Diesel van advice

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Darrell

Hardcore MB Enthusiast
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Back in Mill Hill but sometimes in Skiathos
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Gixxer 6, Citroen Berlingo, 911 C4S, Dacia Duster and lots of bicycles.
I’m looking at buying or leasing a van for my new roofing firm.

The sensible way forward is to but something for £3-4000 and see how things pan out business wise. Problem is t next year the ULEZ could be expanding to the burbs rendering said vehicle useless.

I’ve looked at leasing but they are all diesels so my worry here is that loads of short little journeys will mess up the dpf or should I not worry because it’s a leased vehicle.
 
I’m looking at buying or leasing a van for my new roofing firm.

The sensible way forward is to but something for £3-4000 and see how things pan out business wise. Problem is t next year the ULEZ could be expanding to the burbs rendering said vehicle useless.

I’ve looked at leasing but they are all diesels so my worry here is that loads of short little journeys will mess up the dpf or should I not worry because it’s a leased vehicle.
There must be thousands of DPF equipped vans that spend the majority of their working lives in such conditions.

As long as any Warranty does not exclude full repairs to any part of the emissions systems or impose other conditions then there should be nothing to worry about?

Are there any electric vans that might suit?
 
Wouldn't the cost of leasing pass the cost of buying a cheapo?
A danger of a cheapo might be reliability, but 2 years ago I sold a Vito for £4k and the guy is still enjoying it.
I would favour other than a Vito if all you want is a functional van, they're generally attention hungry.
 
Wouldn't the cost of leasing pass the cost of buying a cheapo?
A danger of a cheapo might be reliability, but 2 years ago I sold a Vito for £4k and the guy is still enjoying it.
I would favour other than a Vito if all you want is a functional van, they're generally attention hungry.
I’m just looking at all my options.

I’m busy with work that is based in central London so a leased van would be sitting on my drive most of the time so the sensible thing would be to go for the £3-4 grand vehicle. That’s where the ULEZ problem comes in.
 
Price.

Shame really as I’d be tempted.

I bought a small tractor last year ... the electric version (basically identical apart from the engine) was three times the price of the diesel.

Range has always been the killer with electric vans ... for the e-Vito it was something like 80 miles, although I'm sure this will improve as the technology matures.
 
I bought a small tractor last year ... the electric version (basically identical apart from the engine) was three times the price of the diesel.

Range has always been the killer with electric vans ... for the e-Vito it was something like 80 miles, although I'm sure this will improve as the technology matures.
I was at the Design Museum just before Christmas and there was a trade show for electric vehicles.
They had an LDV Maxus on display which was touching £65000!!
 
210 miles on a charge is starting to get a bit more sensible, but £63 grand (plus VAT) isn't!
 
210 miles on a charge is starting to get a bit more sensible, but £63 grand (plus VAT) isn't!
63k for an LDV 🤣

They are the worst vans i have ever had the displesure of driving
The company I used to sub for had 2 Leyland Daf 400s which I was occasionally press-ganged into driving.
They were truly 💩
 
I drove a (then brand new launched) LDV Maxus van back in around 2009 I think it was.

Picked it up and after around a mile, I opened the drivers window. The glass fell into the door. Upon returning it, they claimed it was the 3rd that week.

True story :D
 
I drove a (then brand new launched) LDV Maxus van back in around 2009 I think it was.

Picked it up and after around a mile, I opened the drivers window. The glass fell into the door. Upon returning it, they claimed it was the 3rd that week.

True story :D
The model they had at the show was very impressive and it was the size of a LWB Hightop Transit. But that price!!

That’s a hell of a lot of leadwork, sexy or not!!
 
We've used various vans in our business and it all depends on what you want to carry, internal storage payload etc.
We've had/got 2 Transits. Good vans with strong engines but the 07 one was always having expensive repairs, the 17 one has been far better and the other is 4 months old.
We also have 2 Nissans, an NV400 and NV200 which are fine mechanically however the build quality is poor for wear and tear of a works van ( changed 4 rear handles as an example).
Without doubt the best vans we've had are the Renaults, a Master and a Trafic. Still see the Master being used by a builder and it's nearly 20 years old. Sold the Trafic in January at 12 years old for £3500 + vat just to give you an example of the daft 2nd hand prices at the moment
 
We've used various vans in our business and it all depends on what you want to carry, internal storage payload etc.
We've had/got 2 Transits. Good vans with strong engines but the 07 one was always having expensive repairs, the 17 one has been far better and the other is 4 months old.
We also have 2 Nissans, an NV400 and NV200 which are fine mechanically however the build quality is poor for wear and tear of a works van ( changed 4 rear handles as an example).
Without doubt the best vans we've had are the Renaults, a Master and a Trafic. Still see the Master being used by a builder and it's nearly 20 years old. Sold the Trafic in January at 12 years old for £3500 + vat just to give you an example of the daft 2nd hand prices at the moment
I’ve had 3 new Transits over the years with the newest one being a 55 plate bought with 6 miles on the clock. It was rubbish!!
I had an 11 plate Renault Trafic last year for 3 months and it ran very well despite the 120,000 on the clock, I liked it quite a lot. I don’t know if it had big money spent on it though.

Because my business is new I think I’ll go down the Berlingo/variant or Transit Connect for under £4000 and then see where things go. As long as it’s tidy and runs well I’ll be happy. I’ve already got a PLR private plate (Pro Lead Roofing) and it’ll be nicely sign written.

Let’s hope they don’t expand the ULEZ for a while. 🤞

PS, I don’t understand why van prices are so high. There’s bloody millions of them for sale.
 
When looking for a stand in for the Viano I was looking at car based vans, I realise the actual estates were cheaper and with more toys. They being Astra.
So then I'm looking at Astra estates and considered that the 211 was about the biggest estate available.
£2,700 and with more toys and space than an Astra could ever provide.

Prices have gone skyward so that price looks like it wont be repeated so easily, but it might be a thought. Admittedly it doesn't have the hi roof if that's what you need.
 
Price.

Shame really as I’d be tempted.
I haven't looked into it but are there no grants towards costs of purchase and installation of home charging point?

In terns of cost have you factored in likely fuel costs and service costs for diesel against any purchase premium vs electric?
If so how do they compare?
 
I haven't looked into it but are there no grants towards costs of purchase and installation of home charging point?

In terns of cost have you factored in likely fuel costs and service costs for diesel against any purchase premium vs electric?
If so how do they compare?
I won’t be doing big mileage at all in fact I’ll be lucky to do 8000 a year.
I haven’t sat down and run the numbers but I don’t think I’m going to be quids in after buying an electric van for at least £45,000.
 
I haven't looked into it but are there no grants towards costs of purchase and installation of home charging point?

In terns of cost have you factored in likely fuel costs and service costs for diesel against any purchase premium vs electric?
If so how do they compare?

David the grant for the home charging point has now ended - it was a bit of a con anyway as the prices of installs seemed to have increased by £350 when the grant was introduced 🙄 - so the only people actually benefiting were the installers themselves….
 

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