Van or estate

[miserly]

Hi, I have been offered a rather nice Vectra estate (I know,sexy or what?) and was wondering if any one else
owns such a magnificent beast. Does it look professional turning up in a car rather than a van,considering that an affordable van for me is going to be tatty. I am just starting out as a domestic spark after years in maintenance,and so at least for the first year,money is likely to be tight,what with instruments and registration so this may be a way to save having to run two vehicles. I wouldn't leave tools in a van anyway,so that at least isn't an issue at least. Cheers,Ian

 

[kenny7askew]

you can look a bit like a DIY person working from an estate car even tho your not, its just perception,years ago i worked from a car and i always felt a bit less professional and slightly below other electricians especially parked at wholesalers

 

[ruston]

Saving grace is, if it is unmarked it is less likely to be broken into.
You will have to consider ladders and big stuff.
ladders on an estate don't look the part.
Personally , it's horses for courses.

 

[davesparks]

Don't worry about what it looks like.
If it gets you and your tools to the job and home again then that's all you need.
Doing a good job with a professional approach will do far more good than a pretty vehicle.

I work out of a tatty old landrover, I can say it's ever bothered me how it looks.

 

[ruston]

I agree , do what you need to do.

 

[Adie moore]

when I started I rocked a volvo 940, what I found the most annoying thing was, even though it was a big estate, that I'd struggle to get everything in. so I was planning for jobs and taking what I needed, invariably needing something I'd not planned for. as such brought a van within 2 months.

 

[7029 dave]

Saving grace is, if it is unmarked it is less likely to be broken into.
You will have to consider ladders and big stuff.
ladders on an estate don't look the part.
Personally , it's horses for courses.

Agreed an a LIKE.

 

[ruston]

Ta.

 

[Octopus]

Big disadvantage of most estate vehicles is that you can see what's in the back! unless its got heavily tinted windows....

 

[Adam W]

you can look a bit like a DIY person working from an estate car even tho your not, its just perception,years ago i worked from a car and i always felt a bit less professional and slightly below other electricians especially parked at wholesalers

:iagree: With domestic work the 'theatre' seems to be important; in some ways to some customers the 'theatre' is more important than the electrical work. What you drive, what you wear, how you conduct yourself... Working in accordance with regulations is nice but what they really want is for you to turn up on time in a van with your name on it, then clean up before you leave, for a reasonable price.

There are other threads on here where members have spent several pages cogitating over what kind of signals the age of their van sends out - it seems to be a fine balance between looking professional and successful but not leaving your customers wondering how you're making enough for an overly fancy van.

 

[egg67]

Why do we have to have a van just because we are self-employed? Why not a car? I have always bought vans as that is what the l have thought the customer think looks best, used to hire cars when taking to Family out for day trips till the wife started driving and we could afford a Second vehicle. Last job I did was for a Builder who was doing a 50k kitchen and bathroom refit, he drove a Audi estate said as all Materials delivered to site and all he needed was his tools that can fit in the car with the seats down and all be left on site the fist day, it made it a lot easy to pick his kids up from the after-school club's as he did not have to leve the job early to take the van home pick up the car, pick up the kids, with the money he saved by not having a van he got a nice motorbike and had fun at the weekends, l got fed up with spending 15k on a van that is noisy and not very well equipped just so you can spend more money to put your name down the side and then get some little sh:t Nick all your tools when your have lunch


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[hasel5]

Just gone from a van to a pick up and best move ever

 

[Rpa07]

I spent £200 to put a 5% tint on the rear and tailgate of my Astra hatch with 70% on the driver and passenger for extra security. If I had the spare cash to invest I would but as the OP said, the kind of money spare to invest in a van wouldn't impress anyone quickly. I ditched my back seats and platformed the back and fitted a van vault.


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[Adam W]

Why do we have to have a van just because we are self-employed? Why not a car? I have always bought vans as that is what the l have thought the customer think looks best, used to hire cars when taking to Family out for day trips till the wife started driving and we could afford a Second vehicle. Last job I did was for a Builder who was doing a 50k kitchen and bathroom refit, he drove a Audi estate said as all Materials delivered to site and all he needed was his tools that can fit in the car with the seats down and all be left on site the fist day, it made it a lot easy to pick his kids up from the after-school club's as he did not have to leve the job early to take the van home pick up the car, pick up the kids, with the money he saved by not having a van he got a nice motorbike and had fun at the weekends, l got fed up with spending 15k on a van that is noisy and not very well equipped just so you can spend more money to put your name down the side and then get some little sh:t Nick all your tools when your have lunch


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I can't imagine the customer cares about any of that. As far as they're concerned they'd be paying £50k for a kitchen and bathroom because that's what it costs. They might even resent the idea that the hired help (who they may even consider to be of a lower social standing than them) is in some way cutting back so he can spend his weekends riding around on a motorbike. Probably more so that someone might be regularly leaving work early because of their own personal circumstances.

As far as customers are concerned the tradesmen get in the van at the end of the day, drive to the end of the road and vanish, and that's only because they don't want a van on the drive overnight. They want to be able to poke their head in for a site visit, count how many people are on site and comment on how it's all coming together - the private lives of the tradesmen is none of their concern.

 

[amlu]

i`m just turning up to jobs by bike. managed to have all my tools pack into rear panniers. getting a van out only on big jobs, getting big stuff and ladders there.
customers are happy, especially central london ones!

 

[kenny7askew]

terrific

i`m just turning up to jobs by bike. managed to have all my tools pack into rear panniers. getting a van out only on big jobs, getting big stuff and ladders there.
customers are happy, especially central london ones!

 

[LankyWill]

i ply lined a renault clio for a bit and used that for a while. Saved up a bit of money (sold my clio) and bought a little caddy. Have to say my clio did me well and it required a bit of forward thinking kit wise. Now i have got a van i just leave the lot in their and can be more versatile work wise. Never had a comment customer wise and i dont think about the donkeys at the wholesalers...

 

[7029 dave]

i`m just turning up to jobs by bike. managed to have all my tools pack into rear panniers. getting a van out only on big jobs, getting big stuff and ladders there.
customers are happy, especially central london ones!

Just what my mate done.

 

[ruston]

The estate the op is thinking of will have a screen that pulls forward to the tailgate and will cover to the top of the rear back seats. that will give him a decent storage area.

 

[tomspark93]

Just gone from a van to a pick up and best move ever

how do you find loading and unloading with the tailgate? Is it a pick up with a hard top?