffic jams for several hours a week. In some circumstances, you might find yourself forced to sit in the back of the…

Friday 12th July 2019

Local Councils to be Given Power to Fine Moving Traffic

If you’ve ever driven through London (or Cardiff), then you’ll have run the risk of being hit with a £130 fine for stopping in a box junction. This sort of fine can be issued by the local council without the involvement of the police. Now, a group of MPs have…

Friday 21st June 2019

Hogging the Middle Lane: The Facts

Given that most drivers in the UK don’t take to the motorway until after they’ve passed their practical exam, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that so many don’t know how to properly use the motorway. Perhaps the most glaring example of this is when drivers stay on…

Friday 21st June 2019

Part Worn Tyres: What to Look For

The Local Government Association has recently put out a stern warning about the dangers of buying used tyres. They cite figures by the Department of Transport which suggest that 17 people were killed in tyre-related accidents in 2017 – and a further 147 seriously injured. They recommend that, if you…

Friday 21st June 2019

Setting the Tyre Pressure

Among the first rules of van maintenance is that you should look after your tyres. This means keeping them at the right pressure, and replacing them when the tread depth gets a little too low. In the case of bikes and cars, this matters a great deal; but if you’re…

Wednesday 8th May 2019

Speed Limiters: What could go wrong?

It emerged toward the end of March that the UK is going to be conforming with the European Commission’s new bright idea about road safety, whether we’re in or out. The Department for Transport is well on board with the idea of mandating that every vehicle sold in the country…

Wednesday 8th May 2019

Pavement Parking: Where do we stand?

This month has seen the launch of a new parliamentary enquiry into that most concerning of motoring problems: pavement parking. We drivers engage in this practice for good reasons, but there are also good reasons why pedestrians give us grief about it. In any case, we’re looking forward to seeing…

Wednesday 8th May 2019

Denting and Dashing: Who does this?

If you spend a lot of your time driving, then the chances are overwhelming that at some point you’ve found your vehicle dented, and the responsible party nowhere in sight. This week, we learned, via research carried out on behalf of YourParkingSpace.co.uk, that around one in seven of us would…

Thursday 11th April 2019

What’s The Parking Act 2019 all About?

You could have been forgiven for missing a recent and significant piece of motoring news, buried as it was amidst all of the Brexit-related goings-on. After a long (some might say overlong) wait, the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 received royal assent on March 15th. This piece of legislation…

Thursday 11th April 2019

Seriously, Turn Off Your Phones!

You might recall reading a few weeks ago on these very pages about our dreadful habit of using our phones while we’re on the road. We told you that it was a serious problems, and suggested a few ways in which we might get the behaviour under control. Well, it…

Thursday 11th April 2019

Bridge Bashing: A Cautionary Tale

This month saw an all-too-familiar tragedy unfold in Ely, Cambridgeshire. Despite great efforts having been taken to daub the local low-hanging railway crossing in black-and-yellow warning signs, an overly-optimistic HGV driver still managed to crash into it. Cambridgeshire Live reports that, in the wake of the mishap, a Network Rail…

Thursday 11th April 2019

Average Speed Checks Explained: How do They Work?

If you’ve ever caught sight of a series of white lines on the road surface and had to slam on your brakes, then you’ll probably appreciate that a speed trap can often do more harm than good. Average speed checks have been linked with safer roads, and they’re getting cheaper…

Wednesday 3rd April 2019

What are Smart Motorways and How Should We Use Them?

These days, it seems that everything in life has to have the word ‘smart’ bolted onto the front. We take calls on our smart-phones, we look at the time with our smart-watches, we drive around in smart-cars, monitor our water usage with a smart-meter and watch hours of Netflix on…

Wednesday 3rd April 2019

Google Maps Rolling out Speed Camera Alerts

In recent months, Google have been rolling out new speed camera icons onto their maps application. This will surely come as welcome news to the nation’s motorists, however much it might worry to treasury. In 2016, more than two million drivers were caught speeding, a significant portion of which will…

Friday 1st March 2019

Why do we Salt Roads?

At this time of year, drivers across the country should be especially grateful of a special chemical substance: one that keeps the roads safe and tastes delicious when sprinkled across a plate of fish and chips. We’re talking, of course, about sodium chloride, or salt. But how exactly does salt…

Friday 1st March 2019

How do We Stop People Using Phones on the Roads?

According to recent figures by the Department for Transport, around 2.1% of drivers in the country have been spotted using their phones behind the wheel. This is a figure that rises to around 4% when we consider just the 17-29 year olds, which signifies a worrying trend. Obviously, every motorist…

Friday 1st March 2019

What’s Going on With the Price of Fuel?

