The Chief

Ok i've qasked this a while back so appologies for rambling and repeating myself. Just a few questions to those in the know.

i'm after doing a bit of national work on a self employed basis. i got speaking to a courier who seemed to do alright and he gave me a number to ring DHL as they can give you work on a self employed basis anyway i just need a few questions answering.

1. Going to get a smallish van and i have narrowed it down to a Vauxhall Combi 1.7 dti or a Ford connect tdci, what are these like? any preferences? fuel consumption?

2. Van insurance, any recommendations?

3. do you use sat-nav and if so which are best Tom Tom, Nav-Man etc???

4. would there be any work available at weekends or at nights? i really want to start doing this so i dont have to give my normal job up immediately.

Any other advice greatly appreciated and thanks chaps

The Chief

No one?

surely there must be someone out there!!!

Chip

3. Tom Tom Go.

Chip

The Chief

Thanks Chip, thats one question out of the way,

do you knwo the difference between the 300 and 500, will the 300 do the job?

Chip

300 will do the job fine.

www.tomtom.com

Chip

Petem95

I had a Connect TDCi and loved it. Nice to drive, and a nice interior. As for MPG I think I used to get about 35-37, but being a company van with fuel paid for I drove it hard. Also very good on the motorway, happy to cruise at 95-100 all day if needs be. Much quicker than the 1.7dti.

From speaking to couriers however it seems the Connect TDCi has a rep for being a bit thirsty. Ok if you take it steady, but really drink it if you are pushing on, and with fuel costing about a quid a litre for diesel the Vauxhall might be the best bet.

Interestingly I was chatting to one guy who had a 1.4 petrol Combo with an LPG conversion and he recked it was much cheaper to run than any diesel van he's had, and was still going strong when he got rid at 250,000 miles.

Oh and yes get tomtom!

alanbell

iTrader: (6)

Ive got 3 vans (builder) been with cis for years no one could beat them , But this year went with A plan with my scoob , Then tryed them with my newist merc over £100 cheaper than cis >> So try them, cheers Alan.

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

1) Flexibility. We use exclusively Nissan Primastar size vehicles as our "Small Vans". 18k service intervals and 30+mpg easy. So far very reliable & we've got 25 of them currently.

2) Can't comment

3) TomTom seems popular

4) We offer night/week-end work. Guarantees available. Probably not taking on this month.

DHL may be unwilling to offer p/time only commitment.

ben44

The combi will struggle abit, I had one for a few months. Not driven the Connect, but I've heard there ok

Commercial Vechile Direct are pretty good - 0870 420 4999

If you going to be couriering in London, forget the Tom Tom. Maps are out of date, and receiption is very bad, although the buildings will probally affect all sat nav's. I've driven and learnt a fair bit of London with the help of a £5.99 A-Z

I brought a Tom Tom to help find jobs in London, I regret it now...

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Have to disagree with you there but specifically on the reception bit.

All our couriers have Pocket PCs (XDA2 & XDA2i devices) with either bluetooth or mouse type GPS receivers. We track them all over GPRS & find that only rarely do we get no reception or reflection. We are so confident that we allow our clients to track their courier at streetlevel in realtime - we'd look silly if it didn't work

I can't comment on the latest Tomtom but TT2 is accurate enough. Routing is questionable sometimes - ie the shortest route is not always chosen & yes I daresay a few roads are missing but it does the job.

Personally I get around inside London/M25 without a map or Tomtom

ben44

Glad to hear other makes don't suffer the same receiption problems.

I brought the Tom Tom because a few of the buildings we need to get to are new jobs for us. The idea was "enter the postcode and away you go" also the added bluetooth handsfree seemed like a good idea. None of it works properly.

One glance at an A-Z if your not exactly sure seems to be better IMO

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

I will agree that much of the tech is flaky but we've spent 12 months sorting out all aspects such as Bluetooth stack & which GPS (Sirf3) etc such that we have 99.5% accuracy/uptime. Thats 60+ couriers 10hrs per day. The .5% is training...

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

LOL - I caned one of our couriers recently as he went out from the Bow flyover to Wallis Road, E9 via Carpenters Road!! He more than doubled the distance & the time when he should instead have gone up the 102M & Wick Lane Thats 'cos TT thought the more "major" Carpenters Road preferable to the "minor" Wick Lane...

I told him to buy an A-Z so as to get at least an idea as to bearing!!

His face was a picture as I showed him his route

ben44

The TomTom hasn't even worked out that when you come out the limehouse link, the next tunnel is now open. It pretty much wants you to go to Hackney

A courier company round that area a? Is there a L and a D somewhere in the name

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

No but we're based in E1 - new kids on the block that are causing ripples

Inside page Riders Digest...

SinghSuperStud

iTrader: (2)

Hi Guys,

any chance I can kinda hijack this and ask where I can find out about a similar setup?

Wanted to enquire about becoming an agent/franchisee for one of the courier firms but didn't get very far - any links, contacts appreciated.

Ideally want to have a similar setup where i get the van etc and they supply the customers - if possible?

cheers, Jai

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

LOL - you want it all!!

Try www.klicka.com

ben44

Any company details you might want to tell me about? Some of the firms I work with in that area use Lewis Day and they are not my idea of efficient.

(PM me if its against SN advertising ) I'll pass the details on...