davepenn54:
Instead of having to invest in your own van right at the moment, why don’t you negotiate for the work yourself, ditch your company they obviously aren’t interested, and then sub it out less 10% That gives you time to finish your studies and be putting away some capital to invest later in a really good vehicle and possibly have a group of subbies and regular work to keep you going
Wish I had this kind of opportunity at the moment
Regards
Dave Penn;
this is what I would do as long as the payment terms weren’t to long, maybe ask for first couple of runs to paid upfront as they are a new customer and you will set up an account after. Good luck with what ever happens.
Orys , id set up on your own , you can lease a veh from a hire company short term to see how it pans out and with the contacts you have made from the sites u mentioned id say you would have no shortage of work , go for it you never know unless you try
I’d say Orys was perfectly placed to facilitate loads between central Europe and the UK, with not just the driving experience and the contacts, but also the language skills- it’s quite interesting to read Orys’ earliest posts and see just how far his English has improved in a few years.
In his position, if my boss had vans parked up and I had the offer of work, I would offer to take over the lease payments on one of the boss’s vans for three months, making a down payment of one month’s lease costs. If Orys has a credit card then this should be enough to finance the first month’s fuel, if he is creditworthy then he should be able to get a fuel card. If he can do a trip or two himself and then call upon a trustworthy friend to drive for him who is able to wait a few weeks for the bulk of his wages, and he is satisfied that his customer is creditworthy and reliable then I would say that pretty much all of the pieces of the jigsaw were in place.
orys for my 2pence worth i have to agree with harry on this one try to get a van on short term contract hire or something do a few runs yourself to see how it goes if it works great you could employ a driver to do the runs for you. if it doesnt work you have your hgv licence to fall back on insurance should be monthly payemtns etc if your that short of cash you could factor the 1st few invoices if they allow it (am not sure) either way i would give it a try sod your boss his loss could be your gain
Orys pm me if you want some hard facts on setting up on your own on the financial side costs etc don’t do a contract hire it’ll cost a fortune and many companies won’t touch you due to the mileage that you will cover
Tell your old boss you are taking the work on, if he wants a bit of work you can maybe help him, watch him jump then.
If I am wrong, watch him jump and get things moving quickly. To be fair you have a cracking chance as an owner driver soon to become a fleet of owner drivers all on 10% while you sit back and drink Chopin
I visited these people today, we had a nice chat over the coffee. We discussed some options, and one of them will be that THEY will buy new van, and I will just provide them with drivers to drive it… So maybe instead of my own haulage company, I will open my own agency, haha
Off course, that was only one of many options. We’ll see what happens next, we agreed to contact each other before end of this week, as they have to consider some other option as well.
Ory to lease hire a vehicle you need to be VAT registered, and have trading accounts for 3 years for most companies, just had a look at lease hire myself.
orys:
I visited these people today, we had a nice chat over the coffee. We discussed some options, and one of them will be that THEY will buy new van, and I will just provide them with drivers to drive it… So maybe instead of my own haulage company, I will open my own agency, haha
You could do that but personally I would decline the offer and tell then that you can provide a complete transport solution (i.e a van and a driver) or nothing at all. You will make very little profit from supplying a driver alone, and have an enormous amount of grief in return.
orys:
I visited these people today, we had a nice chat over the coffee. We discussed some options, and one of them will be that THEY will buy new van, and I will just provide them with drivers to drive it… So maybe instead of my own haulage company, I will open my own agency, haha
You could do that but personally I would decline the offer and tell then that you can provide a complete transport solution (i.e a van and a driver) or nothing at all. You will make very little profit from supplying a driver alone, and have an enormous amount of grief in return.
I am just considering my options… I could make my brother to become owner driver in Poland, that will be good, as while he will be selling his services to a British company (these people are British company) he will not need to pay VAT…
From the other hand beaurocracy in Poland is terrible.
