Courier van - how big?

fryup

Thinking about getting into the delivery business as a owner driver, been told to get as big as you get in case of large & long items e.g. car exhausts and the like... but realistically how often would you get a delivery that size ?

does a courier van have to be a long wheel based model, or could i get away with something smaller like a ford connect ?

Thanks in advance,

Toyotafanboi

It depends on what you intend on delivering. You can fit small things in a big van but you can't fit big things in a small van so you may have to turn down work.

It's worth baring in mind the difference in running costs between a big van and a small van can be significant too.

Last placed I worked we serviced a few Fastway Renault Masters, the drivers said they were great because you could fit 2x full size pallets in, one through the sliding door and one through the rear doors.

fryup

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

i take it you're in the business? how often would you get large items that would need a big van ? percentage wise

Cheensbo

fryup wrote: »

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

i take it you're in the business? how often would you get large items that would need a big van ? percentage wise

It totally depends on who your customers are and what they do.

The company I work for uses a lot of different couriers, for example sometimes a lwb high roof twin wheel renault master arrives here carrying a small bag of bolts in the cab, other times he has 2 pallets in the van and a trailer with 2 pallets in it too.

It really depends on who your bread and butter work is going to be with - and what they'll need you to bring.

bazz26

Afaik if your driving a big van that is of a certain length, weight, etc you need a different category on your driving license.

Toyotafanboi

fryup wrote: »

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

i take it you're in the business? how often would you get large items that would need a big van ? percentage wise

I'm not in the business, no.

I've got talking to a few drivers though and they said a huge amount of the work is clothing that has been purchased online.

The Undecided One

fryup wrote: »

Thinking about getting into the delivery business as a owner driver, been told to get as big as you get in case of large & long items e.g. car exhausts and the like... but realistically how often would you get a delivery that size ?

does a courier van have to be a long wheel based model, or could i get away with something smaller like a ford connect ?

Thanks in advance,

I was thinking of doing exactly the same thing, looks like a short wheelbase Sprinter would cover you for most cases, I've driven one a few times and you can fit 2 pallets comfortably.
The max load of a connect wouldn't be great, throw in 20 agri batteries and you'd be closed to the max limit.

Do companies have requirements regarding age of the vans?

bazz26

bazz26 wrote: »

Afaik if your driving a big van that is of a certain length, weight, etc you need a different category on your driving license.

It all about weight, once its less than 3500kg then its a car licence. Even the biggest vans (long wheel base sprinters for instance) fit easily into this category.

737max

Reanult Traffic is the sweetspot for a delivery driver running as an owner operator. sometimes a bigger van is needed but once you get beyond that size the cost of fuel starts to eat in to take home pay.
If you are in a rural area delivering to customers rather than collecting you could have bulky items like tyres.
If you could get by with an NV200 your running costs would be 20% lower but an NV200 is unlikely to be large enough for delivery driving.
There is no big money in being self-employed for a courier company. Sometimes you'll be better off running a route for them as an employee on a route that no self-employed driver is willing to take. I know someone who is a delivery driver. The best thing I can say about it is that it keeps him busy.

E36Ross

Juniper Lively Bullfrog wrote: »

It all about weight, once its less than 3500kg then its a car licence. Even the biggest vans (long wheel base sprinters for instance) fit easily into this category.

A LWB Sprinter can be up to 5000kg.

dreamers75

We have 13 vans from Connects to Sprinters.

The Fords are best for servicing and the Jumbo Transit is the best of the lot, carries the most and issues are rare.

fryup

Cheensbo wrote: »

The company I work for uses a lot of different couriers, for example sometimes a lwb high roof twin wheel renault master arrives here carrying a small bag of bolts in the cab, other times he has 2 pallets in the van and a trailer with 2 pallets in it too.

When you're talking about "pallets" ...are you talking about heavy deliveries that have to be put on a pallet??

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I'm not in the business, no.

I've got talking to a few drivers though and they said a huge amount of the work is clothing that has been purchased online.

clothing ? well if thats the case a ford connect would be just fine?? or do courier company's prefer drivers to be as flexible as possible? big & small deliveries

discodaveirl

It depends what you plan on moving, i worked for a local franchised courier and we had from lwb transit (semi and high roof) lwb crafters and sprinters and luton bodies transits. Work on more specialised work atm with a lwb sprinter, others in our current place have masters and are envious of the sprinters, they had them and my sprinter definitely is 1-1.5 meters longer and yet i can back in the majority of gateways you'd put a micra through, the masters find it difficult due to the terrible steering lock...
On my list of buys and dont buys i'd say buy either a sprinter 313 or a crafter, mk7 transit (upto 2012), fiat ducato, peugeot boxer. Or the old reliable the hiace if you want something to start off with.

Would avoid the 315 sprinter, twin turbo setup is a disaster, the master for issues stated above and the traffic because there not to great either. The mk8 transit are giving lots of small expensive troubles, door hinges, egr valves, body control modules among others...

Fairly large issue with transit also with this tibbet key which can be bought online.

Have you made an enquiries regarding insurance, pm me if you wouldnt mind on this.

fryup

discodaveirl wrote: »

Or the old reliable the hiace if you want something to start off with.

see very few hiaces used as courier vans, why is that ..have they got an image problem?

