Through a contact I am looking at coming off artics as an employed driver and buying a lwb van and running to continent on hotshot loads. I have checked the rates and they aren’t too bad with a 75% chance of a backload. This is something that I have thought of for a while and it appeals to me in the fact that there is little regulation ie. no tacho’s, limiters etc.
On another point, and this is where I am asking for some advice 
, is the type of van. I am looking at either Renault Master, Merc Sprinter (bit pricey) or Iveco Daily. All high roof long wheel base, about 2.5 tonne. Also, whether to buy outright or lease.
Any advice would be appreciated. 
Sprinter. They are the best by a country mile. As long as you service them, and look after then properly, you should easily see 200,000Kms, or higher on the original parts.
I would think that an xlwb Sprinter would have a MGW of 3.5T. But it does have a 4m load length between the back doors and the bulkhead.
I think Iveco do a 3.5T van with a 4.5m load length, but not too sure on the reliability. Maybe IanYng can shed some light, as he has a couple on european work.
I seem to recall that the general rate for UK work is about £1 a mile, so I guess it should be not dissimilar on Euro work. And the last time I used a courier, it was paid on round trip mileage. £278 for 310 mile round trip.
I think there are some cheap deals to be had on leasing a new van, however most of them have fairly restrictive mileage allowances. You can get sprinters fairly cheaply if you get them imported from Ireland. A place I worked at about 4 years ago, got a high roof, xlwb 313cdi for 18K + VAT.
Something to think about, if your doing euro work, is maybe a sleeper pod from Hatcher, and get a curtainsider Sprinter instead, you then get a higher loading space, and a bit more flexibility. although you do reduce the payload from 1500Kgs, to 1100Kgs.
Hatcher do a sleeper pod that goes above the cab, and also a ‘deep sleeper’ which makes it into more of a conventional sleeper cab. But it does reduce the loading length by 50cm.
I think I have some figures somewhere for the weights, and pod prices, will try and find them for you.
Forget the IVECO unless you have good breakdown recovery, I ran 3 in a fleet of 25 vans and they gave no end of trouble, they were the newest vehicles out of the lot as well - parts are a nightmare - had to wait 9 days for a rear shock on a van that was only 6 months old!!!
Definitely go for the Sprinter. We run one rented from the local branch of Norflex and have ran several over the 3 years I have worked there. I can’t recall any instance of us having mechanical failure or breakdown. The vans are newish - current one is 04 reg. Make sure you can fit in the cab though! The seat doen’t go back too far before it hits the bulkhead.
Ours has a 4.1 metre bed and a GVW of 3.5 tonnes. Payload is about 1300/1350 kg. The only thing you need to be careful of is the distance between the real wheel arches - 122 cm (less if they’ve been boxed in!) You can just get a Euro or 1200 pallet through it. Bed will hold 5 euros or 4 UK pallets.
Another poster writes about the Iveco Daily - my mate works for Leicester Council who use Dailies as minibuses. They certainly keep the mechanics busy!
Renault Masters are an unknown quantity, but I have had experience of Renault Lagunas - and would never run one myself. Both cars kept the greasy end of the industry busy.
Quite a few of our self-employed couriers rent their vans from branches of Norflex. Each company is a separate profit centre and so they will compete against each other and rent vans all over the place.
Good luck
Calv
Always found Renault Masters and indeed Renaults in general to be reliable. I heard (although don’t know for sure) that Sprinters cost more to run ie parts and servicing than other makes.
penfold the sprinters are reliable but they are a merc so expect to pay more for the van and parts the iveco not brill and the renault arnt brill id say the transit comes out second there is a site for van and courior ownerdrivers which has loads of info www.codforum.org.uk as for the no tacho thing it can also be a bad thing mate as your expected to go at the drop of a hat with hot shot stuff by law though im sure van drivers are limited to 10 hours driving a day though it seems its rareley enforced.
goodluck carl 
extra space added to make link work…Denis F
I think Sprinter is ya man to talk to on this subject.
He dosn’t post a lot but I know he keeps an eye on the forums you could try pm’ing him.
Carl’s link does not work for me.
Try this instead :
www.codforum.org.uk/index.php
I’m interested in something similar to you Penfold, in the New Year.
U.K. / Ireland for me, though. 
The Iveco Daily is the nicest to drive by a long way.
However the one I used to drive dumped all it’s oil one day and needed a new engine at less than 18 months old.
It also developed a fuel tank leak at one stage and it’s the only vehicle I’ve ever been recovered in (I wasn’t driving it when it lost it’s oil), when the gearbox went but I think it was repaired rather than replaced.
The firm that I drove it for use VW LT35 vans now.
If u think the jobs going to be a relatively long runner buy a 2-3 yr old transit. plenty of van for your money and reliable too.
I have a sprinter 313 cdi MWB, its 2000 with 132,000 miles, never gives an ounce of trouble, BUT if its comfory your after maybe you should try hiring a sprinter first for a while, definitely not everyones cup of tea, I hear the 125ps transit 350 is a good work horse, don.t know much about them but the 350 back wheel drive seems to be the best. In my opinion all else are not really able for the hacking.
