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Van HELL!!! Any advice very welcome - going to buy a new one.

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Irish said:
I got a brand new transit in sept for 6k cheaper than the ford dealership on the Internet i used to have a Peugeot partner spilt head alternator went twice got sick of spending money on it like tamz and his vivaro and it was too small like the combo can nightmare to find stuff the day after finishing a big job, like someone else said we spend a lot of time in our vans so a bit of comfort is a must, only thing is you kinda have to clean it every week as I feel bad having a 16grand van covered in muck
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So what website did you get the van from at 6K under the dealership price?

I won't ever clean my van every week, but I totally see what you mean about having £16K of van covered in black soot.

A dirty van is a sign of success as they say.

But then someone wrote 'Gypsy King' in the back of my van on Saturday....it was parked outside a shop on the highstreet....funny, but I did scrub it out straight away.
 
Happy new car is where I got mine olive in Twickenham they're in hull and dropped to my front door, I was a bit nervous about doing over the Internet but I was more than happy with them
 
Dannypipe said:
So what website did you get the van from at 6K under the dealership price?

I won't ever clean my van every week, but I totally see what you mean about having £16K of van covered in black soot.

A dirty van is a sign of success as they say.

But then someone wrote 'Gypsy King' in the back of my van on Saturday....it was parked outside a shop on the highstreet....funny, but I did scrub it out straight away.
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I always remember a customer once said she called me because she saw the van and liked how clean it was and figured that must reflect in my work. Little did she know 🙂
 
I've worked out on average I do 10.5K miles a year, so not much. I know this has a bearing on lease hire. Tend to work local, and though those are less miles than a motorway user, I do spend a fair amount of time in the van. Would love a bit of air con' for the summer. Sitting in traffic sweating my balls off isn't much fun. But the main bonus of a new van is space. Glorious space.

My van is ex BT and the racking is brilliant. It would cost a fortune. However every inch of space is used...and I still can't carry as much as I did in my last van.
 
Yeah the lack of space was a pig in my old van especially when you knew something was in there but it took half an hour to find it usually at about 6 on a Friday evening! Ford wanted just under 22k for the trend 125 t260 happynewcar did it for 15,800
 
Yeah, lack of space is a nightmare. My passenger footwell has an old F&E tank, full of pipe clips.The seat a box full of paper work. The back both sides racked, and stuffed. Even behind, beneath the seats I have motorised valves, and pumps. Its a joke.

I will be so much less wound up at work when I have space to put everything.

I wont fall into that trap of carrying extra stuff just as I have more space. My last van (Don't laugh, an LDV) I used to carry a generator incase I was working somewhere that had no power. Loads of other pointless crap. Van before that was a Transit, and I did the same with that, until driving up a hill and the engine went BANG!

I will start carrying the pipe freezer & transformer though.
 
Yeah I racked mine out with Barton storage bins for the 15/22/28mm fittings couple of f&e tanks for waste fittings and got my electric tools neatly stacked on the floor it's almost a pleasure to go to work I had every nook and cranny filled in my old van could never give anyone a lift it was that full
 
Irish said:
I had every nook and cranny filled in my old van could never give anyone a lift it was that full
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That's me mate. I'm sick of sighing when I know I have to go and uncover half my vans contents to get a munsen ring. (For anyone interested, munsen rings are stored in the canvas bag, at the back left, beneath the racking and behind the wastepipe fittings and the soldering gear box (fishing tackle box).

You can see my pain here right!!
 
Have a look at the vw transporter. It may not be as big as you want, but they are lovely to drive. I much prefer mine to the transit I used to have. Also now having air con is a real bonus, I wont own a van without it from now on. I spend a lot of time in my van, so I want it to be nice to drive and comfy.
 
Ha Ha Danny, my Combo sounds just like yours, box of waste fittings in passenger footwell and box of waste traps on seat with seatbelt round it. I cram powertools under the seats and in those little cubby holes behind the seats.

I put up with the hasstle as it great on fuel and I don't have to worry about parking a hulking great minibus and dragging it around all the narrow roads around here.
 
We're Combo brothers in arms mate. But I've had it. Yes those cubbyholes behind the seats are crammed, as is the shelf above my head. No inch of space is wasted.

I have more tools in my little van than most blokes I've worked with. I have just about everything you'll need in domestic plumbing/heating work....and it's all crammed into about half the space it should be. In fairness I do have to keep on top of the van internally. Can't just throw everything in. I would have a nervous breakdown after a week of working like that.
 
Clutch went on mine a few years ago, I thought I'd be looking at Vauxhall Astra money for a new clutch WRONG! £700.
 
Fuel pump on mine. AA guy said if I'm keeping it, I should also change the manifold.

The pump is around £480 apparently (not checked) and isn't a small job. Its bolted onto the side of the engine, and powered by the cam shaft.

