Tomo1971

HI, not sure what to do now I have a change of job.

Currently only use the vRS hatch for social use and have a company SWB transit for work.

As I am going self employed next week to a differnt company although in the same arena-Telecoms I need to provide my own vehicle.

I was at first thinking of buying/leasing/renting a small van but now not sure what to do.... too many choices.

I will be visiting mobile phone sites up and down Scotland and North England carrying out upgrades.

Most the kit will be delivered but I will be expected to carry tools/laptop/PPE/waterproofs/boots and some spares.

There are likely to be other folk on site that I can steal a lift from if the track is that bad I darnt take the car up for fear of damaging it underneath or scratching it from bushes.

I'm still warry of the extra miles and wear on the car in general, hence why I am not sure what is better.

My choices are, as I see them, please offer more.......

• Use the Vrs, all I need to do is add fuel but risk damage and higher depreciation and car will get dirty inside quickly.
• Hire a van on a long term hire-No commitment once past a month, again all I do is add fuel. Insurance etc is included. Best quote I have had is £125 a week, which over 5 days is 25 a day.
• Buy a new or second hand van. Would work out cheaper than hire but would be a commitment. Would lose money heavily if for some reason I had no need for the van anymore. Would also have to get insurance, maintain it etc.
• Contract hire/lease a van. Again, commitment and generally limited miles although I have had a quote from the people that supply my works van, tapping into their rates an Astra size van would be £65 + my own insurance which would be about £13 a week, total of £78. Only downside is the company in question are tight asses where it comes to maintenance/tyres etc, cheapest tyres, wont replace till they are bald etc, vans not clean.
• Possibly swapping my vRS for a Scout or 4x4 but as Im only 5 months into the finance I would lose quite a lot on that.

Any thoughts? The quote of £125 for an Astra is from Enterprise which to my mind is a fantastic price, any other companies to try. Have already tried Hertz/National/1car1.com etc.

Thanks, Steve

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Basil

Just a thought - sorry if it's a bad one - I had a mate who bought an ex-MOD shorty landrover for next to nothing. No problems in beating the carp out of it, won't depreciate and you could get into recreational 4x4'ing. Good if you are into mechanics..

lotsa sites on the web like : Land Rover Defenders quality used land rover 90, 110 and 130 models

HTH

Bas

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Fab vRS - Black Magic - PD160 intake - Forge FMIC - colour coded front grille -SLC Splitter - K&N Airfilter -SEAT Strutbrace - Jabba ARB - IC Waterspray (need to wire it in!) - 312mm TT brakes - Eibach Springs - Skoda Reversing sensors - Devonutopia Tuning (tm) Custom Exhaust (2 1/4" straight pipe) - Short shifter mod- 5 brake light mod - Helix Steel SMF + Organic Clutch + pressure plate - Peloquin LSD - TD stage 2 Hybrid - Washbrook remapped ECU - Uprated injectors - Cupra bushes -Poly-filled dogbone - Allard racepipe - Pirelli Dragons - Forge Rear Strutbrace - DIY SS upper boostpipe delete -Koni FSD's - elephant pipe CCV mod

postmanpat

ex- post office van, must be cheap, and whilst they may have not been cosmetically looked after they will have been maintained on schedule.

Looking at the prices you have quoted the rental van will do you out of 6.5k in a year, thats one hell of a lot of depreciation/ damage to the vRS, and you will still have the vRS to insure/ depreciate besides.

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Postmanpats car Fabia vRS Zennons, ESP, autochanger, 3rd headrest, heated seats, cruise control
SWMBO Octy Mk2 vS maxidot, duel zone wotsit, cruise, parking sensors, 18" alloys

Tomo1971

6.5k, yeah I know, scary eh?

I suppose Im scared of commiting myself to buying a van and then been stuck with it if i go back to PAYE or something else even worse!

If I was going to go down the buy a van route it would probably be a newer van with less miles rather than an older van with 55k etc on it.

Financing a van woud be about £200 to £250 a month + Insurance which works out a lot cheaper than renting but as I say, scared of been stung with settling early if something happens.

Regarding the 4x4, it did cross my mind but too expensive to run.

Ironically, I used to use an X-trail when I was contracting before but sold that (at a loss) to go PAYE, grrrrrrrrrrr........ if only I had kept it!

Steve

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postmanpat

Depending on what policy RM are operating ( it differs day to day ) but they have been changing their small vehicle fleet every 2 years and certainly some of our vans will have as little as 15 - 20k miles in that time.

Personnaly tho I would use the vRS, no commitment other than the one you have already made, you'd be getting use out of the car, and tbh (speaking from experiance) their secondhand value is plummeting so you might as well.

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Postmanpats car Fabia vRS Zennons, ESP, autochanger, 3rd headrest, heated seats, cruise control
SWMBO Octy Mk2 vS maxidot, duel zone wotsit, cruise, parking sensors, 18" alloys

gadgetman

Business insurance on the VRS might be a killer.

Plus, with the thieving scumbags hanging around work men looking for metal and valuables, you'd be better in a van.

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Lick the window of life

Why not join the Briskoda Last.fm group?

rigsby

Personally i would go for a van. Something like a swb transit, idealy one of the last ones with the 2.5di engine in it. The engines will last forever(one at work on an s plate has done nearly 300k). They are easy and cheap to repair,and will always sell on. Or if you want to go a bit more agricultural, an LDV convoy with the same 2.5di engine, These things will go almost anywhere,as long as you dont want to do over 70mph

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I DONT WANT TO DIE A GROWN UP!

BJM

Go for a small van - steadily, by small degrees, you will wreck the vRS - it's inevitable under the conditions you are talking about.

Don't forget, the van (whether rented, leased or bought) together with running costs will be a straightforward tax deductable business expense. You may have problems persuading the tax man of the running costs of the car if they decide to be picky.

DaveI

What about something like this:

Mitsubishi*Shogun Pinin*GDI 2.0 VAN 4 WORK

Cheap enough, good off road (ground clearance), doesn't look too van like, decent tax as it's a commercial vehicle.

Don't use the vRS as it will turn into just a works vehicle. Same happened with my last Skoda and now with my FR, when I got both I kept them spotless inside and out but I was forever cleaning them due to the miles I do, visiting building sites, having to put dusty boxes on the back seat and so on. In the end I got bored and thought what's the point? It's only going to be filthy again in a couple of days

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2007 Seat Leon FR TDi 170 Bluetooth / Convenience Pack / 18s / Rear Parking Sensors / Front Centre Arm Rest / Passenger Airbag Disconnect / Free Dealer Mats / Brodit Mount + Brodit Tom Tom One Active Holder
Used to have an A5 Skoda Octavia 1.9 TDi Elegance Combi and Missing somewhere comfy to rest my right arm!

smstext

vans are also cheaper to insure.

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