Potential of van driver / average earning

bugslet

Thank you - I've been in this game all my life and frankly I'd rather not do anything else but this, though I rarely drive myself now. (Some days I could cheerfully kill a few customers, but we all get days like that:D)

I don't lease/contract hire myself, but it may be worth you ringing round and getting an idea of what a monthly charge would be for a van from one of the hire companies - you'll need to decide the period of time you want to work on, the longer the better to drive the rate down. I'm not sure if it will be worth while, but no harm in asking. It will give you a very fixed cost and if anything were to go wrong, then you should get a replacement. We buy, but we are an established company and not in the courier sector, so different kettle of fish.

Van type - Ford, Merc, we run Renault Masters. I rate them, I get around 300,000 miles out of an engine, but we are getting them new and we over-service in terms of oil changes etc. Buying a second hand van is always a bit of leap of faith; unfortunatley businsess is a risk. They are all much of a muchness and MPG is probably broadly similar - again driving round a town is different to our long distance.

When I started out, I spent two years working ridiculous hours, not all driving, office stuff. I didn't work for courier companies - my impression is that if you can get work direct you will get a better rate overall. I believe you can make a living out of working for a courier company, as I said hit the search button for van or courier and you will bring up some threads where people who have direct experience can give you better info.

bugslet

SailorSam wrote: »

Just thought of another thing to keep in mind, if you're making deliveries into central London, don't you have to pay some sort of fee to go in. And once you're there you're going to have to find somewhere to park while you make your deliveries. The Tv shows i've seen never have friendly wardens, the costs could rise.
How about doing something like man-and-van-for-hire. With lots of people living in flats and very mobile moving around, is there a market for shifting furniture or taking stuff to the dump for people.

could be Sam, I see them around, but it's very ad hoc I imagine, not regular income???

Central London is congestion charge, good thinking, you need to factor that in as a cost.

specialboy

When buying a van don't or get to factor in that it may need o be LEZ compliant

bugslet

If it has to be no more than 5 years old then it should be LEZ compliant.

|Put in LEZ compliance into your search and you can check a reg online

alwaysfree143

bugslet wrote: »

Thank you - I've been in this game all my life and frankly I'd rather not do anything else but this, though I rarely drive myself now. (Some days I could cheerfully kill a few customers, but we all get days like that:D)

I don't lease/contract hire myself, but it may be worth you ringing round and getting an idea of what a monthly charge would be for a van from one of the hire companies - you'll need to decide the period of time you want to work on, the longer the better to drive the rate down. I'm not sure if it will be worth while, but no harm in asking. It will give you a very fixed cost and if anything were to go wrong, then you should get a replacement. We buy, but we are an established company and not in the courier sector, so different kettle of fish.

Van type - Ford, Merc, we run Renault Masters. I rate them, I get around 300,000 miles out of an engine, but we are getting them new and we over-service in terms of oil changes etc. Buying a second hand van is always a bit of leap of faith; unfortunatley businsess is a risk. They are all much of a muchness and MPG is probably broadly similar - again driving round a town is different to our long distance.

When I started out, I spent two years working ridiculous hours, not all driving, office stuff. I didn't work for courier companies - my impression is that if you can get work direct you will get a better rate overall. I believe you can make a living out of working for a courier company, as I said hit the search button for van or courier and you will bring up some threads where people who have direct experience can give you better info.

Thanks for another informative post.

Just wondering how much does the Renault Master of 2008 model worth?

eBay suggests it can be purchased for about £3800 is it worth it?

How about the other two vehicles... What do you think should be the good budget to purchase Mercedes Sprinter, Ford Transit or Renault Master with the number plate of 2008 or newer?

Any idea in this regard? Since its going to be my first van in life I seriously do not know anything about the prices. I initially thought they would cost around £20,000 but eBay showed the prices anywhere between £4000 to £8000.

Any specific info in the van I should look before purchasing would be a very good tip for my benefit?

Thanks a lot, wish there was a thanks button I could press for million times.

bugslet

Now I'm getting all embarrassed.

It'll be difficult to answer this one, we buy new. By the time I sell a van, it'll have around 300k on the clock and it will be about 5-6 year old. It will usually sell for around 3k.

It's not so much the age of the van, but the mileage and the servicing and the type of work. If you get an ex courier type van, then the transmission is going to have had more of a battering than say one of ours that head out on Motorways.

