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Are you sure that you explained it correctly, as some people use different terms?

Contract Hire is another one often used.

However, yes it does depend on your situation and your accountant should know what is best for you financially and tax wise.

Contract hire was definitely best for us and still is, now we are taking on our second van on contract hire.

 
spoke to my accountant, and leasing may not be the best option for me it appears
But they look at it from a tax POV, which is fine but if you have a new van on lease it is a guaranteed cost, whereas buying one can be a gamble so I myself wouldn't listen to the accountant on this one.

 
It's a pure gamble on a 2nd hand van, 

I bought a 55plate relay almost 4 years ago, cost me a grand, spent about 600 on it with new starter, alternator, shocks,  tyres, brakes etc, and bits and pieces, was still a cheap van, 

Until, couple of months ago the clutch forks went, 

Broke up and went into clutch, broke fingers off the pressure plate which then went into gearbox, NOT good,

Anyway, between all that and MOT it cost me almost 700£ last year, but, as my mechanic said, less than 2500£ and four years driving later it's still not a bad buy, the clutch thing was just pure bad luck. 

He reckons my van is as food a van as you would buy for 3grand for the age of it, good and solid underneath, which is a shock for a citroen,  and I never look after it tbh unless it really needs something. 

 
Canoeboy said:
Buy or lease new - with 3/4/5 yr warranty, no bills then, then get rid and swap for new again
That is my job tomorrow. Got the following quote for a brand new Vauxhall Vivaro:

Deposit - £3910.46

59 X £211.90

Final - £3577.50

I should add that the deposit is all the VAT.

Oh and it is lease purchase so the van is mine at the end.

 
Fund a dealer with some ex AA vans in, what would be your thoughts on those?
Some time ago on a motoring forum someone asked about ex AA & RAC vans thinking they were well maintained and looked after.

One of them had vans on lease and they were no better or worse than any other used ex-lease van. It's not like electricians houses are wired to standard and plumbers houses have all the taps working properly!

The other one purchased all the vehicles but then didn't really service anything and instead played a numbers game and took the route of just scrapping the van after running it into the ground, which is actually quite a long time surprisingly.

So the fact it is ex-AA means nothing really.

 
driving around town is worse than motorway miles, but ex-Recovery vehicles tend to have shagged brakes and cutches due to towing.

I was talking to ex-AA man a few weeks ago. They now tell them to use brakes to brake and not use engine braking downhll, hence new pads and discs every 10k or less.

What you got against Transit Connects Essex?

The last van was a Renault traffic. After its gearbox self destructed a couple years back I was told by a few folk that "It was common knowledge that the Trafics gearbox was a bit fragile" Wasn't common knowledge to me :(

With that in mind, what do you know that is 'common' problems for vans? I shant have a Trafic/Vivaro/Primastar again now that I know the gearboxes are sh&te
been updated since. Look for the Euro 5 engine. The dodgy gearbox model was due to using a car gearbox in the van - light loads not an issue even with that.

 
driving around town is worse than motorway miles, but ex-Recovery vehicles tend to have shagged brakes and cutches due to towing.

I was talking to ex-AA man a few weeks ago. They now tell them to use brakes to brake and not use engine braking downhll, hence new pads and discs every 10k or less.

What you got against Transit Connects Essex?

been updated since. Look for the Euro 5 engine. The dodgy gearbox model was due to using a car gearbox in the van - light loads not an issue even with that.
I have had two. Paid about the £5k mark for both and they have given me nothing but problems. The first I spent thousands on but in the end wrote it off. The one which I still have now I have spent about £2k on in a year and again it looks like it will be written off. Couple that with the down time from the guys sitting around waiting for the RAC and repairs then the cost is horrific.

The full size transits we have are great. If it was not for the passenger seat issues I would get another one.

 
Fund a dealer with some ex AA vans in, what would be your thoughts on those?
Like any fleet van they will be rinsed out on a regular basis but serviced well so its a bit of a stab in the dark.

If you go to Cornwall you will find lots of old AA vehicles used as surf vans. They have air suspension on the rear too. :D

I don't know how much kit you have to lug about.? but If It was me I would try find an ex BG caddy maxi if there is such a thing?

:)

 
My first van was an ex-BT. Loved it. My priorities were low mileage and good body work. I sold it 3 years later and got another Transit. Again low mileage and body work were what I looked for. Still got it. Brought it at 36,000, now is on 130,000 and never broken down.

 
BT van's come with great racking! Not sure about BG? If it was a plumbers van they should be clean in the back as they seem to keep most things on the dashboard. :lol:

Great racking if all you do is maintenance.  Because we were doing big installation works they were not much use.  I removed them and got rid of a load of weight because all the racking is steel.  Very heavy.

 
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