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cr0ft

cr0ft

Plumbers Arms member
Plumber
Gas Engineer
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Hi all,

After a bit of advice really. I'm planning on selling our existing 2 vans to a dealer soon and getting a couple of new ones on a contract hire deal over 5 years.

I'm trying to get a feel over what are reliable (mwb hi roof) vans nowadays. I want something that's not going to rust for 5 years and is economical fuel wise (for a mwb hi roof van). The best way to find out is by asking people who drive vans every day I guess!

We have 2x VW Crafters at present, both 09 plates. Both starting to suffer from rust problems around penl joints etc. Going to get them fixed under warranty then sell them I've decided.
 
The best vans I've driven (and I've driven a few) are the transit and vw transporter. I think the vw would edge it slightly.

Not sure if they are the right size for you tho.
 
A LWB Transit would do the job for us. VW would have to be a crafter but I don't like the fact ours are showing rust around joints after 6 years. Maybe I'm asking too much from a van I dunno.
 
If I was looking at a van that size I'd also really look at the new iveco huge range about to be released and the reviews on them are looking good. They've also got one coming out to fill the void Mercedes are leaving with the discontinuation of the vario.

But ultimately you know deep down you'll end up with another VW/merc or a transit
 
We've standardised on Merc Sprinters, but our needs are probably a bit different from yours.
 
Having said that I do like the look of the new movano/master shame it seems a bit bare bones on the inside
 
Crafters are mercs which always rust. Are you getting 5 year warranty on the contract hire deal?

Do they need to be as big as the crafter?
 
Realistically yes as our business will be doing plumbing, electrics and gas soon and we need a lot of tools and stock.
 
Could you not split the trades across two vans?

How about the warranty?
 
Nice choice of sizes image.jpg
 
As long as it's not French, you have been warned.
 
New transits (not customs) are available in all sorts of sizes, but I think you'd get a better deal on a LWB medium sized van maybe? hence the question.

Not telling you how you run your business but I had a crafter a few years ago and although it was handy having all sorts in the van it isn't very economical. That depends on what sort of mileage you cover though.

I've now downsized (twice) but changed the way we order materials so that all the bits and bobs are assigned to a job, so apart from odd fittings you may need out of the blue, van stock has been greatly reduced.

Also the value of stock is less so not tied up in dusty surplus stock.
 
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Nostrum said:
I've got a new Renault trafic :chinese:

4 years warranty though, nice van.
Click to expand...

I like the look of those it's taken a while to grow on me but I like then not as much as the custom but looking at the prices it makes sense
 
Nostrum said:
New transits (not customs) are available in all sorts of sizes, but I think you'd get a better deal on a LWB medium sized van maybe? hence the question.

Not telling you how you run your business but I had a crafter a few years ago and although it was handy having all sorts in the van it isn't very economical. That depends on what sort of mileage you cover though.

I've now downsized (twice) but changed the way we order materials so that all the bits and bobs are assigned to a job, so apart from odd fittings you may need out of the blue, van stock has been greatly reduced.

Also the value of stock is less so not tied up in dusty surplus stock.
Click to expand...

No offence taken. It's a tricky one. We get an awful lot of work where we are doing larger jobs and need to do electrical and plumbing (and soon gas) all in one visit.

Many of these jobs are smaller jobs where it's a one man job for a few hours really. For a lot of our jobs around Lincoln parking is controlled and the residents get a permit for one of our vans too.

It's a tricky one but for us we've worked out exactly what stock to keep in the vans now, only stuff that we are using regularly. Anything else is ordered in on the jobs. I also like being able to keep all the pipes/ladders etc inside the vans. Would certainly consider a smaller van if there was one that could do this. Am trying to be open minded about it.

Would like a 5 year warranty. With contract hire it's usually down to the hire company to fix any issues tbh which is the appeal. All the servicing/tax etc is built into the monthly charge.
 
Only if you agree on it before hand I think Croft? I'm on a 2 year contract hire agreement myself. i would hate to have a van on contract hire but have to repair it when out of warranty! Also I think clutches aren't a warranty item, but classed as serviceable part.

Also, I do find myself becoming overly anxious about a scratch or whatever because they pile on the charges. I'm not sure I would trust one of the other guys to be that careful with it!

I'm going to try and buy it at the end if it's a good van, hand it down and maybe get another for myself, not sure yet.

You know how your business works. I know when I used to carry electrical as well as plumbing in the crafter it soon filled up.

I went to a mwb transit after the crafter and to be honest it was a little smaller but still big enough, tube went in over the cabin. They've stopped making that size now though. The transit custom and new trafic have bulkhead holes to put pipe through but I wouldn't want it there all the time.

I had the choice of custom or trafic (or anything else I wanted!) but preferred the space in the trafic, is squarer and slightly wider. Personal choice but not that keen on the custom myself.
 
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Most of our mileage is local and for the small amount of contracting work we do for regional companies (i.e. travelling around Lincolnshire) they cover travelling time + fuel. We do maybe 6k-8k a year in the vans so actually running costs aren't the biggest deal thinking about it.

I think we would struggle to operate well out of smaller vans doing the 3 different trades. I think I would prefer the extra flexibility rather than the saving on fuel tbh.
 
One tip once u get a brand new van get it in the garage first day get it under sealed
 
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