Don't forget to factor in VAT - not sure about vans and ebay - but if you see one elsewhere, then the figure may be ex-VAT. For £5500.00 + VAT, I'd hope you'd get an 11 plate Transit with less than a 100km on it. It's a judgement call only you can make, may be worth looking at up to 150km, I'd hope you wouldn't have any major trouble for another 50km. Looking at plenty of vans will give you a feel for the price they go for - sub 20k would get you a bright shiny new van.

The worst thing you can do is over-think in many ways - you end up running round in circles. Go to some van sales, go for an amble round the block in it, see if it feels/sounds OK, if it does, and it fits the price, then crack on.

I made plenty of mistakes, still do!, had I thought more, I'd just have made different mistakes:o

Whilst I'm in advice giving mode (must be because I was 26 when I started), never forget it is a service job and the job description should read driver/diplomat. Be nice to everyone, customer, people you collect from and deliver to and don't say no - most of my ongoing business has come to me based on that philosophy.

alwaysfree143

bugslet wrote: »

Now I'm getting all embarrassed.

It'll be difficult to answer this one, we buy new. By the time I sell a van, it'll have around 300k on the clock and it will be about 5-6 year old. It will usually sell for around 3k.

It's not so much the age of the van, but the mileage and the servicing and the type of work. If you get an ex courier type van, then the transmission is going to have had more of a battering than say one of ours that head out on Motorways.

Don't forget to factor in VAT - not sure about vans and ebay - but if you see one elsewhere, then the figure may be ex-VAT. For £5500.00 + VAT, I'd hope you'd get an 11 plate Transit with less than a 100km on it. It's a judgement call only you can make, may be worth looking at up to 150km, I'd hope you wouldn't have any major trouble for another 50km. Looking at plenty of vans will give you a feel for the price they go for - sub 20k would get you a bright shiny new van.

The worst thing you can do is over-think in many ways - you end up running round in circles. Go to some van sales, go for an amble round the block in it, see if it feels/sounds OK, if it does, and it fits the price, then crack on.

I made plenty of mistakes, still do!, had I thought more, I'd just have made different mistakes:o

Whilst I'm in advice giving mode (must be because I was 26 when I started), never forget it is a service job and the job description should read driver/diplomat. Be nice to everyone, customer, people you collect from and deliver to and don't say no - most of my ongoing business has come to me based on that philosophy.

Thanks for the wonderful piece of advice once again

I owe you a lot, I will keep this in mind

and yes will be looking around the van sites more aggressively as I made my mind of finally buying a van as soon as possible.

Cheers

specialboy

Fiat Ducato and Citroen are good vans and a high mileage 2009/2010 lwb/mwb can be bought or £5/£7k but as mentioned above vat is payable if buying from a trader but may not be if buying private

aggypanthus

MyDH has a vauxhal vivaro, in the past a fiat ducuto.

How does it work for delivery people who use own car? What type of business uses them?

OP..as you are over 25 , if u work 30hrs min you can apply for working tax credits, this will help if you dont make much profit as you start out.

Are you prepared for the admin involved in self employment? This can be part of your 30 hrs work.

What work have u done before btw?

alwaysfree143

aggypanthus wrote: »

MyDH has a vauxhal vivaro, in the past a fiat ducuto.

How does it work for delivery people who use own car? What type of business uses them?

OP..as you are over 25 , if u work 30hrs min you can apply for working tax credits, this will help if you dont make much profit as you start out.

Are you prepared for the admin involved in self employment? This can be part of your 30 hrs work.

What work have u done before btw?

I am already self employed but as a currency trader. I have hired an accountant who manages all the affairs for me.

But I am not sure if I will be able to apply for working tax credit as I am also a homeowner? and I am not looking for such things all I am looking forward to do is start a full time job or buy a van if it helps me get a reasonable income per month.

Right now I am in such a position that I am not sure if driving medium wheel base van will be as comfortable as driving an ordinary car so I preferably wanted to start from Short wheel base at least for a couple of months if not more. Right now I have shortlisted

1) Ford Transit (2009)
2) Ford Transit Connect (2010)
3) Vauxhall Vivaro (2009)
4) Vauxhall Combo (2010)
5) Peugeot Bipper (2010)

I liked the Mercedes Sprinter too but it it offers less mpg as compared to above mentioned vehicles and myself being new into this business I want to save as much as possible. Once I am settled into this business I can always opt for even long wheel base vehicles but the first step is to get into the business and be confident about what I am driving.

PS: Doing research on the insurance options for each vehicle... Choosing a van is just a part of the whole package as you already know.