Minibus for Family

savagevixen

Hi
We recently purchased a second hand minibus for our family. We have 5 kids, aged 9,7,6,4 and 2. We got fed up of being unable to fit anything in the car when we were all in it, and a family trip to France last year lead to us driving 2 cars. Anyway, I am wondering if anyone can help with a couple of points.

On a long journey, the seats are very uncomfortable, is there anyway we can make them more comfortable?

The children (apart from the eldest) need boosters/car seats. The vehicle came from a minibus firm who told us that as all the seats were fitted with seatbelts with pretensioners, they were safe for children. However they do sit on their tummies. The regular Graco Jumior Plus seats that 3 of them have are too wide for the seats, and 2 cannot fit next too each other, The youngest has a BRitax Eclipse SP, this will fit in, but is a bit on the large side. Does anyone have any experince of fitting a car seat in a minibus, or in narrow seats? Does anyone have any advice?

Thirdly, regarding the MOT, does anyone know, if the vehicle is used for PLG purposes, whether it needs any special tests annually, or whether it has a specific test. It comes with a pink MOT thing.

Can anyone recommend a good insurer? Currently on the occassions we have used it, we have purchased PAYG from Norwich Union, but any advice would be appreciated.

If you can't help, thanks for reading! We did try to work it all out before we bought it, but then we were offered a really good deal!

big_gay_kirk

As for the seats.. the only real way to combat this is to get different seats... I'm assuming your vehicle is an LDV convoy, as they tend to be the most uncomfortable minibuses in existence.. Fords and Ivecos have much nicer seats... especially if you can somehow grab some out of a Transit Tourneo! The only advice I can offe rwith the child seats is that if your seats are doubles with a gangway between, you can rip them out and get singles and triples, but for safety and loading reasons you'd have to stagger them.... but you would end up with wider seats..
MOT.. this gets tricky.. it depends on usage, age and tonnage... and whether you have a twin axle.. if you have the latter ( two wheels on each side of the rear axle making four rear wheels in total...) the vehicle will have to be plated as a commercial vehicle, possibly twice a year.... same goes in certain circumstances if the max gross vehicle weight is over 3.5 tonnes... and check your driving licence.. depending on when you got your licence you may not be able to legally drive the vehicle if it is rated over 3.5 tonnes.. and its amazing how many minibuses are 4 tonnes and above.... and if you're stopped, and are found to have the wrong licence it can be very bad... alos check the maximum number of passengers your licence covers you for.. older licences have 16 or twenty.. newer ones twelve.. and what matters is how many the bus was made to carry... taking four seats out of a sixteen seater does not legally malke it a twelve seater... as many unfortunates have found out... sorry to sound negative.. if the vehicle was first registered before 1967 (IIRC) gross weight and seat numbers matter not.. it counts as a car, gets free tax, and can be driven on any licence... actually i applaud your decision to get a mb rather than one of those god awful so called people carriers.... oh yes, insurance.. try Adrian Flux, or if you only want to insure it when you're actually using it, try dayinsure.co.uk

savagevixen

Hi
Thanks for the reply, that is fantastic! It is an LDV Convoy, it's a 13 seater and weighs 3.1 tonnes. Our Driving Licence is absolutely fine, and my husband has also passed a minibus test, from when he drove students at the college he worked at.
I am concerned as I do not know where to find the info we need. It does have a twin axle, and I contacted the DVLA, who said that it was registered as PLG, not a commercial vehicle, they said this was because it was manufactured in 2000, they were however unable to give me any more information!!!
Do you know who to contact for official advice?
Many thanks again

scbk

If you need advice about MOT's then you want to get in touch with VOSA, they deal with them
Pretty sure that everything over 9 seats needs the special test, this is also the cutoff for people with a standard car licence

Conor_3

scbk wrote: »

If you need advice about MOT's then you want to get in touch with VOSA, they deal with them

Contact your local VOSA HGV test centre who will be able to help further. Every local authority has one. If it needs a Class 7 test, most councils have a test centre that does them.

pianeet

if it does need to be tested at a vosa station make sure you book up at least 6 weeks in advance as most of the vosa stations only test class 7 on certain days and it can be hard to get a test when you want one ,

big_gay_kirk

scbk wrote: »

this is also the cutoff for people with a standard car licence

But this depends on when you passed tour driving test.. when I passed all those years back I got a 16 seat licence, which was upgraded to 20 doing temp work for a bus co.

gner_ex

big_gay_kirk wrote: »

As for the seats.. the only real way to combat this is to get different seats... I'm assuming your vehicle is an LDV convoy, as they tend to be the most uncomfortable minibuses in existence.. Fords and Ivecos have much nicer seats... especially if you can somehow grab some out of a Transit Tourneo! The only advice I can offe rwith the child seats is that if your seats are doubles with a gangway between, you can rip them out and get singles and triples, but for safety and loading reasons you'd have to stagger them.... but you would end up with wider seats..
MOT.. this gets tricky.. it depends on usage, age and tonnage... and whether you have a twin axle.. if you have the latter ( two wheels on each side of the rear axle making four rear wheels in total...) the vehicle will have to be plated as a commercial vehicle, possibly twice a year.... same goes in certain circumstances if the max gross vehicle weight is over 3.5 tonnes... and check your driving licence.. depending on when you got your licence you may not be able to legally drive the vehicle if it is rated over 3.5 tonnes.. and its amazing how many minibuses are 4 tonnes and above.... and if you're stopped, and are found to have the wrong licence it can be very bad... alos check the maximum number of passengers your licence covers you for.. older licences have 16 or twenty.. newer ones twelve.. and what matters is how many the bus was made to carry... taking four seats out of a sixteen seater does not legally malke it a twelve seater... as many unfortunates have found out... sorry to sound negative.. if the vehicle was first registered before 1967 (IIRC) gross weight and seat numbers matter not.. it counts as a car, gets free tax, and can be driven on any licence... actually i applaud your decision to get a mb rather than one of those god awful so called people carriers.... oh yes, insurance.. try Adrian Flux, or if you only want to insure it when you're actually using it, try dayinsure.co.uk

