Self Employed alternative to a Van
Discussion
Berlingo Multispace / Peugeot Partner Tepee
Not the finest-built things, but would likely fit your needs. On the Berlingo XTR spec, all the rear reats are individually removeable, and you might want to look at the "modutop" option, which adds more storage places, at the price of less height in the rear.
Edit - no mention of budget, etc...
Not the finest-built things, but would likely fit your needs. On the Berlingo XTR spec, all the rear reats are individually removeable, and you might want to look at the "modutop" option, which adds more storage places, at the price of less height in the rear.
Edit - no mention of budget, etc...
I can't see a lot being better than a crew van to be honest. Trades people I know who have tried to use a normal car as a van for work usually end up with the interior getting trashed as inevitably things spill out from the boot into the back seats.
At work I have access to a whole range of vehicles from Large 4x4's to vans to Ford Rangers and whilst people like the look of a Ford Ranger there are very rare times when it is a better vehicle than a van or a large 4x4, mainly it is noticeably a worse choice. Vans are usually easy to clean out and carry the maximum amount of stuff conveniently. a 4x4 has the benefit of higher speed limits than a van and pickup and is usually the nicest drive.
At work I have access to a whole range of vehicles from Large 4x4's to vans to Ford Rangers and whilst people like the look of a Ford Ranger there are very rare times when it is a better vehicle than a van or a large 4x4, mainly it is noticeably a worse choice. Vans are usually easy to clean out and carry the maximum amount of stuff conveniently. a 4x4 has the benefit of higher speed limits than a van and pickup and is usually the nicest drive.
Unless you never carry materials, forget things like a Ranger or Hilux, the split load/cab means your usable space is actually less than something like a Mondeo Estate. My recommendation would be a Ford Galaxy 2.0 TDCi, cheap and easy to maintain, plentiful supply and comfortable to drive. They're effectively a van once you remove the seats too.
Justadreamer said:
I don t like the crew cab vans. It s basically a van with seats. The main issue with vans is that they aren t that secure. Resulting in a lot of money going on extra locks, trackers and security. Plus having been a victim of van theft. It s not something I wish to happen again.
But if you had a car, everyone could look into it and see its contents, and realise it was being used as a van by an electrician. Yes vans can be a target but only in certain areas, and there's things you can do like adding locks, plates etcYup, the security thing is a non starter. Unless you're running an estate car with no company branding and have all your gear hidden under the load cover... then a crew van is no worse. Likewise, not exactly hard to get into a pickup with a Truckman top or roller kid on the rear load bay. If thieves want in, they'll get in... all you can do is make it less appealing and hope.
But if you don't want a van because it's a van but need to move people, then take your pick from the thousands of saloons, hatches, estates, SUVs and MPVs out there. Or buy a pick up.
Your choice, you know what you need or like. But if you want a sole vehicle to flit between moving people, camping and work then be prepared to be constantly emptying out your tools, ladders, consumables etc.
Couple of friends are self employed sparkies, sole traders and neither are juggling all the requirements. Both have vans (Vivaro and a Transit) that are for work as they're stacked full of gear. For people and non work stuff, they use their cars that the wives drive daily. If the family car is away, they use their vans for the school run / going to pickup a curry / chucking bikes in.
But if you don't want a van because it's a van but need to move people, then take your pick from the thousands of saloons, hatches, estates, SUVs and MPVs out there. Or buy a pick up.
Your choice, you know what you need or like. But if you want a sole vehicle to flit between moving people, camping and work then be prepared to be constantly emptying out your tools, ladders, consumables etc.
Couple of friends are self employed sparkies, sole traders and neither are juggling all the requirements. Both have vans (Vivaro and a Transit) that are for work as they're stacked full of gear. For people and non work stuff, they use their cars that the wives drive daily. If the family car is away, they use their vans for the school run / going to pickup a curry / chucking bikes in.
Edited by Davie on Sunday 15th February 16:25
Make a list of all the stuff you'll typically drive around with every day and work out if you can keep that organised and efficiently accessible in your estate car or whatever.
It might depend what kind of work you expect to be doing, 'electrician' covers a range.
Estates are even more a security problem than van, people can see what's in there.
Some people might say a tradesman without a van looks amateur or worse.
People won't want to pay your hourly rate while you faff about compensating for not having a proper van.
Cars used for trades can get very worn and grubby inside, you may be working in dirty places, you may have dirty stuff to remove from site.
You'll reduce a £10k estate car to 'shed status' within a year.
It's one of the depressing aspects of trying to find a nice cheap estate car, many turn out to be trashed by either tradesmen or stinking dog owners.
It might depend what kind of work you expect to be doing, 'electrician' covers a range.
Estates are even more a security problem than van, people can see what's in there.
Some people might say a tradesman without a van looks amateur or worse.
People won't want to pay your hourly rate while you faff about compensating for not having a proper van.
Cars used for trades can get very worn and grubby inside, you may be working in dirty places, you may have dirty stuff to remove from site.
You'll reduce a £10k estate car to 'shed status' within a year.
It's one of the depressing aspects of trying to find a nice cheap estate car, many turn out to be trashed by either tradesmen or stinking dog owners.
Jamescrs said:
I can't see a lot being better than a crew van to be honest. Trades people I know who have tried to use a normal car as a van for work usually end up with the interior getting trashed as inevitably things spill out from the boot into the back seats.
At work I have access to a whole range of vehicles from Large 4x4's to vans to Ford Rangers and whilst people like the look of a Ford Ranger there are very rare times when it is a better vehicle than a van or a large 4x4, mainly it is noticeably a worse choice. Vans are usually easy to clean out and carry the maximum amount of stuff conveniently. a 4x4 has the benefit of higher speed limits than a van and pickup and is usually the nicest drive.
If you need a van buy a van, if you need seats buy a crew van.At work I have access to a whole range of vehicles from Large 4x4's to vans to Ford Rangers and whilst people like the look of a Ford Ranger there are very rare times when it is a better vehicle than a van or a large 4x4, mainly it is noticeably a worse choice. Vans are usually easy to clean out and carry the maximum amount of stuff conveniently. a 4x4 has the benefit of higher speed limits than a van and pickup and is usually the nicest drive.
My mate tried an estate, thought it would work, until he lost everything in it while parked on his drive one night, through the rear side window.
He has a van with security locks now.
Oh and the estate interior got wrecked.
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