Big van or small van?

Hi all

I'm just starting up and have hired a Peugeot Bipper with the option of changing to a larger vehicle if needed. Was just wondering what peoples opinions were on this. I choose the Bipper for its price and fuel efficiency, but am starting to worry that I should have gone for a transit sized van.

Also is anyone having any luck getting work off uShip?

Thoughts welcome

Jake

All depends on what kind of work you are covering really. I started out with a small van, then upgraded to a lwb van. I tend to get loads of work from courier exchange and the odd job from here. I don't use uShip, Shiply or anyvan because I cant seem to get a decent rate from members on those sites. If I was you, I would start out with the small van and see how you go. If you feel you need a bigger van, then upgrade. Just make sure you have got your prices right or you could end up working for nothing.

The problem with a Bipper is that you may find yourself turning up to load small van jobs and being unable to get them on board. I've had several jobs recently that wouldn't have fitted in anything smaller than my Partner, including one that had already been attempted by another driver in a smaller van.

MyVanCan said:

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The problem with a Bipper is that you may find yourself turning up to load small van jobs and being unable to get them on board. I've had several jobs recently that wouldn't have fitted in anything smaller than my Partner, including one that had already been attempted by another driver in a smaller van.

Why on earth would you turn up not knowing what you were collecting?

A Bipper will take a full size pallet and carry alot more weight than most 'small' vans. Ask the vendor what you are collecting! If then on collection it will not fit, [as has happened alot even with a 4m van] then charge well, for a wasted journey.

JGParcels said:

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Hi all

I'm just starting up and have hired a Peugeot Bipper with the option of changing to a larger vehicle if needed. Was just wondering what peoples opinions were on this. I choose the Bipper for its price and fuel efficiency, but am starting to worry that I should have gone for a transit sized van.

Also is anyone having any luck getting work off uShip?

Thoughts welcome

Jake

Bringing it back to the original question.

This was something myself and my business associate asked ourselves when we were starting out a few years ago.

With all the little vans we saw running around, perhaps the small van market is saturated.

However, our questions to some of the courier companies in our area revealed that going slightly bigger (ie: Transit, Transporter size) would not yield more work.

Only by going to Sprinter/Crafter size would you be looking at more job options, but then it would be multi drop or overnight trunking.

In the end we went with the small van to test the water. Now we both have our own small vans running almost daily.

Hope this helps.

RAPID LIGHT TRANSPORT LTD. said:

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MyVanCan said:

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The problem with a Bipper is that you may find yourself turning up to load small van jobs and being unable to get them on board. I've had several jobs recently that wouldn't have fitted in anything smaller than my Partner, including one that had already been attempted by another driver in a smaller van.

Why on earth would you turn up not knowing what you were collecting?

A Bipper will take a full size pallet and carry alot more weight than most 'small' vans. Ask the vendor what you are collecting! If then on collection it will not fit, [as has happened alot even with a 4m van] then charge well, for a wasted journey.

You often don't know exactly what you're collecting and neither does the courier company that booked you. They only know what the client tells them. The other week I turned up to load a 180kg pallet, except that when I got there it became a 600kg pallet. Another job last week was meant to be small van but it would only fit by moving the passenger seat all the way forward, and if I'd had a bulkhead that job would have had to be cancelled as it was 10 minutes to closing time.

There's certainly a case for choosing a Bipper and I looked seriously at buying one for the fuel economy, but you would have to always be asking exactly what you're picking up and if the courier company doesn't know then you run the risk of a failed collection.

all I can say to that is our's is now 3 yrs old and I cannot recall ever having a problem with a requested small van load not fitting in it.

Most of my customers, do tell me exactly what the goods are, and as we do not do 'subbie' work this is not a problem for us, as we have good relationships with them. It seems that work off other couriers [3rd party] seem to be where problems exist, in knowing what exactly is needed .