Not knowing how heavy your kit is, would a large estate (eg. Mondeo) or Berlingo type MPV work. I think you've previously said your useage is local so mpg shouldn't be a big factor and therefore petrol may be ok. Bigger choice of older estates which could be converted perhaps with rear seats removed?
I use a 400l water tank, so 400kg plus all my other bits and pieces like auxiliary battery, pump, plus of course the weight of the tank itself. With the vagueness (and downright inaccuracies) of quoted payloads, I'd be looking for a payload of at least 650kg. I have thought of estates, and my brother suggested that too (he has a Volvo V70), but there are a couple of problems. Even on a big estate, like the V70, the difference between kerb weight and gross vehicle weight isn't that big compared to a similar sized van (circa 500kg for the V70). Also, because of the 400kg of water in my tank being concentrated in quite a small footprint, the tank would have to be placed forward of the rear wheels to spread the weight. But estates only have load securing ports in the boot.
A different option which offers more flexibility would be to do a flexible rental with one of the various companies who offer it for vans. For about £100 per week, you can get a Renault Traffic or similar, fully maintained and only needing insurance and fuel on top of that. You don't end up with a brand new van (and in my case end up with some other companies tracker still left in the van from the previous renter!), but the supplier will provide a replacement at their cost if it breaks down and you can hand it back with only a couple of months notice.
Never really thought of a flexible rental, but while convenient, that's quite expensive!. The lease deal I was looking at which would work out roughly as £55 per week including the deposit and VAT. OK that doesn't include maintenance, but surely that isn't going to cost a grand over two years?!.
I'm supposed to get the Caddy back from the garage at the end of today. Will have a few days off, so I'll take it on some runs to see if it seems to be fixed. If no problems, I think I'll just keep with it for the time being as I have quite a lot of other financial demands at the moment.
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Point taken badbusdriver.
There are quite a number of outfits like yours locally and apart from two who have their kit mounted on a trailer (towed by a 4x4), they use Transit sized vans. How do you manage with a Caddy?
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I think there will be an increasing tendency to fix and keep conventionally powered vehicles over the next few years. Certainly among those who prefer ownership over leasing.
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Chap comes round with a small van and cleans the roofline and lower down areas.
Small van with all the gear needed. Just a small tank for water in the back - he does not find it a problem as many of his customers have outside taps. Tops up a few times a day .
He said it was a lot easier than carting round a 1/2 ton of water and having to buy a Transit type of van.
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Point taken badbusdriver.
There are quite a number of outfits like yours locally and apart from two who have their kit mounted on a trailer (towed by a 4x4), they use Transit sized vans. How do you manage with a Caddy?
Sorry for the delayed answer, I hadn't been keeping up with my own thread!.
My Caddy has a payload of around 720kg. Between my water (400 litres), the tank, aux battery, pump and other bits and pieces I carry would come to maybe 500-550kg. Add in myself, and that comes to 585-635kg. So as I work myself, the Caddy is fine. For an outfit with two cleaners, if they only do pure water window cleaning (using the extendable poles) like myself, you'd need at least 350 litres per man for a day, maybe more. Even if they did traditional window cleaning too, you'd probably still need 5-600 litres of water along with two pumps, two hoses, two sets of poles, etc. I'd say a two man outfit would need a payload of at least 850kg, so while you could get away with the higher payload versions of similar sized vans (to a Caddy) which go up to around 1000kg, most would just go up a size to a Transit/Vivaro. Though it would be wrong to assume a bigger van is automatically going to have a bigger payload than a smaller van. Some don't, so you need to do your homework!.
Chap comes round with a small van and cleans the roofline and lower down areas.
Small van with all the gear needed. Just a small tank for water in the back - he does not find it a problem as many of his customers have outside taps. Tops up a few times a day .
He said it was a lot easier than carting round a 1/2 ton of water and having to buy a Transit type of van.