My bonus points are also that since I will be regular in Poland, I can service the van there (and have it much cheaper, and, from majority of my experience in UK, better)…
I could set him up for that, make him running, and just play a speditior myself… Even if I won’t make a fortune on it, it will be always some investition in building my position etc…
Or I can buy a van here, which will be propably in better condition, and possibly cheaper, but then insurance costs will be higher, I will need to pay road tax (in Poland is included in fuel price) and stuff like that…
So much to consider, and I never thought about it before… I mean, not for real.
orys:
I am just considering my options… I could make my brother to become owner driver in Poland, that will be good, as while he will be selling his services to a British company (these people are British company) he will not need to pay VAT…
I’ll check this out tomorrow but my understanding is that if you take a load from Poland to the UK or vice-versa, then you will need to be registered for VAT in one or other of those countries, and charge VAT at the appropriate rate.
This isn’t a problem, since it isn’t a “cost”, you charge VAT on top of any job you do and then pass it on to the Inland Revenue (or Polish equivalent) so you are simply an unpaid tax collector. Registering for VAT here is quite simple, a professional accountant will only charge £60 to do it (plus VAT )
As to where to buy the van, have it serviced, fuel it up, insure it, well they all depend on local conditions at the time, although there isn’t the huge gulf between prices that there once was.
Essentially, you should cost the business on paying the highest price for all of these and anything you can save by buying elsewhere is a bonus.
I think you could do it. I think you could make it work.
Harry Monk:
I’ll check this out tomorrow but my understanding is that if you take a load from Poland to the UK or vice-versa, then you will need to be registered for VAT in one or other of those countries, and charge VAT at the appropriate rate.
This isn’t a problem, since it isn’t a “cost”, you charge VAT on top of any job you do and then pass it on to the Inland Revenue (or Polish equivalent) so you are simply an unpaid tax collector. Registering for VAT here is quite simple, a professional accountant will only charge £60 to do it (plus VAT )
There maybe something i don’t understand about VAT and transiting Poland /UK but i never knew it was a neccesity to be registered for it. I thought the criteria for VAT was that you exceeded or expected to exceed turnover of 73k per annum (rough figure), and that alone was the criteria. In anycase if you need to register for it you can do it yourself easliy for free, thats the uncomplicated bit.
Orys is correct in that he won’t have to be VAT registered, and he will have the advantage to be able to invoice other non registered ex pats without VAT.
Downside is he won’t be able to claim VAT back on fuel, vehicle purchases, running costs.
If the work is for companies who are VAT registered in the same country then they just claim it back, or if Orys sells services to a company in another country, the invoice can be specified as VAT free as long as both parties are VAT registered.
It will depend on the balance of work he takes on, and perhaps might warrant the setting up of two businesses, one VAT registered (Orys Spedition Ltd) for business work, and one not registered(Orys Bros Spedition) for ex pat work
It needs to be done Orys because if you don’t, in a few years time you might look back and say ‘‘I wish I’d…’’
Mike-C:
There maybe something i don’t understand about VAT and transiting Poland /UK but i never knew it was a neccesity to be registered for it. I thought the criteria for VAT was that you exceeded or expected to exceed turnover of 73k per annum (rough figure), and that alone was the criteria. In anycase if you need to register for it you can do it yourself easliy for free, thats the uncomplicated bit.
Yes, you are right, he probably won’t reach the VAT threshold in a van.
miketdt:
Ory to lease hire a vehicle you need to be VAT registered, and have trading accounts for 3 years for most companies, just had a look at lease hire myself.
it depends who you go to. there’s a place near me that still work on a handshake.
There was some Polish company that lost a big contract and he offered her so low quote, that it’s no way I would go into business to fight with him. She said that he has some vans in leasing and they are parked up, while he still needs to pay the fees, so he told that he will be happy if he closes at 0…
That’s dumping, isn’t it?
Anyway, I am now cooling down, but I will continue my research and maybe I will try to do it sooner or later.
And, just now, funny thing, my main boss contacted me, apologized that he has some personal issues and told me that he would like to take this job… Sadly, it seems that it is already gone…
That gives you time to finish your studies and be putting away some capital to invest later in a really good vehicle and possibly have a group of subbies and regular work to keep you going