Irish Steve

Another factor that no one has mentioned so far is the area that you expect to be delivering in. If you expect to be in some parts of Dublin (eg Crumlin), you do NOT want a large van, getting in and out of some estates, and parking in those estates will be a nightmare, I had to do it for a while with an old long wheelbase LDV, which was a total pain in those areas, due to the number of people parked on both sides that made it almost impossible to even get into some roads, and a big van on bin collection day can be a serious liability!

Side doors can be a big help, even more so if there's 2 of them, as that can make getting to things at the front a lot easier than having to climb in via the back all the time, and 2 side doors makes it easier to access without having to go on the traffic side of the vehicle, so safer.

A bulkhead between the seats area and the load area can mean the difference between warmth or freezing during the winter months, which is definitely important if you're in and out all the time.

discodaveirl

fryup wrote: »

see very few hiaces used as courier vans, why is that ..have they got an image problem?

I'd imagine so, some companies state certain makes and model that they'll except... In fairness to the hiace not a big van or the prettiest but slap a timing belt on it every 60,000 or what eved the interval is and they'll be grand..

Irish Steve wrote: »

Another factor that no one has mentioned so far is the area that you expect to be delivering in. If you expect to be in some parts of Dublin (eg Crumlin), you do NOT want a large van, getting in and out of some estates, and parking in those estates will be a nightmare, I had to do it for a while with an old long wheelbase LDV, which was a total pain in those areas, due to the number of people parked on both sides that made it almost impossible to even get into some roads, and a big van on bin collection day can be a serious liability!

Side doors can be a big help, even more so if there's 2 of them, as that can make getting to things at the front a lot easier than having to climb in via the back all the time, and 2 side doors makes it easier to access without having to go on the traffic side of the vehicle, so safer.

A bulkhead between the seats area and the load area can mean the difference between warmth or freezing during the winter months, which is definitely important if you're in and out all the time.

I understand what your saying about sliding doors depending on what your at but most lads load high at the bulkhead in order

fryup

i see FAS (or whatever they're called now) are offering 8 week courses in delivery driving...any advantage in it ? or should i just buy a van and go for it??

737max

fryup wrote: »

i see FAS (or whatever they're called now) are offering 8 week courses in delivery driving...any advantage in it ? or should i just buy a van and go for it??

FAS trainer on 80 to 100k a year needs to be kept busy recycling his heavy lifting training course material.

fryup

was all up for going into courier driving ...but having read this thread i'm not so sure ..is it really that tough ?

fryup

how about the fiat doblo ?

sliding doors each side

Payload (kg): 730/850
Load volume (cu m): 3.2

is that big enough?

would a courier company take me on as a owner/driver with a van that size?

advice please...

scas100

nothing smaller than a lwb, the getting the pallets in is to save you handballing on and off 50 boxes as the company youre collecting from put them on a pallet to help you.
sprinters give awful electronic problems, dealers-like the cars- are useless and are generally a brow/red colour after 5 years- paint is gossamer thin. fiat/citroen/peugeot are fine for 2 years then everything falls off them. renault/nissan/opels are fine but most are fwd so a 3 point turn becomes a 7 point turn. avoid ldv and iveco unless you have a seriously good collection of tools. so youre left with a transit. find a good one and itll do 500k easily, find a bad one and itll do 5000k on your wallet a year.

the tibbe key thing is silly, a brick allows you to break into any van, besides since 2000 to 2014 a penknife allowed you to break into any transit in 20 seconds- i know ive had 6 of them :eek:

JohnBoy26

If you could pick up a clean hiace it would be the perfect van to start off with. Yes they are dated compared to more modern vans like the trafic but you won't be stuck at the side of the road or saddled with any big repair bills.

They are a simple, reliable and well built van and aren't near as prone to rust as some of the other vans out there.

fancy pigeon

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

If you could pick up a clean hiace it would be the perfect van to start off with. Yes they are dated compared to more modern vans like the trafic but you won't be stuck at the side of the road or saddled with any big repair bills.

They are a simple, reliable and well built van and aren't near as prone to rust as some of the other vans out there.

Sneering/nitpicking at the traffic wasn't really needed there tbh

JohnBoy26

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

If you could pick up a clean hiace it would be the perfect van to start off with. Yes they are dated compared to more modern vans like the trafic but you won't be stuck at the side of the road or saddled with any big repair bills.

They are a simple, reliable and well built van and aren't near as prone to rust as some of the other vans out there.

They have an atrocious image though and I'd be fairly confident you would lose business because of it.

JohnBoy26

Juniper Lively Bullfrog wrote: »

They have an atrocious image though and I'd be fairly confident you would lose business because of it.

It's image is no worse than a transit tbh. I can't see how the op would lose business over it if the van is clean and well maintained and isn't fitted with set of superlites and cibies.

If the op is genuine I fail to see how the type of van will impact on their image.

fryup

to be fair i've never seen any delivery/courier driver driving a hiace...there must be some reason for that?

is it because in this country ..hiace =

knacker

JohnBoy26

fryup wrote: »

to be fair i've never seen any delivery/courier driver driving a hiace...there must be some reason for that?

is it because in this country ..hiace =

knacker

No it's because they are a bit too big (for jobs the ford courier, caddy etc can do) a bit too small for jobs the renault master and vw crafter are needed for.

They also had a rep for being a bit hard on juice which wasn't entirely justified, in reality when driven sensibly they aren't that hard on it and anyone I know that owns one is very happy with them.