The Framers Forum

Hi all,
I'm thinking about getting a van for the business and am wondering whether it's best to buy a used van, a new one on finance, or contract hire. Does anyone have any experience of this?
Thanks!

a lease is totally tax deductable, purchase has to be depreciated

but lease means an overhead, purchase is a capital cost

We bought a new van because we knew we would keep it longer than 3 years and because the VW Transporter that we chose retains its value so well so that when we do decide to get another one we should have a good value in the old van to set against the cost.

My brother in law, who changes his van every 3 years, sometimes slightly earlier, and who always goes for the Mercedes one has always bought in the past but has now gone on a lease basis because he says in the 3 years he will keep it that will save him money and hassle but he does have mileage limits etc which will up the cost if he exceeds them.

I suppose it really depends on whether you will change it regularly or not and what your annual mileage will be.

Leasing looks attractive and can make good sense. But leasing companies can tend to vanish suddenly but finance companies never do.

So if there is any form of guarantee/ maintainence agreement attached to the deal, if may not be worth a heck of a lot.

Thanks guys, I think I'll have to talk to my accountant.

To be honest, I only really want it as a mobile advertising hoarding (decals etc) - is it worth it for this I wonder?

CalicoFraming wrote:To be honest, I only really want it as a mobile advertising hoarding (decals etc)

In that case, it sounds like a secondhand van in reasonable condition might be the cheaper solution.

Local car auctions?

BTW, Jo mentioned the VW transporter. These are really solidly made vehicles and don't usually give much trouble even when they are older. I used to have one and they are built like tanks!

We just have graphics on our second car, the business car, and that's worked for us as regards advertising in the local area. We even drove it around Cornwall earlier this year, strangely we haven't had any business from it but lots of people noticed on the ferry going across.

A van is though on our wish list for the future.

Don't want to put daft ideas in your head, but....

http://www.fleurdelys.sitew.com/fs/Fleu ... r_GB_2.pdf

Yeah, thanks Peter!

actually been checking out some vans on t'internet and quite fancy look of new peugeot bipper or citroen nemo - a guy nearby has one all branded up and it looks really smart. I figure the monthly leasing cost won't be great deal more than the monthly maintenance on my 10 year old Rover 75, and so all it needs to do is bring in a couple more frames a week and it's paid for itself. But will definitely check with the accountant - my financial logic has been known to be flawed in the past

Thanks for the replies everyone