Self employed van costs

Mercdriver

HHarry wrote: »

I think that buying a decent van for £3k will be tricky.

Last weekend we had 2 guys drive to Lymington, pick up a 3 piece sofa from a 1st floor flat, drive to Reading and drop the sofa off in a 2nd floor flat - all for £100.
That can't be any more than minimum wage after running costs.

I doubt it is even that. My FIL was a courier for some years starting out doing same day deliveries. He had a contact within the steelworks and got some work that way while the blast furnace was being rebuilt.

Other calls were less lucrative. One person wanted him to drop off a guitar that someone had bought on eBay across the other end of the country and was amazed about how much it would cost. You have to have something that makes you stand out against the nationals that use a hub and spoke system to keep the consignment costs down. At the same time you need to do a proper "Cost to do Business" plan to decide how much you should really charge.

Starting this with a pretty much bangernomics van is a recipe for disaster. Abusing charity regulations is just laughable.

AdrianC

Mercdriver wrote: »

I doubt it is even that.

Indeed.

Lymington-Reading = 70 miles. Let's call it 2hr each way plus an hour of labour.

So that's 140 miles plus 10 man hours.

Minimum wage = £7.83 = £78.30. That leaves £21.70 for van costs = 21.7p/mile. At £1.30/litre for diesel, and generously assuming 35mpg, that leaves about 5p/mile for all the other running costs of the van.

And minimum wage goes up to £8.21 in a week's time. Even assuming diesel doesn't change in price, that'll leave less than a penny for the other running costs.


I bet a heck of a lot of people would throw their hands up in horror and say "A hundred quid to shift a sofa up the M3 a bit? You're having a laugh!", too.

Mercdriver

It's not so bad if you are picking that up as a 'back load' where you would otherwise run back empty from another job. There are agencies that specialise in these but you have to have a decent paying outward load to make it feasible. Too many people don't do their home work on starting a business and don't work out the essential cost of doing business.

A 3K van is likely to be nearing shed level, and will have been around the mill. I smile at those Vanarama ads for leases on vans. Behind the dodgy dancing and singing is a 6 - 8,000 pa mileage allowance for the price advertised. 6 - 8,000 for a white van? Even the OP will do more than this part time. As for using a van full time instead of a car, that will get very tiresome very quickly.

OP, you need to think this through carefully. And if you pick up anything on a commercial basis you HAVE to have GIT insurance - even for newspaper distribution in early mornings. But Menzies and the like will not allow you to use a banger van.

You also need to bear in mind that if you break down and someone else has to finish your drops you do not get paid and you have to pay for someone else to do the drops - usually an 'ad-hoc' driver who is not contracted and charges more than a salaried or contracted driver would.

There are many pitfalls even if you are well prepared...

couriervanman

AdrianC wrote: »

Indeed.

Lymington-Reading = 70 miles. Let's call it 2hr each way plus an hour of labour.

So that's 140 miles plus 10 man hours.

Minimum wage = £7.83 = £78.30. That leaves £21.70 for van costs = 21.7p/mile. At £1.30/litre for diesel, and generously assuming 35mpg, that leaves about 5p/mile for all the other running costs of the van.

And minimum wage goes up to £8.21 in a week's time. Even assuming diesel doesn't change in price, that'll leave less than a penny for the other running costs.


I bet a heck of a lot of people would throw their hands up in horror and say "A hundred quid to shift a sofa up the M3 a bit? You're having a laugh!", too.

Well if i was quoting for Reading to Lymington in a small van to pick up and return to Reading it would be £1 a mile £140

Lots of couriers only quote for one way on the hope they will get a return trip/pickup
But those guys picking the sofa up in big van must be nuts doing it for that.......presume they had no GIT insurance

AdrianC

couriervanman wrote: »

Well if i was quoting for Reading to Lymington in a small van to pick up and return to Reading it would be £1 a mile £140

And that would just be one guy, I presume?

Two people plus shifting furniture up and down stairs...?

Mercdriver

couriervanman wrote: »

Well if i was quoting for Reading to Lymington in a small van to pick up and return to Reading it would be £1 a mile £140

Lots of couriers only quote for one way on the hope they will get a return trip/pickup
But those guys picking the sofa up in big van must be nuts doing it for that.......presume they had no GIT insurance

That's the sort of rate my father in law used to charge...and he always had GIT insurance

couriervanman

AdrianC wrote: »

And that would just be one guy, I presume?

Two people plus shifting furniture up and down stairs...?

Absolutely.....one person in small astra van 15 minutes loading/unloading time at each end then extra