For the record I do nothing mechanical to my vans. Best left to a mechanic in my opinion.

I did just get it serviced in December, and have new glow plugs. That was £400.00. So if this repair is about £800.00 then it's had £1200 in the last two months.

Not cheap motoring by my standard.
 
Well, who ever buys it isn't getting a dog of a van.

I had it serviced every year at Vauxhall, until this one in December which was a local independant garage. Still set me back £400 sheets.

It's done under 60K and will probably do another 60K, but not under my ownership. It's getting flogged!
 
Dannypipe said:
Well, who ever buys it isn't getting a dog of a van.

I had it serviced every year at Vauxhall, until this one in December which was a local independant garage. Still set me back £400 sheets.

It's done under 60K and will probably do another 60K, but not under my ownership. It's getting flogged!
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Im in the same boat as you Danny. I've got a berlingo on a 56 plate. Had it three years and not a peep, but in the last 4 months its had its service/MOT, a new clutch, a new alternator and a power steering pump on Wednesday. Then to top it off I had a flat this afternoon when I popped the shop :-(

to be fair it's done 185k so coming to the end, but if someone wanted it for a little run around it'd be sound. I've just had enough and I rely on it to much to be having faults all the time.

The size of this van suits me fine as I don't really do much installation, I'm looking at a brand new nemo or bipper from the dealers. Can pick up a new one for under 10k, so that's the route I think I'm going.

Ive looked at the racking for the nemo and some of it looks great, I think if a van is racked out in a good way, size becomes less of an issue if your only doing service and repair and fitting rads like myself.
 
I've been to about every van dealer imaginable today, and to the bank to get a business loan. If the loan gets approved I'll be off to the auctions I think.

My head is a mess.... lease hire, contract hire, HP (not the sauce) balloon payments, down payments, VAT down, VAT back.

I really am really confused. Been to accountant too. Been a busy day. Hired a Fiat 500 for three days!!

So I'll be glad to get into anything once I finally make my mind up.

I think auction might be the way though. Familiar path for me.

If it doesn't I may now be interested in this myself.
 
Sorry the last line of that was meant for another thread. (Pauls van - if my loan doesn't go through!!!)

Told you my head is a mess. ARRRGH!
 
Dannypipe said:
Sorry the last line of that was meant for another thread. (Pauls van - if my loan doesn't go through!!!)

Told you my head is a mess. ARRRGH!
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Hi Dannypipe,

I recently purchased a vivaro after my transit died. I just played Renault off against vauxhall and eventually I got a pre registered vivaro with 11 miles on the clock. I got it ply lined seat covers and mats for £12,500. I read all the stories about the vauxhall being rubbish but If 3 manufactures make them they can't be that bad, I've only done 3500 miles in it so far but I'm well chuffed with it. Good luck in whatever you choose.
Darren
 
Dannypipe said:
I've been to about every van dealer imaginable today, and to the bank to get a business loan. If the loan gets approved I'll be off to the auctions I think.

My head is a mess.... lease hire, contract hire, HP (not the sauce) balloon payments, down payments, VAT down, VAT back.

I really am really confused. Been to accountant too. Been a busy day. Hired a Fiat 500 for three days!!

So I'll be glad to get into anything once I finally make my mind up.

I think auction might be the way though. Familiar path for me.

If it doesn't I may now be interested in this myself.
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Its unreal the amount of options Danny. I never knew these existed till I started looking last week.

Im going to but my new van outright with out the finance options offered by the dealers.

Im looking around the 10k mark and I'm Going to put 5k down of my own and loan 5k from the bank. I could pay for the whole thing now, but don't want to affect my house deposit too much. I just might have to put the house back for about 6 months or so, but I can't work without a decent van, so its catch 22 really.

I can get a decent loan off the tsb who I bank with and they will let you pay it back early, so I should have the 5k paid back within 18 months without affecting me buying a home to drastically.
 
I've been to a couple of dealers today, but there does not seem to be many nearly new vans around. Even the sales guy said they could not get enough vans in?

The one i wanted had been sold the day before 🙁 Dispatch on an 11 plate with 20k for 7.5k which I thought was good considering they are nearly twice that new.
 
Dannypipe said:
I've worked out on average I do 10.5K miles a year, so not much. I know this has a bearing on lease hire. Tend to work local, and though those are less miles than a motorway user, I do spend a fair amount of time in the van. Would love a bit of air con' for the summer. Sitting in traffic sweating my balls off isn't much fun. But the main bonus of a new van is space. Glorious space.

My van is ex BT and the racking is brilliant. It would cost a fortune. However every inch of space is used...and I still can't carry as much as I did in my last van.
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Saw an ex british gas transit 2008 on autotrader yesterday still with all the racking and roof rack only 25k miles for 7.5k inc vat with 2 year warranty yesterday mate wish i had the money.
 
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