The CycleChat White Van Driver/Owner Thread

[Richard A Thackeray]

Crabbing!!

https://westbridgfordwire.com/van-s...ing-sideways-along-the-m1-in-nottinghamshire/

 

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

I had a bubble back (Mk 2) VW Caddy, a Partner II (B9) and currently a Partner III (K9).

The VW Caddy was £500. I had to have the gearbox rebuilt. I replaced the rotted out ECU and a few other bits to get it roadworthy.
It was painfully slow (naturally aspirated SDI version). I chopped it in against the first Partner, which I bought at less than 2 years old with ~30k on the clock. It took me some time to realise - until it was long out of warranty - that it was diluting the engine oil with fuel. No other symptoms of a problem, i.e. failed DPF regens. Over 1,000 miles it would add a litre and a half of fuel to the oil. I mainly used it for longer trips and I have a very light right foot. There were no faults diagnosed with the vehicle and I got fed up of the frequent oil changes. Oh, and I also got fed up of trying to insure it - the wrong engine was thrown in at the factory which meant it was a non-standard derivative.

So that got chopped in for a new one - I figured at least when it was sold on, the new owner would get a warranty. And I didn't lose much in depreciation over the 3 years I owned it because of the sillyness in the van market.

The Caddy use to return about 50 mpg. The Partner B9 returned a shade off 60 mpg - but I managed 70-75 mpg on long motorway drives. The K9 is slightly less ecomomical - I'm getting about 58 mpg so far, notching it up to 65 mpg on long motorway drives. I'm hoping it improves a bit with a few more miles.

The new one has been fine so far. Well, I say that, it has to be babied into 2nd gear, otherwise it crunches slightly. I've got so used to doing it now, I'm ignoring the issue. I'm pretty sure if I rock up at the dealership, and complain they'll just make out it's driver error ... even though I've never damaged/destroyed a gearbox.

Switching from a car to a van, there's a few things to be aware of:

• Most insurers won't transfer no claims from a private car policy to a commercial policy - which is seems pretty much insisted upon. Nor vice versa. It seems I was early enough adopting a van that I did get my car NCB applied to my first van policy, but if I wanted to go back to running a car I'd most likely be building up NCB from scratch again.
• LGV VED rates are generally higher than the comparable car versions of vehicles (windows and seats can save you a few quid a year on tax)
• We've been forced to get commercial breakdown cover - both on account of the van but also on account of us having vehicles insured for occasional work use
• Vans are often a bit more rubbish than their car counterparts; they often don't enjoy as much warranty or as much rust protection or sound proofing as car equivalents - but there are exceptions. It's possible to get 10 year warranty on Toyota ProAce City, if it's serviced at a Toyota Dealer and I believe the top spec model has extra sound proofing
• Even with the extra sound proofing, they can still be quite noisy with the sound from the rear; makes a full buklhead behind the front seats useful. You can also get them lined with sound deadening material

All that said, the practicality a small van offers is hard to live without once you are used to it. I do only use mine once a week or once a fortnight for a round trip to visit the parental unit. The van is often loaded with tools to get jobs done for the parental unit - whether that's gardening or DIY.

When I bought the van, I was also doing periodic work trips at best part of 300 miles. Those seem to have died off, but it was nice to easily take a bike with me and have flexibility to cart servers and tools around.

We are currently a two vehicle household - but I'd like to get us down to one single vehicle. Especially as the annual mileage across both of them won't be much above 4k this year and likely a lot less next year. The only fly in that ointment is that we are both 'essential car users' for our respective jobs and there is a very tiny chance that there are simultaneous demand which means we both need motorised transport at the same time. I think it would be cheaper for us to cater to that with private hire taxi/car hire - but the hassle factor is the ultimate deterrant to the head of the household (understandably - especially as she doesn't ride a bike)

If it wasn't for that, a Carla Cargo would be an attractive alternative proposition.

 

[Time Waster]

I can't post on here with an opinion because my van is blue vivaro. Great for converting.

 

[Tom B]

I had a bubble back (Mk 2) VW Caddy, a Partner II (B9) and a Partner III (K9).