I used to drive all of the vans you’re thinking about on a regular basis and I hated the Iveco with a passion and would make a right fuss when they tried to put me on it. It had the worst brakes I’ve ever known, I was sure they were faulty but the garage assured me that was not the case, and the fuel tank capacity was just a joke, I had to fill up atleast once a day, maybe more on a long run and that was just doing UK work. Renault Masters and its sister vans from Vauxhall and Nissan were always very good for reliability but don’t match the sprinter for power, speed and general appearence but they’re by no means bad. As for there being much less regulations, very true, though there are drivers hours rules, which are totally ignored by 99% of people but van drivers have been seriously done by the ministry recently, though its very rare. Anyway, best of luck to you if you do take the plunge, it did appeal to me too a while back but I’ve just spent 2K getting my Class 1 so I’m gonna put that to use.
Penfold,
Did you ever give any consideration to petrol engine van and then get it converted to LPG?? You could fit a 300 litre gas tank, get it boxed-in and not lose too much space. LPG should cost no more than £1200 - £1500 to be fitted but with derv costing 90ppl (inc VAT) and LPG costing 34.9ppl it would soon be recouped.
The usual suspicions about LPG are unfounded nowadays. There are plenty of LPG garages (unless you live in York 
) and with a 300 litre tank (plus your petrol tank as a reserve) your mileage range would be good between fill-ups.
I was looking for a transit van recently (for personal use) and only looked for petrol engines - there are some good deals to be had!!
If you have any questions about the LPG-thing, get back to me or take a look at some of the links below;
http://www.lpga.co.uk/LPGA.htm
http://www.autogas-forum.de/com-version/
The bottom one is useful if you’re going to run abroad.
…and here’s a list of new vehicles that can be supplied with LPG. (Includes 2 & 2.3 litre Transit and some Sprinters). Good thing about buying new is that the LPG installation is definately covered by the warranty.
http://www.boostlpg.co.uk/driver_industry/OEM%20Vehicle%20availability.doc
Thanks for all your replies If I got a 3.5 tonne, doesn’t that come under tacho rules? Looking at max 2.9 tonne. PPM aint too good (0.65) but distance and amount of miles done on run compensates somewhat plus backloads
penfold:
If I got a 3.5 tonne, doesn’t that come under tacho rules?
No, it’s anything over 3.5 tonnes but domestic rules will apply.
Don’t know much from a cost perspective or anything else, but the new renault masters pull like a train. We have some at work (ambulances - so they get a lot of hammer) The one I drive the most is a 54 plate but has only been on the road about 10 months. Its got 60k on the clock and most of those are hard miles, (I would think probably about 10k were spent travelling sideways… 
) but hasn’t had any mechanical breakdowns as of yet. Although yes it has had 10k service intervals. From memory they are a 3 litre diesal and the engine isn’t a renault I think its a datsun or something japanese with a 6 speed box. Brakes are pretty good, ours are on discs all round, but I don’t know if thats an upgrade or standard. Either way they can stop PDQ when required!! Fuel economy isn’t very good, but again, they aren’t driven with fuel consumption in mind. They are 3500kg as standard, but ours our replated to 3900kg when converted. You’d be suprised at the amount of weight of kit that can go into them. The new shape ones are definately a vast improvement on the old shape and they are one of the most comfortable vehicles I’ve ever driven.
Penfold, is 65ppm round trip or one way? Plus ferries?
If its one way & there’s no backload, you’re gonna be running at close on op. costs.
Very interested to see how you go on with this, as it something I too have thought about.
Have you looked into the insurance cost yet?
Driveroneuk - the 65ppm is one way and ferries are paid so are the tolls (but only one way unless re-loading, ferries paid both ways whatever)
Got insurance quote of £1900 fully comp UK and Europe which I didn’t think was too bad. I am awaiting insurance firm to give me costs of GIT (upto £25k) and public liability of upto £2m.
Ok, couldn’t find the info on Sleeper conversions. Sorry.
However, in answer to your other question, whether to buy or lease. You could buy a 311cdi XLWB High Roof Sprinter for £16900 + VAT
Which over 3 years works out at £515 a month.(personal loan)
As the van comes with a 3 year unlimited mileage warranty it makes sense to spread it over that, although it will have amazing mileage by the time it is paid for, it should still have a value of some sort.
Or you could ‘rent’ one from www.Norflex.co.uk. There prices are something like £144 + VAT per week for a 311cdi XLWB Highroof Sprinter. And you can swap it at any time for a different size of van if you no longer need the sprinter. I think this also includes maintenance.
The 65ppm one way with both ferries paid sounds ok. As long as you do get reloads 75% of the time. Otherwise I reckon you would be making a loss on runs without a re-load of about the same magnitude as you would be making a profit on the jobs with a reload.
I think the Sprinter should achieve 30mpg on a round trip, probably a lot higher if you are running empty or light.