What a load of rubbish!

Twin axle and twice a year MOT total garbage. For a bus, its the number of SEATS that matters. If upto eight, then can be driven on a car licence, nine to 16 needs a D1 licence (until 1997, a car pass gave a D1 licence) - 17 or more, and you need a full PCV licence (cat D). http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/WhatCanYouDriveAndYourObligations/DG_4022498 this link tells more.

You _can_ make a 16 seater into a 12 by taking seats out (and adjusting paperwork accordingly) but that won't give any advantage in terms of licences I don't think.

If the vehicle is 1972 or prior, it can be driven on a car licence as per http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/WhatCanYouDriveAndYourObligations/DG_4022619 but NOTE only eight passengers AND you must be over 21 AND had car licence for at least two years.

Big Gay Kirk - its far better to stay silent than give people total rubbish to read - or at least include words like "I'm not sure".

Re MOT's, if a total of nine seats or less, needs a car MOT (class 4, usually printed as class IV). If ten or more, needs some kind of bus MOT. either a class 5/class V which is for buses NOT used for hire and reward, or a class 6/class VI which is for buses used for hire & reward.

Note however that there are seatbelt requirements you must comply with. Find a local MOT station (that can do class 5 MOTs) and they will advise you. http://www.motspecialistsregister.com/pages/minibus may help

savagevixen

gner_ex wrote: »

What a load of rubbish!

Twin axle and twice a year MOT total garbage. For a bus, its the number of SEATS that matters. If upto eight, then can be driven on a car licence, nine to 16 needs a D1 licence (until 1997, a car pass gave a D1 licence) - 17 or more, and you need a full PCV licence (cat D). http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/WhatCanYouDriveAndYourObligations/DG_4022498 this link tells more.

You _can_ make a 16 seater into a 12 by taking seats out (and adjusting paperwork accordingly) but that won't give any advantage in terms of licences I don't think.

If the vehicle is 1972 or prior, it can be driven on a car licence as per http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/WhatCanYouDriveAndYourObligations/DG_4022619 but NOTE only eight passengers AND you must be over 21 AND had car licence for at least two years.

Big Gay Kirk - its far better to stay silent than give people total rubbish to read - or at least include words like "I'm not sure".

Re MOT's, if a total of nine seats or less, needs a car MOT (class 4, usually printed as class IV). If ten or more, needs some kind of bus MOT. either a class 5/class V which is for buses NOT used for hire and reward, or a class 6/class VI which is for buses used for hire & reward.

Note however that there are seatbelt requirements you must comply with. Find a local MOT station (that can do class 5 MOTs) and they will advise you. http://www.motspecialistsregister.com/pages/minibus may help

Hi Thanks so much. It is first reg. 2000 (V reg) and has 13 seats (inc driver) we intend to take 3 seats out, anyway, for space.
Our licenses are fine, for both of us to drive this vehicle. (both passed in 1992 and license states we can drive up to 16 seats.) Really very concerned with making sure we fulfill all/any necessary legal requirements as we have never owned a minibus before. I will contact the various bodies suggested for further info.
If it does need bi-annual testing, the last MOT was in Feb.
Thanks again

big_gay_kirk

gner-ex.. i was just quoting the info we had when i used to work with pcvs in the public and private sector.. and all our twin axle jobs had to be tested bi annually... and we were told by vosa to turn a 16 seater into a 12 seater that you had to be able to prove beyond any doubt that it would be impossible to fit the seats back in again.. which is apparently almost impossible... possibly our firm was given the wrong info.. it happens.. I currently work with hgvs, and drive vans.. and my twin axle sprinter (5 tonne) has to have bi-annual testing...

ozvaldinho

I have a 3.85 lwb ldv convoy 17 seater with the twin axle. It needs an MOT just once a year. You can't drive it on a car licence as it is over 3.5t.
For social purposes you can drive yours on a c licence, although you will hit a tonne of red tape if you take it abroad.

I use Minibusplus.com for my insurance, my broker says there's a very limited market for minibus policies. PM me if you want my brokers' details...MBP have been taken over and the new owner QBE is struggling with some of its' paperwork.

As for seats, I'd suggest you get an expert to do the fittings. They will probably need to bolt them through the floorpan and this can create a rust trap. LDV's rust like !!!!!!y underneath, if you start bolting things through the floor, water could get in and corrode the mountings and the damage in an accident could be horrific. An additional steel plate welded on could help here.

Oh, lots and lots of Waxoil underneath will help prolong the life of your LDV.