You might have noticed over Christmas that filling up the van wasn’t quite as painful as it was just a few months prior. A fall in the price of oil was reflected at the pumps, with the RAC reporting a drop of around 3p per litre on diesel. You might…

Tuesday 22nd January 2019

Cleaning your Van: Why it Matters

First impressions count for a great deal when you’re trying to forge relationships with prospective customers. If you turn up to an unfamiliar house in order to fix a gas leak, provide a quote on a rewire, or simply deliver a package, then the appearance of your van is going…

Tuesday 22nd January 2019

Eye-popping Tech from CES

Every year, the giants of the technological world get together in Las Vegas for a shindig called CES, where they show off their wares (and presumably treat themselves to a night out). Among the most eye-catching products on display each year are usually those which involve vehicles and transport. After…

Tuesday 22nd January 2019

Ethylene Glycol and the Risks it Poses to Pets

At this time of year, anti-freeze poisoning among dogs and cats is a pressing concern. Pets find the stuff left out in the open, or leaking under parked cars, and decide to investigate. Just a few teaspoons of the ethylene glycol, the active ingredient in many anti-freezes, can be fatal;…

Wednesday 19th December 2018

Making your Own Screenwash

If you’re making early starts in December, then the chances are that you’ll appreciate the merits of a good screenwash. Something that isn’t going to freeze in the pipes when the going gets tough, or provide the legionella bacteria with a never-ending holiday camp, in the same way that water…

Wednesday 19th December 2018

Dealing with Crosswinds

In the build-up to Christmas, everyone’s rushing around to get their shopping paid for and delivered. Barely any heed is paid to the treacherous road conditions that drivers need to deal with to make the whole thing happen! In this article, we’re going to take a brief look at that…

Wednesday 19th December 2018

Maintaining your Van this Winter

The weather poses your van with a range of challenges. In the summer, it’ll cause the engine to overheat and break down; in the winter, freeze-thaw cycles will chew up the metal protecting your fuel tank, and corrode the connections leading to your battery. Of course, it’s better to prevent…

Tuesday 13th November 2018

Potholes: What are they and Why Are They Such a Problem?

If you were watching the recent budget announcement then you might have noticed, in between Philip Hammond’s side-splitting jokes, that British roads are getting another £25 billion between 2020 and 2025. Included in this number is another £420 million for local councils to spend dealing with potholes. This is on…

Tuesday 13th November 2018

Winter Essentials for Your Van

When the weather outside gets chilly, it’s a good idea to head out onto the road with a few extra essential items. We’re talking about lightweight, easily-stowed items that’ll be worth their weight in gold when the need for them arises. Note that we’re not advocating that you leave valuables…

Tuesday 13th November 2018

Dealing with Long Van Journeys

If you’re putting in hundreds of miles of driving every single day, then you’ll need the right sort of stimulation. After all, all that time in the driver’s seat can be pretty dull. While it’s probably not desirable to try to eliminate boredom from your life entirely, countless hours spent…

Friday 12th October 2018

Electric Motoring – When is it coming and Why isn’t it here yet?

If you were paying attention during the 1980s, then you’ll have learned from films like Blade Runner and Back to the Future Part II that flying cars should have been with us by now. And yet things haven’t quite progressed that far. Not only are flying cars not with us,…

Friday 12th October 2018

Loading and Unloading a Van Safely: Our Tips

If you’re running a one-person delivery business, you’ll spend a lot of your time taking things in and out of the back of your vehicle. If the items you’re delivering are cumbersome or heavy, this can spell trouble – and thus it’s worth thinking about best loading and lifting practice.…

Friday 12th October 2018

Telematics Explained: What is it and Why is it Important?

If you’ve been following technological trends, then you might have heard of something called ‘telematics’. Also known as ‘black box’ insurance, this technology is helping to change motoring behaviour to extend the lifespan of your vehicle and reduce the likelihood of an accident. How does telematics work, then? With the…

Monday 17th September 2018

Sleeping in the Van: What You Need to Know

If you’re making frequent long trips that need to be split into multiple legs, then you might be tempted to simply pull up to the side of the road, turn the engine off and clock off for the night. In doing so, you’ll be saving on the price of a…

Monday 17th September 2018

Keeping your Van Secure

If you’re running your own business, you might be tempted to use your van to advertise your services. But in doing so, you’ll indicate to thieves that your van might contain expensive, saleable tools. It’s worth therefore accompanying any branding with a message indicating that no tools are left in…

Monday 17th September 2018

Preparing for Driving on the Continent

While most haulage in the UK is domestic, van drivers occasionally have cause to venture across the channel and deliver goods to clients in mainland Europe. If you’ve never driven on European roads before, then you’re in for a bit of a learning curve. Even experienced hauliers occasionally run into…

Wednesday 15th August 2018

Can I Transport Animals in my Van?

