Minibus private hire query, bear with me.

MX5huggy

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

I wouldnt pick anyone up in my car if they had a bear with them

No sounds very dangerous, watch out for tigers aswell!

Rolandtheroadie

Was wondering whether to write bear with me or bare with me (bear won for obvious reasons).

Lemonade_Pockets

Don't you have to be turning over a certain amount to be VAT registered??

JasonLVC

You can register voluntarily at any point upto the compulsory registration threshold of £67,000 after which it is, as it suggestsm compulsory.

If mainly business 2 business then VAT registration is fine as the VAT will not be an extra cost to the customers, but when selling business to consumer, consumers cannot get the VAT back so registering needlessly means consumers are charged VAT, they can't get it back and so the business is now more expensive than an unregistered competitor.

Lemonade_Pockets

Ah ok makes sense. I've never come across anyone that registered voluntarily so assumed it wasn't an option.
But as you say probably no good reason to for most people..more hastle than its worth.

Learn something new every day

Rolandtheroadie

Point taken on the VAT front. I just felt sick about giving over £1000 to the VAT man that I could perhaps have claimed back.
I suppose your (probably) paying it on all vehicles anyway, it's just it's listed as an extra on a commercial vehicle (?)

Conor_3

scotsman4th wrote: »

Ok, so heres the queries.

1. VAT. Would it benefit me to register for VAT and claim back the vat on the minibus? If I registered, would I also be able to claim VAT back on fuel and all other expenses where VAT is applied.

2. Anyone any ideas of average insurance prices for a business use minibus?

3. Any other Info on how to go about it appreciated.

1) It's not worth the aggro.
2) Horrendous for use as private hire.
3) Forget about it. You would also need:

• Two tests a year which are stricter than the MOT and also have a check on the asthetic condition of the vehicle so it has to look good.
• Public Liability Insurance.
• CRB check

There's probably some others but I forget and it varies from council to council.

Rolandtheroadie

Conor wrote: »

1) It's not worth the aggro.
2) Horrendous for use as private hire.
3) Forget about it. You would also need:

• Two tests a year which are stricter than the MOT and also have a check on the asthetic condition of the vehicle so it has to look good.
• Public Liability Insurance.
• CRB check

There's probably some others but I forget and it varies from council to council.

Thanks for that.

1. I'd established the VAT part was probably a no-go.
2. Do you have an average? you sound like you have experience. What did it cost per year?
3. As its also for personal use its the 2 times £45 for the private hire part and a seperate MOT test (which it should pass as the other test is more intrusive).

The public liability insurance and the CRB checks are also givens.
Plus an operators licence and the criminal checks that go with that (less intrusive as the drivers one but required just the same)

These are the things I know, anyone have any others I've not considered?

ozvaldinho

Couple of other points to consider...

Operators' Licence may need planning permission depending on where you want to keep your vehicle. I think they ask for a declaration about your solvency and major criminal convictions and motoring offences rather than doing a CRB check.

I'm not too sure about the rules for tachographs and speed limiters on minibuses for private hire. It's worth checking the Maximum Gross Weight of the vehicle you buy as some larger minibuses are registered at 3.85 tonnes and this opens a whole new world of bureaucracy.

Drivers' CPC (certificate of Professional Competency) rules are coming in soon, this would apply to your minibus, I believe.

I insure my minibus through QBE, who bought out Minibusplus last year.
http://www.qbeeurope.com/motor/products/product.htm

I'd also be very careful about buying a three or four year old Vito, the engines can start to go wrong at about 130k miles and are very expensive to fix.

Rolandtheroadie

Thanks ozvaldhino, sensible reply.
Ops licence is more to do with Jail time and convictions within certain timescales, it's the drivers checks that are full CRB.

It would only be a 9 seater (inc driver) so I think the tacho bit's not an issue unless you drive abroad in europe for hire or reward.
62 mph speed limiter i'm unsure of for private hire (anyone clarify?)
As far as CPC goes, as it wouldnt require a PSV licence, i'm pretty sure it should be exempt from this. ( i'm a general all round looking for something else in life person, have been going to do my class 2 a couple of times, 1st time bought an old SD1, second time done my motorbike test third time not decided yet so read a bit about the cpc lately).

Got a quick quote there of £3300 but as a first quote, i'd like to assume I could get this a lot cheaper.

As far as the minibus goes, i'm looking at 2006 vivaros mainly, 20k miles or thereabouts but a bit worried about luggage space as it is primarily a private vehicle, the private hire is just an idea to try and help pay for it.

If the purchase price, insurance, tax, tests and repairs were to average out at around £500 per month, i'd be looking to make around £350-£400 from the private hire stuff.