Leaders across the world are working round the clock to tame this monster called the credit crunch. Yet it has, up to this time, defied all known prescriptions. What is more worrying is not the fact that it is refusing to die, but that it is even growing in strength and scope.

Each night we retire to bed hoping that we would arise the next day to hear it has consumed some of our precious possessions, or services, but one can never predict this credit crunch and its fighting spirit. And experts keep deflating our spirits with predictions that the worst is yet to come. This credit crunch is, no doubt, a hydra-headed monster.

Not long ago a study found that even car and van sales have dramatically dropped to their lowest. The implication, according to the experts, is that as fewer people buy vans, their will be fewer van registrations and there will be a serious fall in the number of those taking out van insurance.

The implication for the industry could be very grave as there would not be any serious business and operators will be operating at deficits or even fold up altogether.

It’s not just van insurance that is being so vanquished. Other sectors of the financial market have been dealt a destabilising blow that we only hope they will be able to recover from soon. A major indicator of the effect of this punch was seen during the summer, when most people’s spending power terribly plummeted and many had to shelve their holiday plans. In the UK, for instance, travelling on summer holidays has become a sort of ritual that many couldn’t afford to set aside. But in one swoop the crisis forced many people to cut their spending and even avoid travelling abroad on holiday.

This, experts claimed, affected van registrations leading to the full impact on van insurance. “The summer’s spending cut meant a sharp drop in the month’s van registrations,” observed an expert.

What van drivers need to do

As van drivers struggle to survive the crisis, analysts have also been weighing a number of things that could help reduce the pressure on motorist. Every fortress, certainly, has its soft underbelly and the credit crunch can be managed, somehow, to reduce its severity.

Among the things suggested to motorists is to work hard to resist the temptation of speeding. “Edging over the motorway limit to 80 mph  saves very little time, but it will cost typically around three or four pence per mile more,” warned the Institute of Advanced Motorists.

Other suggestions include switching off the engine in traffic jams and getting rid of extra weight from the back of the van, which IAM said could honestly help in cutting down fuel consumption.

The advantages here are numerous. While motorists save cost, they are also helping themselves manage the impact of the credit crunch on their finances. And for the green-conscious it reduces pollution and promotes a greener, healthier environment.

With green car insurance or van insurance now serving as incentive, motorists who keep to this would hardly go wrong.