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Every vehicle has it's pros and cons. You can wind up with a pup from any manufacturers stable.. For a first van, I'd want something like a Vauxhaull Combo 1.3TDCI, ideally with a side door. My Corsa van with that engine does 55MPG consistently. You'll want to be able to fit mowers in the back without folding handles.
Don't fall into the trap of spending thousands on a van. 2k is plenty. Spend the rest on the tools which will actually make you the money. My newest vehicle is 09 plate, but all the Stihl tools and the mini digger are new.
Cheers
I hear you Tom, but then I'm paying a lot less than that a month for a brand new mini digger. Which makes me a lot more money than having a new van than instead of 57 plate Ranger I tow it with.
I think where we may disagree is the amount of money you need to spend for a reliable van. To a certain extent I hedge against this by having four vehicles and only 2 drivers.
Hi Matt,
Hi Matt,
For lawn care, think about the services you're going to offer. With a small van you'll be very limited to the kit combo's you'll be able to get on board.
For a renovation, you'll need a scarifier, aerator, spreader, mower, blower, rakes, feed, seed and top dress. This won't fit in a small van and thats before you consider taking waste away. I started out in a Hyundai Iload (2.3m load length) and within a season bought a 2nd vehicle, an old transit LWB (3.5m load length) for the renovations.
For us, minimum for basic lawn care with mechanical treatments such as aeration as scarification would be a 3m van such as a lwb vivaro. If your doing top dressing and/or taking waste away, 3.5m/4.0m or add a trailer. We do also have a lwb Transit connect, but thats only used for spraying / feeding and quoting, plus the occastional small aeration.
Also, it's a lot easier on the back to be able walk into the van with kit upright, so ramp and high roof good.
I spent 4K and this got me a 2010 van with average mileage and so I agree with the comments above that when starting out there is no point in paying loads for a van, especially when however careful you are it gets bashed about in this line of work. I shopped around and am pleased I got one with twin sliding doors, a roof rack and tow bar as these are invaluable.
I went for a LWB high top Transit Connect and this has proved to be a really good strong van. This van accommodates a Lawnflite pro mower (just) lengthwise. Anything shorter however wouldn't have accommodated a fixed handle mower.
Having said all of the above I am having a dilemma about whether it is big enough for the demands of my job, as some days I need two mowers which means strimmers, pruners, sprayers and hedge trimmers etc are piled on top of each other and it becomes a bit chaotic. As such I may look to buy a larger transit in the future. My only dilemma is that the Connect is more user friendly around town and is like driving a car.
Final comments - I would need a good reason to move away from Ford, I really can't stress enough how useful the twin sliding doors are and finally you will need a trailer with a van this size.
Good luck!
Andrew
That's the van i'm almost certainly going to get in January unless I hear anything to put me off before then...
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