My business has accelerated past most of my expectations since I began in Oct. Feeling pretty good about it.
I have a 2003 F-150 that was previously my personal vehicle which is now my primary work vehicle. It is bought and paid for.
Recently I have felt compelled to buy a van for a ‘work-only’ vehicle and keep my truck as a personal vehicle and to pull my PW trailer when jobs require it. I get 15 MPG in the F-150. I have 150k miles on it and want to keep it as long as possible - one way to lower further miles put on it would be to get a van to do 80-90% of my jobs with.
I’m not set on anything - but have been looking at options ranging from decent $3500 minivans on craigslist to new Ford Transit Connect or Nissan NV200. Also considering full sized Transit or ProMaster to ensure I don’t “outgrow” it. An obvious benefit to the full size van option is being able to pull my PW trailer, at the expense of losing fuel mileage (~25 MPG on the smaller vans, 15 MPG on full-size). Minivans are somewhere between 17-25 MPG, depending on make/model. A little concern on the mini-van not looking quite as “professional”, but I think I can get over that with a nice clean white vehicle and wrap/logo.
Any thoughts? Every dollar spent is one not saved, and I have not done the economy calculations on fuel savings yet. But it’s looking like I will put ~20k miles on my truck in this first year.
Looking for some guidance from other pros who have “been there, done that” - will i regret buying a new van? will I wish I bought a full-size van? will I hate myself making $300/mo payments?
Sincerely,
Confused in Colorado (and not because of the pot)
I just bought a 2016 Ford Transit 350 high roof and I would highly recommend it.
It drives real smooth and with a 6’9" ceiling height, I can stand upright inside, I am 6’1".
15 mpg hwy mostly
4300 payload
Bear in mind, there are 22 trimlines with the Transits - combos of:
Passenger or Cargo
150, 250, 350
Regular or Extended length
Dual or single rear wheel
High, medium, or low roof
Full windows, partial cargo windows or no cargo windows
No matter what you buy, American Van has some excellent accessories and shelving systems for all makes of vans.
You will regret the payments if you settle on the most important things to you. For me, it was essential ro have the high roof and Im so glad I got it. The medium roof was just about 6’, so I would have had to crick my neck ever so slightly. Very annoying.
Expect to pay about 5-10k more with each increase in roof height, depending on other features.
Have you check with your insurance company about price of coverage?
My wife has a 2010 Dodge Journey and I have a 1995 Dodge Dakota (great truck)…oddly, they get almost the same mpg. The Journey has a lot of room and if I install a roof rack for the ladders I could work out of it. The truck has twice the amount of miles of the Journey and is a smoother ride…not impressed with the ride of newer vehicles.
The truck has a pretty good paint job on it, but, it would look great with a wrap.
I can spend up to $20k, but would prefer to keep as much of my money I made working as possible!
I’m leaning towards finding a used mini-van under $5k that looks semi-clean and professional. I’ll put a rack on it.
I’m torn between saving money and just saying the heck with it and getting a nice, professional looking van that I know I will not have to worry about.
Knowing how much space I need, the mini-van would work just fine, as well. I would go the Dave Ramsey route for now, buy now what will fit your needs and start saving to buy the van next season. Having cash reserves lets your business thrive even during the downturns. You could buy three mini-vans and still have money left over.
No matter what you buy, spend the money to have the vehicle put in the shop and have a diagnostic check done on it.
I bought a pickup truck off of ebay once…probably one of the worst decisions I’ve ever made. I have always done all of my own auto work. I have rebuilt motors and transmission, etc…etc… When I went to pick up the truck, a Ford Ranger, it sounded and drove a little rough. No big deal, it was an older truck, right. I gave them the $2000 and got a bill of sale. I was an hour away from where I lived. I stopped and filled her up before I headed out of town…good thing too. By the time I got home I had used over a half a tank of gas. I figured I was getting 7 miles to the gallon. After doing some investigation I found the problem. The vacuum system was all jacked up. Most of it was there but none of it was really functional; some of the hoses and vacuum parts were plugged up with JB Weld.
The vacuum system wasn’t working right and instead of spending the money to fixing it…they plugged it up and adjusted the timing and the air flow mixture so they could sale it quick.
Spend the money to have the vehicle put in the shop and have a diagnostic check done on it, please.
Forgot to mention the Transit Connect. That may do you just fine. The only reason i ever got something big was because of pw equipment but if just window cleaning, connect could do the trick and fit your budget.
Here is what I am currently working with. Nothing wrong by any means in my opinion but just looking to start putting miles on something else to prolong the life of my truck and save gas money.
Is that the Honda gx390 pressure pro? I just picked one up used and need to figure out what more I would need for my setup. What are you running for your other equipment?
As you can see I’m using a 5 gallon bucket for a chem tank hooked up to downstream siphon/injector. The 225 gallon h2o tank is a bit overkill but I got it for a good price and it will be useful if/when i upgrade to higher GPM machine.
Cox hose reel for garden hose (200 ft.), northern reel for PW hose (200 ft.), re-routed the bypass back into the top of the tank. a few inline water filters and ball valves at various points along the way to make things more workable if needed.
If I could re-do it I would have both reels off the side rather than one on back and one off the side, just makes for more trips around the trailer. I’m pretty happy with the Pressure pro though, the belt drive pulls water great and I’m not uncomfortable running the machine all day. Now just need to pick up more good paying PW jobs!
During my day job, we use a Ford Transit for shower glass and mirrors. It’s perfect. I use a ranger now for window cleaning but will upgrade to a transit one day.
Nice work truck and wrap. Just have one question for you about the size of your phone number on the door. Rather small isn’t it? Or does it work for you? I don’t have either (work truck or wrap) so I been asking and looking around. Thanks
That’s a great observation. It’s funny because my box truck has a way better call to action area. If it bothers me long enough I may have to change it. Make it span the whole lower area. I figure people will see my name first and if they are intrigued enough, they will search for the phone number on the vehicle. I don’t think people are attracted by large phone numbers as much as what the business is. Or maybe that’s totally wrong.
I’ve had people call while sitting behind a vehicle in traffic. The placement of the number on the box truck and minivan are bad. It is so low to the ground it could easily get blocked. You have all that height, it is going to waste.
