So we have a small business, Ltd Co and VAT registered.
We live about 1 mile from the shop and we keep some stock at home, so we do need to move back and forth. The main problem is cardboard and paper waste. It generates HUGE amounts and we can only keep our 1100l bin at home, so we are continuously filling our current car and taking it home.
The problem is that it's a 4 door saloon, so completely impractical for the job.
Looking to buy something more suitable and can't decide between a medium sized hatchback or a medium van, Transit Connect or similar. Both would make the job a lot easier but can't decide between them.
The main advantage of the van is avoiding the VAT and that it would be a bit better for the task.
The main advantage of the car, is well it's not a van, it's a car, far better for our personal use.
Only looking to spend about £12- £16k.
What does the hive mind think?
how much personal use are you using it for?
and are you using it to go biking frequently or anything else that might rule in favour of a van?
otherwise, at that price point, you're commiting yourself to a fairly crappy van (even with the VAT removed) just for the sake of the slgihtly increased convenience of carrying some cardboard a mile.
Skoda Octavia estate. Massive boot for the cardboard and, more importantly, it's another tick towards gold status STW membership.
TBH sounds like any medium/large estate car would be a good all round solution. I just singled out Octavia cos STW.
Do you have another car, or is this the only vehicle? If it's a second vehicle, van every time. For one vehicle, yeah an estate car.
How often do you need to transport 8 odd people around that requires 2 cars at the same time? Mostly you're just carrying spare seats, a proper van is so useful for loads of stuff.
And your budget will get you something really decent too. 2 mins on van trader for example ... 2022 White Volkswagen Caddy for sale for £13,790 +VAT in PRESTON, LANCASHIRE https://share.google/fjKwFRBmwG8HA0qmh
Skoda Octavia estate. Massive boot for the cardboard and, more importantly, it's another tick towards gold status STW membership.
Or Honda Jazz, the boot was designed by the makers of the Tardis.
Medium hatchback or van seems to be missing out the obvious choice of an estate car.
Octavia/Leon/Astra whatever - will take a load more than the current saloon car & loads more than a hatchback.
Depends how awkward the size of cardboard you are dealing with & how broken down it is, I suppose.
The seats in my Leon estate (most other estates have this feature now) can be lowered with levers in the boot so gives you a massive load area in <5 seconds.
It quacks like a Berlingo 😉
Depending on personal use you can get some cracking deals on lightly used electric ones. We have one and find it does about 95% of our regular use.
Is a van favoured by your accountant?
Otherwise a car. Either convertible or sunroof for ease of loading 😉
Van VED is stupid @ £345
Towhook and new wheels for the bin as an option
Be aware if you are going to the council tip to recycle any waste. If it's van shaped you'll be stopped. Every single time I go, I get stopped because I look like a Vivaro Van, it is, but a quick press of the electric side door reveals a rather plush leather interior. It's a car ! If it was a minibus, I'd not be allowed in. The staff have to check every time.
Be aware, if you go for a posh car/van, the VED is £620 for the first 6 years. I'm not going back to a car. I'm about to load it with a paddleboard, kayak, picnic and three of us for a Lake trip tomorrow.
You need a car that is a van / van that is a car in the eyes of the people who run the tip/DVLA etc...
Be aware if you are going to the council tip to recycle any waste. If it's van shaped you'll be stopped.
That may be the case where you are, but in Cheshire West there's absolutely no issues whatsoever. Rules are different for every council, agree it would be best to find out first though.
Stockport
For just cardboard & paper waste I’d be getting a trailer with high sides and a pile of permits for the tip. A van is a massive compromise over a car for your use case otherwise. You’ll never get a van engine warm in that distance and it’ll end up dpf’d to death.
Ii had a similar need but a smaller budget of around £3K. The only vans available either had no engine or a gazillion miles.
Vauxhall Zarifira for £2,9950 works fine. 7 seats if you ever need them. Large van shaped space when you don't. No issues with the council tip, bridge tolls or speed limits.
Just a shame it is such a boringly embarrasing thing to drive
I would go van or at least a van shaped car/ people carrier.
The only car I would have is something small like an MX-5 or Caterham.
Vans/van shaped cars piss all over anything else for practicality.
That sort of budget gets you a current shape Volvo V60. About the same size as the Octavia but massively nicer to be in.
For just cardboard & paper waste I’d be getting a trailer with high sides and a pile of permits for the tip. A van is a massive compromise over a car for your use case otherwise. You’ll never get a van engine warm in that distance and it’ll end up dpf’d to death.
A business needs to be licensed by the Environment Agency to transport and tip waste.
They also need to pay the tip, which is waste and area dependent, but might be anywhere up to £200/tonne with a minimum charge for less than a tonne. You might have to go to a specific place miles away because few domestic tips have a weighbridge. In short, it's a pain.
A bin or skip is covered by the owner's licence, they pay and you pay them.
Strictly speaking you should be licensed to transfer waste the mile from business to bin
Have you thought about buying a cardboard shredder? they are around 1-2k new, that way you can shred the cardboard and easily stuff it into some bags and chuck in the boot of your existing car, if your boot isn't quite big enough then buy a roof box
Total spend 2k ish
You could even use the shredded cardboard for packaging, if you don't need it for packaging I'm sure some local businesses would have it off you
Thanks for the suggestions, a few different opinions there, all good food for thought.
I have have plenty of bin capacity at home, so don't go to the tip and a trailer is not an option as anyone who knows Seahouses, you don't want to be messing around with a trailer on Main Street!
It's good point about the short distance. It doesn't bother me with my current car, as I paid £6500 for it in 2016 and it's only had consumables since I've owned it. So if it dies it dies.
A car seems better VFM than a van, even when you allow for VAT.
If I up my budget, to about £20k, there are some really nice looking low mileage Honda CRV hybrids for that money. Massive boot capacity, good reliability.
I looked at Volvo estates for similar money, but they don't have the reliability reputation they once had. My neighbour bought a brand new one about 4 years ago and has had quite a few issues.
Focus Estate works well not paying for the Skoda or VW badge 👍We've just bought another one , our " old" one is a 2022 with 32K on the clock on the forecourt for under £14K shame it's nowhere near you but it's a guide.
