First van, big or small, undecided?

[wams]

Hi All,


I am looking for my first van but undecided on the size of the van to get. I have a friend who has his own car garage and he his in possession of Renault Traffic DCI 100, 55 plate with over 100k miles. The problem is, as it stands its worth £350 as the timing belt snapped and wrapped around engine causing other damage to the head etc. If he can repair it, he will sell it to me for either £1400 - £1500.


Or I can spend 2k on a vauxhall combo or something similar hopefully under 100k miles.


What do you think I should do?
p
wams

 

[Fin170]

With the price of diesel I'd be inclined small van + organisation skills

Or an estate if you're young folk that will, according to a secret but totally legitimate source, crash several times a day and have to have crippling insurance costs as a result

 

[Martyc]

I'd pick a transit connect, vauxhall combos are a bit small in my experience. That's just my choice though, other views will vary massively!

 

[mankman2012]

As a start up, always look at your budget. You can upgrade when your ready.There is no point getting a big empty, posh, new van because that just mean you will spending more in loan repayments and fuel.

 

[Guitarist]

Think I'd be wary of buying something relatively unkown with over 100k on the clock. Could be a gem, be could also cost you a lot of dosh if things start to fall apart.
All depends on what you need really. Small van or estate car if you mainly carry out testing/small works. Transit van/transporter etc if you need to move a lot of gear about and use swa a lot.

 

[telectrix]

trafic looks good repaired with 12 months MOT at £1400.

 

[vxwestie]

Any vehicle is a gamble but for most vans these days 100k is nothing.
The most important thing is what you work involved. If you are housebashing and need a few hundred metres of T&E, a tray of clips, one day and a crate of 2nd fix materials the next then a small van is ideal and a bigger van is wasted. However, if you are demestic call-out type of business you will need to carry a lot more to get you out of trouble.
I run a trafic, fully racked out, 1000's of £'s of materials in it and I couldnt survive any other way. In my part of the country the wholesalers are a good hour away and to date Ive never had to leave a job to get run of the mill materials (my customers just wouldnt have it and pay).
Think what your business requires and base your choice on that

 

[yellowvanman]

Don't buy a trafic, mines just gone ---- up, 90,000 on the clock and I had a re-con engine less than 2 years ago, and a recon gearbox less than 3 years ago!

 

[sparkdog]

I've got an old Ford Escort which seems adequate.I found that the more space I had the more I found to put in it.I keep my main stock on racking at home.I have to keep having van clear outs or it ends up stacked to the roof.

 

[JulianC]

Your first van should be ever so slightly smaller than you need. You should not realise this until after you have bought and paid for it. Such is the way of things...