[Steve Sed]

My business is growing. I was in the Peugeot dealership looking at the Partner Professional new. I think about 11k. Wife has a Saab estate & I have an Escort van. Am I mad to consider trading both in and buying a Fiesta or something for the misses and using the van for our camping trips as well as work of course. Wife is fussy and hates the Escort, but loves the Partner. To add, I use a Pure Freedom trolley and 25 litre barrels currently.

Total trade in is around 6k I guess and the new van would be the family vehicle in the short term. I'd just like some opinions.

[Steve Sed]

Should add we'd get a Fiesta or something for the wife.

[Tom White]

It looks a bit small to me; great for trad; but then a normal car is great for trad work too.

Is it for a van mount?

[brianbarber]

Should be ok,
Or transit connect,
Remember think hard, maybe soon you will have van mounted system, so future proof your new van.

Mr B

[♠Winp®oClean♠]

If you don't require 3 seats look at the new Fiat Doblo maxi, long wheelbase & 1000kg payload. Loads of room in that for camping!

[Steve Sed]

For yje next 3 years, my round will be part time, though I would like a removable van mount. But I'm toying with using my trolley as van mount, but just put a tank in and 50m hose.

[Steve Sed]

If you don't require 3 seats look at the new Fiat Doblo maxi, long wheelbase & 1000kg payload. Loads of room in that for camping!

I could always strap the wife down in the back and me and young William sit up front. 

[Tom White]

Steve,

I've done a fair bit of reading about vans on this site, and the mid range vans of the scudo/expert/dispatch range (same van (ish)) seem to get the 'forces favourite' thumbs up from window cleaners.  They're not much bigger than a family car, have a carrying capacity of between 815-1000 kgs, seem to be work horses and someone posted that they're cheap to source parts if you know where to look.

If you do a search on this site for the various vans, you can read what other window cleaners have said about them.

[Steve Sed]

Steve,

I've done a fair bit of reading about vans on this site, and the mid range vans of the scudo/expert/dispatch range (same van (ish)) seem to get the 'forces favourite' thumbs up from window cleaners.  They're not much bigger than a family car, have a carrying capacity of between 815-1000 kgs, seem to be work horses and someone posted that they're cheap to source parts if you know where to look.

If you do a search on this site for the various vans, you can read what other window cleaners have said about them.

Thanks Tosh. Will read up.

[Tom White]

No probs, Steve.  I picked up a 2nd hand Citroen Dispatch yesturday (it's the 1.9 engine not the HDI 2L) so it's slow, but it looks and feels like it's upto the job.  I had a budget of £5K to spend on a vehicle, but someone on this forum pointed me towards a 54 plate with 70K on the clock at £3K.  

Other posters say that these vehicles can comfortably make 200,000K on the clock and higher.  In one back post a guy bought an Expert for £350 and at the time he posted it - he had had it for three years - and it had done over 200,000 miles, was still running well and was pleased.

So hopefully, I've got about another 130,000 miles to get out of the vehicle; and my mileage won't be high since I've now got a dedicated family vehicle, which will be a real treat for us all.  Personally, after about nine years of using the same vehicle for work and family, I've had enough of it.  That was really my incentive from going van mounted.

[AuRavelling79]

How's your van fitting out going Toshy me old mate? I tell you your daily takings will go up markedly (or you'll do the work in less time) once you've adapted to working out of a van after a car.

20% advantage I reckon. And all expenditure chargeable to tax.

[Tom White]

How's your van fitting out going Toshy me old mate? I tell you your daily takings will go up markedly (or you'll do the work in less time) once you've adapted to working out of a van after a car.

20% advantage I reckon. And all expenditure chargeable to tax.

I hope so, Gold! 

I haven't fitted the van out yet, though I've ordered over £1.5K worth of kit (including 2 x SLX's and 2 x aqua dapters) to go inside.  I'm waiting for it all to arrive.  It's expensive 'cos I had to order two pumps, two pump controllers, two lots of hose, two hose reels, and I didn't want to get the cheapest 'cos you know how that works (you buy twice). 

I'll protectakote the floor and see about getting the tank bolted in, but there's a partial bulkhead in the van that the 400 liter FLAT tank fits up against; so I'm not sure if this is needed?  I'm not sure how I feel about getting a garage to drill holes through my chassis to fit a tank; but I guess that's another post.

Anyway, I'm trying to get hold of Gilesy to have a nosey around his van to see what goes where and how it all works; but trying to pin him down isn't easy.

But I'm all excited about it; I should've done this some years back; I don't like change, until I'm forced to do it; I'm getting old I guess!

[Spruce]

How's your van fitting out going Toshy me old mate? I tell you your daily takings will go up markedly (or you'll do the work in less time) once you've adapted to working out of a van after a car.

20% advantage I reckon. And all expenditure chargeable to tax.

I hope so, Gold! 

I haven't fitted the van out yet, though I've ordered over £1.5K worth of kit (including 2 x SLX's and 2 x aqua dapters) to go inside.  I'm waiting for it all to arrive.  It's expensive 'cos I had to order two pumps, two pump controllers, two lots of hose, two hose reels, and I didn't want to get the cheapest 'cos you know how that works (you buy twice). 

I'll protectakote the floor and see about getting the tank bolted in, but there's a partial bulkhead in the van that the 400 liter FLAT tank fits up against; so I'm not sure if this is needed?  I'm not sure how I feel about getting a garage to drill holes through my chassis to fit a tank; but I guess that's another post.

Anyway, I'm trying to get hold of Gilesy to have a nosey around his van to see what goes where and how it all works; but trying to pin him down isn't easy.

But I'm all excited about it; I should've done this some years back; I don't like change, until I'm forced to do it; I'm getting old I guess!

Hi Tosh,

Good choice of van. Whilst you are waiting for all your stuff, best to get the van floor prepared to be painted with protectakote. Best to remove plylining floor and leave out in the garage.
Any water spillages will dry and not absorb themselves into the wood. The Protectakote is strong, but you may have to touch it up in heavy wear places as time goes on.

I hope this next bit of advise doesn't come too late, but keep as little diesel in the tank as possible until you ascertain whether the tank has to be dropped/removed to fit the securing brackets. It could be with the flat tank the brackets would 'straddle' the chassis rather than fitting between it where the tank is situated.

Spruce

[Tom White]

Thanks Spruce; I've got protectakote ordered from the Cleaning Warehouse and the ply lined floor has been removed, though the walls and wheel arches still have it.

I'm going to take some pics tomorrow with reference the securing the tank to the floor and ask some questions about that.

Cheers.