Potential of van driver / average earning

alwaysfree143

Gonnai buy something like this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2010-10-Ford-Transit-350-115PS-LWB-HR-6-Speed-/351121396965?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=VNs22oCZz2g6x1Ig0RiAmthA1JY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

missbiggles1

alwaysfree143 wrote: »

If we talk about UK licence then no I have not. Just 8 months so far...

But I have previously driven a car in non-European country for 5 years so as long as I am legally not barred to do this job, there is no problem.

I'm thinking about your hiring a van, for which you'll need to have held a UK or EU licence for a minimum of 12 months.

alwaysfree143

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I'm thinking about your hiring a van, for which you'll need to have held a UK or EU licence for a minimum of 12 months.

I have not heard of such rule anywhere yet. All I have come to know is, you have money in pocket you buy your own van and start driving.

B Category licence is good enough for anything below 3.5 tons

bugslet

Indeed if it's your van that you have bought, however miss biggles raises a valid point. Hire companies can put their own restrictions on their terms.

Re GIT, I read that first section as purely for the vehicle. You have to advise an insurer if you use a vehicle for commercial purposes.. You would normally have a seperate policy for GIT and public liability. GIT will specify how much the insurers will pay out in the dvent of damage, often expessed as £x per kilo.

In the 30 or so years I've been doing it, it's been seperate policies.

1886

google: cod forum

it's a forum for courier owner drivers

w211

I used to be self-employed courier, when I was in my 20s. I can't really add anything useful to the thread, as I think everything's been covered.

All I can say is that for jobs, look at the driving section on the London part of Gumtree. Plenty of jobs there to get started, and also most will give some sort of ideas of earnings.

alwaysfree143

bugslet wrote: »

Indeed if it's your van that you have bought, however miss biggles raises a valid point. Hire companies can put their own restrictions on their terms.

Re GIT, I read that first section as purely for the vehicle. You have to advise an insurer if you use a vehicle for commercial purposes.. You would normally have a seperate policy for GIT and public liability. GIT will specify how much the insurers will pay out in the dvent of damage, often expessed as £x per kilo.

In the 30 or so years I've been doing it, it's been seperate policies.

Yeah I noticed that too

I was wondering if I buy a van with roughly 100k to 150k mileage I might start having problems with the engine or car parts from day one. So it is a best idea to get it insured somehow... I found out that there is something called "Warranty Insurance" which covers this bit?

But they seems to cover only up to 120,000 miles and most of the vans I am looking around has a mileage just over 120k. So can you recommend something about it?

I think 300-1000 pounds of investment in this regard is definitely worth it

alwaysfree143

1886 wrote: »

google: cod forum

it's a forum for courier owner drivers

I already know this forum Sir. But they are not as active as MoneysavingExpert. I asked the same question and received only one reply -- that is

http://www.codforum.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11775

bugslet

alwaysfree143 wrote: »

Yeah I noticed that too

I was wondering if I buy a van with roughly 100k to 150k mileage I might start having problems with the engine or car parts from day one. So it is a best idea to get it insured somehow... I found out that there is something called "Warranty Insurance" which covers this bit?

But they seems to cover only up to 120,000 miles and most of the vans I am looking around has a mileage just over 120k. So can you recommend something about it?

I think 300-1000 pounds of investment in this regard is definitely worth it

I know of no insurance and I think if such a thing did exist, that it would cost so much to insure, you may as well not bother with the premium.

As I said before, it is always a risk with a van with mileage on it, you don't know if it's been taken care of generally. If it's come from a big company then you can guess they have kept to the service schedule, but no guarantee. From a small company they could be look us and over-service or they could neglect them. It's business, it's risk - no way round that with a used van.

I've had a van from new that had an engine blow up at 50,000 miles, I've had the going strong at 360,000+. It is literally anyone's guess unfortunately.

PasturesNew

Also, remember that every vehicle has a laden weight. That's the van, fuel, you, the weight of your sandwiches and .... the sum of all the parcels you're carrying. For each parcel you load on you will need to know that you don't exceed the total weight for the vehicle. This can, sometimes, mean the van might only be 3/4 full, but already overweight. Of course, it won't happen often, but you might find yourself "bidding" on a load you're unfamiliar with... so watch out.