The trouble here is that unless your chap has water purification in the van (putting the water through a di resin vessel between tank and window), the water he is topping up with is not 'pure', and will not dry streak free, therefore he is not doing the job properly. The reason traditional window cleaners dry the windows after cleaning is because they are using tap water, which will leave water marks if left to dry naturally. Also, I use a 400 litre tank, but can just about manage with 350 litres, so there is no real excuse not to use only your own purified water. Most small vans have a payload of at least 600kg, which is fine for a 350 litre tank.
But getting back to the topic of the thread, I have the Caddy back and so far (touchwood) the replaced cam sensor (?) seems to have done the job. I will go out on a few more runs before starting work again next week. Assuming no problems, I'll just keep on with the Caddy for the time being.
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He has a "water treatment" in the back of the van - dries streak free.
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An earlier post referred to using a trailer. This seems to offer a major advantages:
- any van (new or old) can fail and leave you and your customers stranded - probably more likely if old
- I assume that if using a van there are some fit-out constraints (eg: fixed water tank) which means you cannot easily switch vans on rental
- a trailer of (say) 700kg could be towed by any mid-size vehicle - car or small van.
- there are few things which would disable a trailer for any length of time - no engine, gearbox, steering, ECUs etc
- if you have both a car and van at present it may be possible to just have a car saving duplicated insurance, MoTs, repairs, servicing etc.
- the only drawback may be secure storage - I don't know your circumstances.
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An earlier post referred to using a trailer. This seems to offer a major advantages:
- any van (new or old) can fail and leave you and your customers stranded - probably more likely if old
- I assume that if using a van there are some fit-out constraints (eg: fixed water tank) which means you cannot easily switch vans on rental
- a trailer of (say) 700kg could be towed by any mid-size vehicle - car or small van.
- there are few things which would disable a trailer for any length of time - no engine, gearbox, steering, ECUs etc
- if you have both a car and van at present it may be possible to just have a car saving duplicated insurance, MoTs, repairs, servicing etc.
- the only drawback may be secure storage - I don't know your circumstances.
A trailer certainly has advantages and I'd definitely be in favour of that rather than using an estate car, but the drawbacks put me off. First is the total size which would require a fair bit more space to park and manoeuvre than my Caddy. Quite a few of my customers live on streets where parking is very limited!. Second is the fact that I don't have a drive, so the trailer would have to live on the street. Third, and this is my own opinion, I just don't think it looks very professional.
But I will be looking into something which will allow me to quickly and easily move my entire setup from one van to another should I need change vans (or hire one) quickly due to another breakdown. That is to have an aluminium (so not too heavy) frame made up into which my tank would sit. This frame would have mounting points for pump, aux battery and possibly the hose reel. It would have between 4 and 6 hooks or loops through which the whole lot would be secured in place using ratchet straps to the vans load securing points. That way everything is in one self contained unit, easily transferable to another van or pick up. Not sure how I'd work in the split charge relay to a hire van, but I guess I could manage to charge the battery up at the end of each day like I used to.
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Rather than a van how about a pick--up truck?
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>>That is to have an aluminium (so not too heavy) frame made up into which my tank would sit. This frame would have mounting points for pump, aux battery and possibly the hose reel.
Have it on some sort of pallet so it can be quickly lifted in and out with a fork lift.
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One downside of a trailer is having to manouvre it on and off of driveways. Small trailers are actually worse, too as they are so much more reactive in reverse.
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I think you're right BBD, sticking should be better than twisting. I anticipate having my 2005 VW T5 Van for another 10 years or so.
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Rather than a van how about a pick--up truck?
I have looked long and hard at pickups, and when I had been thinking along the lines of getting a loan, one would have at least been on the cards. But (a bit like the size issue of using a trailer) pickups are just so big these days. They also tend to have pretty poor steering lock, so could be a right pain in some of the areas I work!. Not ruling a pickup out completely, but at the moment, I feel a smallish van is a better option for me.
I think you're right BBD, sticking should be better than twisting. I anticipate having my 2005 VW T5 Van for another 10 years or so.
Yeah, I don't really want to change, so fingers crossed I have no more problems, at least for a while!.
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