If you’re the owner of a dog, then the chances are that at some point you’ll have had to take it out with you on your travels. Perhaps you’ve had to pick it up from the vet and can’t find the time to take it home. Perhaps it’s a new…

Wednesday 15th August 2018

What to Check When Buying a Used Van

Going second-hand is a great way to make your van purchase more affordable. If you’re buying several of them at once, the savings can be significant – and you needn’t compromise on quality, provided that you know what you’re looking for. We like to think that we know exactly what…

Tuesday 14th August 2018

How Often Should I Replace My Tyres?

While a quality van, car or lorry can comfortably run for several decades before needing to be replaced, the same cannot be said for the tyres upon which it’ll rely. To do their job, tyres need to be made from rubber – a small portion of which will rub off…

Monday 16th July 2018

Preparing for the MOT

The modern MOT test can be an intimidating prospect for any driver. It involves an extensive list of checks and tests administered to all aspects of your car. MOT testers will carry out assessments of your brakes, car suspension, lights and electrics, power steering, windscreens and tyres to name just…

Tuesday 12th June 2018

Prepare Your Car for the Summer

The summer days are well and truly here and the last thing you want to think about is car maintenance. Well tough! Just because your body naturally adapts itself to the warmer days, it doesn’t mean your car does as well. That’s science! So, today we are going to run…

Tuesday 12th June 2018

Assembling Your Emergency Breakdown Kit

Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. With such certainty about the outcome, it seems bizarre that so few drivers are prepared for the inevitability of car failure! Today, we are going to give you our thoughts on the must-haves when it comes to kitting…

Tuesday 12th June 2018

Why buy a used van?

If you’re running a small business (or even a large one), then a used van is a sensible investment. Of course, you might think that we’re biased – and that’s fair enough. That’s why we’ve come up with this list of six water-tight reasons to go used. Let’s get going!…

Tuesday 5th June 2018

Dealing with an overheating van

Summer is here. The sun is shining. Birds are singing. Ice-cream vans are once again doing the rounds. Angry conversations about England’s dismal World Cup campaign are imminent. The nation’s van drivers, naturally, can look forward to spending quite a lot of their time sitting idle in heavy traffic, watching…

Monday 4th June 2018

Keeping your tyres in good condition

The tyres on your van are expected to absorb an enormous amount of punishment. They carry heavy goods through rugged environments, they massively influence your fuel economy, and their condition might even spell the difference between life and death. In return, it’s only fair that you spend a little bit…

Thursday 31st May 2018

Car Maintenance Red Flags And The Worse Case Scenario

Today we are going to offering advice on some car maintenance red flags that you really shouldn’t ignore. These are signs and indicators that often mean something is broken or deteriorating in your car. Now, at BCS, we pride ourselves on our dedication to offering measured and impartial advice to…

Wednesday 18th April 2018

How To Jump Start Your Car

These days, it’s hard for most of us to imagine what it was like before modern technology changed everything. If our WIFI goes down, one is likely to find us sitting in one place for hours and hours trying to remember what we did for entertainment before the internet (TV…

Wednesday 18th April 2018

Top 3 Best Selling Vans If They Were Boxers

When it comes to things like sports cars and boxers, people will spend hours and hours debating and listing the greatest of all time. Yet for some reason, the epic commercial vehicles of our time never seem to get the same treatment. This never seemed to make sense to us…

Wednesday 18th April 2018

Choosing a Commercial Vehicle

Commercial vans are the workhorses of the modern age. They are designed to put up with tough treatment and unforgiving environments. The trouble with this is that it tends to encourage people to treat them roughly and pit them against all kinds of unforgiving environments! This is just one of…

Tuesday 27th March 2018

Overlooked Service

At BCS, we believe in delivering a quality service that is tailored to what you want. However, we also believe in educating our clients so that they can make the most informed choices possible. So, while experienced drivers will probably understand the need for common maintenance services like oil changes…

Tuesday 27th March 2018

Car Maintenance for spring

It was a near thing at times but it looks like we have made it through another winter in one piece. Hurrah! Now is a good time to make sure that your car has managed to do the same. For humans, winter can seem like an ordeal of heavy coats,…

Tuesday 27th March 2018