The VW Caddy was £500. I had to have the gearbox rebuilt. I replaced the rotted out ECU and a few other bits to get it roadworthy.
It was painfully slow (naturally aspirated SDI version). I chopped it in against the first Partner, which I bought at less than 2 years old with ~30k on the clock. It took me some time to realise - until it was long out of warranty - that it was diluting the engine oil with fuel. No other symptoms of a problem, i.e. failed DPF regens. Over 1,000 miles it would add a litre and a half of fuel to the oil. I mainly used it for longer trips and I have a very light right foot. There were no faults diagnosed with the vehicle and I got fed up of the frequent oil changes. Oh, and I also got fed up of trying to insure it - the wrong engine was thrown in at the factory which meant it was a non-standard derivative.

So that got chopped in for a new one - I figured at least when it was sold on, the new owner would get a warranty. And I didn't lose much in depreciation over the 3 years I owned it because of the sillyness in the van market.

The Caddy use to return about 50 mpg. The Partner B9 returned a shade off 60 mpg - but I managed 70-75 mpg on long motorway drives. The K9 is slightly less ecomomical - I'm getting about 58 mpg so far, notching it up to 65 mpg on long motorway drives. I'm hoping it improves a bit with a few more miles.

When I had my combo one of the reasons i got rid of it was the fuel economy was less than the comparable car. Largely due to the hole it was knocking in the air.

But the killer was the Tax - because it was a van it was £230 a year tax as opposed to £0 for the same engine in a car.

Switching from a car to a van, there's a few things to be aware of:

• Most insurers won't transfer no claims from a private car policy to a commercial policy - which is seems pretty much insisted upon. Nor vice versa. It seems I was early enough adopting a van that I did get my car NCB applied to my first van policy, but if I wanted to go back to running a car I'd most likely be building up NCB from scratch again.
• LGV VED rates are generally higher than the comparable car versions of vehicles (windows and seats can save you a few quid a year on tax)
• We've been forced to get commercial breakdown cover - both on account of the van but also on account of us having vehicles insured for occasional work use
• Vans are often a bit more rubbish than their car counterparts; they often don't enjoy as much warranty or as much rust protection or sound proofing as car equivalents - but there are exceptions. It's possible to get 10 year warranty on Toyota ProAce City, if it's serviced at a Toyota Dealer and I believe the top spec model has extra sound proofing
• Even with the extra sound proofing, they can still be quite noisy with the sound from the rear; makes a full buklhead behind the front seats useful. You can also get them lined with sound deadening material

All that said, the practicality a small van offers is hard to live without once you are used to it. I do only use mine once a week or once a fortnight for a round trip to visit the parental unit. The van is often loaded with tools to get jobs done for the parental unit - whether that's gardening or DIY.

You can only use your no claims on one policy at any one time with mainstream insurers, so even if you have 2 cars on separate policies you can only normally use your no claims on one policy.

I found that using specialist insurance companies, usually Autonet or Adrian Flux I could find that I could mirror my car no-claims to my van policy as well as getting a Social Domestic and Pleasure Van Policy without much faff or extra cost.

My van had a factory fitted mesh bulkhead. I used the bulkhead to fix the spare wheel to. I also found that most SWB and MWB CDVs were too small in the rear to hold anything more than a 26" bike on the diagonal. I screwed a roof rack bike holder to the floor in mine to hold the bike upright.

I also found that the van was much colder in winter due to the back having no insulation, I ended up wrapping the mesh bulkhead in an old curtain in winter to keep the cab warm.

All that said, a 4 seat CDV would be perfect for me and the family and will be the vehicle of choice as and when the current huge estate car pops it's clogs. I looked at a LWB caddy with a blown ECU, it was a non starter and I didnt fancy towing it all the way from South Cornwall to North Manchester

 

[PedallingNowhereSlowly]

On fuel economy, that old Caddy was only 900 kg. The first Partner was 1250 kg. The new partner is 1450 kg (and 16v / twin cam). They are not as heavy as euivalently sized SUVs and not as heavy as many cars. I think our car (MINI Clubman F54) is 1500 kg - but that's petrol and thus not comparable. But the best I've got out of that in a long motorway drive, mainly at 54-56 mph was 54 mpg.

The Caddy, Partner etc. are not generally CDVs. They are usually registered as LGVs - you have to check the vehicle classification on the V5.
That's important to know because the NSL is lower for them on single and dual carriageways.

