Omo: van advice

[joshwalker094]

Right guys, as some of you know I do gardening part time,
How ever next year I'm buying 50 gardening calls and expanding, so will be needing a small engined van, a 1.3 at most. This is cause I'm only 18, will be 19 in January and plan on getting insured around then.
I'm hoping to pass my test on 20th December. I will have about £1400 ish to spend.
Looking at
Renault kangoo
Vauxhall combo
Fiat doblo my fave as its a diesel , but bad reviews
All 1.3 litres petrol/diesel
So what should I get, any known issues?
Thanks
Josh

[timwilky]

good luck

I cannot advise on suitable van, I have a citreon dispatch same as fiat scudo and puegeot expert and it is a great but gutless van.

My lad got his first van at 17, a vauxhall combo the old ones with the rotten skin above the cab. The engine died and he replaced it with a kangoo that ate drive shafts (4 in 2 years). His problem with small vans was simply they were not upto the weight he needed to carry. (He was a floor/wall tiler).

Problems generally commercial insurance. In some ways vans seems to be cheaper than the equivlent car. But finding insurers who will cover you for commercial as a young driver is hard. Even harder for my lad was somebody smashed into him in Liverpool and the insurers had to arrange a hire. Find a hire company that will supply to a 17 year old. In the end the insurers had to agree to hire themselves.

Brother runs a small gardening company. He started with an escort van. But soon found it wasn't big enough and now has three transits

[joshwalker094]

Well I only a small van for now, I'm 19 soon, but would it be easier to get insured as private or commercial?
I'll only be carrying 300kilo most tbh.
There a kangoo 1.2 LPG on eBay at moment.
You heard anything about the fiat doblo's?

Basically avoid anything that's French or italian, they are cheaper for a reason, you'll no doubt have countless electrical problems, expensive clutches to replace, wheel bearings, you name it.

Think I'm wrong? I know a lot of people with vans being in the building game, everybody used to use the peugeot partners/Citroen berlingo style van, I don't know a single one of them that hasn't had a shed load of problems with them, that said engines are strong on them, it's the rest of the bits that's the problem.

I've got a transit connect, had it 7 years come February, all it's ever had (so far) is tyres, exhaust and service items like oil etc and does 35 mpg pretty easy.

I'd try and get a low ish mileage one of these or VW caddy.

[joshwalker094]

Do they do them in a 1.3 though?

Why do you need a 1.3? Get a quote for a bigger engine before discounting one, those French vans aren't generally cheap on insurance either.

Could you not get an estate?

Its more comfy to drive, probally better mpg and it won't need commerical insurance, just get buisness insurance on the car.

Drop the seats, put some protective covering over it, ie heavy duty bin bags job done.

Good Luck

For info, you don't have to have commercial insurance on any van, that's not how it works, if you are using it for work then you are technically supposed to have commercial insurance or private insurance that allows business use.

[joshwalker094]

It's for using to go to college 3 days a week and 3 days a week gardening
Vauxhall combo vans any good? The 1.3

Banana engined transit van. The chariot of the housingly challenged for a good reason. Bullet proof engine. Cheap to buy and easy to find parts. Not sure on insurance but being old should help as value will be low
My work uses combo 1.3 vans and they are good but then they r changed every 3 years. Quite nippy for engine size but under powered when loaded near limit