And in respect to NCD, I switched from driving the car to a van so I did not take out an additional policy. I had to cancel the car insurance and start a new commercial policy for the van. The insurer I opted to use did not seem to mind that my NCD came from driving a car. But it appears to be something they've clamped down upon since. Same with the breakdown cover - it never used to matter that a privately owned vehicle might be used for some business mileage, but when it came to our last renewal, the breakdown company had checked the insurance database and would not let us renew for a non-commercial breakdown policy. They also wouldn't let us have a driver based policy - now it's tied to the vehicles.

On bike storage, I haven't found a bike yet that wouldn't fit in the SWB Partner, stored diagonally. The bike normally goes in upside down with some old towelling under the contact points. Then I strap it down to stop it moving. I think if I was going to get two in there, the front wheels would have to come off.

I was thinking of a ply lining for the floor which in which could mount a support to bolt the front forks to - but the only bikes I've transported are ones I've bought, save for my old hybrid which I used to take to London with me when I was still making trips down there.

The Caddy was a bit of a pain in winter with the cold. I can't say I've really noticed it being an issue with either of the Partners. Condensation is a bit of an issue left unchecked, but that is fairly easily dealt with.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Back in the early 90's I had a Bedford Rascal..........
It was primarily for use as a bike-carrier/changing room/'canteen'
Scary as hell on the m/way, when a National Express coach came past at 70MPH, or on a wet roundabout

As for driving it in snow............ it stayed where it was parked, until it melted


In 1997, we bought a Defender 110Tdi Hard-Top (a '300'), so essentially a van?
That was a great vehicle!

The last van I drove was a VW Crafter LWB (the biggest one?) when daughter went to Birmingham University, I was surprised when I had a look at how much the cost!!! (I think it was about £30,000 + VAT)

 

[derrick]

2017 Peugeot partner crew cab, 5 seats, rear seats fold forward, plenty of room in the back, we use as a camper van , Am liking the way it drives 50+ mpg.

 

[DRM]

The 'vans' I'm looking at come in three dirty diesels and an electric. The electric does about 100 miles if lucky. Load it up with camping stuff/bikes and you are screwed.

And I was shouted down by the EV Fan Boi's when I said that the self same van, that our work are considering, would be an utter chocolate teapot, fully loaded all the time, can you imagine West Yorks to Newcastle, never mind up in to Northumberland, I'd spend more time charging it than working or driving, oh yes turn up at customers You can't use our charger, our vehicles only,I've asked at several places

 

[iandg]

I had a white Vauxhall Combo. Last year I was quoted £2500 for work to get it through an MOT (plus other work that would possibly be needed over the next 12 months). I scrapped it and bought an e-bike. It was a great van, the L2 version, plenty of space for bikes and I could put an airbed in the back and crash out if I needed too (post audax and regular trips between Stornoway and Dumfries)

 

[derrick]

Had a adblue problem with the Peugeot partner van, but being a retired mechanic who still dabbles, i spent a bit of time reading up on partner vans, it seems a lot of garages ain't really got a clue how to fix them, but i have all the time in the world, (sure i have heard that in a song) anyway chrystalization seems to be one of the problems,it's seems to be all about keeping the system clean, i cleaned out the DPF, cleaned the adblue injector, reset the system, all warning lights out 160 miles done and all good, total cost. £19.00 for cleaning fluid, Waiting for some cat cleaner to arrive, might aswel flush that out aswel. have put an adblue additive in the adblue tank, it's supposed to stop christalization, we will see, i have a lot more confidence i the van now i understand how it all works, Was thinking about having it mapped out, but for the time being it will stay legal.

 

[All uphill]

We are currently a two vehicle household - but I'd like to get us down to one single vehicle. Especially as the annual mileage across both of them won't be much above 4k this year and likely a lot less next year. The only fly in that ointment is that we are both 'essential car users' for our respective jobs and there is a very tiny chance that there's a simultaneous demand which means we both need motorised transport at the same time. I think it would be cheaper for us to cater to that with private hire taxi/car hire - but the hassle factor is the ultimate deterrant to the head of the household (understandably - especially as she doesn't ride a bike)

We were in your situation about eleven years ago. We went down to one vehicle on the understanding that Ms AU always had first dibs on it. In the following four years I only needed to hire a car for one period of three days and only needed to replan my activities a couple of times. Then I retired.

Probably saved us £2 - 3000 over the four years and I got to walk and cycle a lot.

It did feel very odd at first, not having a car ready for me, but since retirement I only use trains and bikes - don't drive.