First of all I want to thank all you veterans out there for sharing your experience with us the newbies. I looked around to find the answer to my question but I couldn't find it anywhere so I am going to ask it myself. So, I am looking to purchase a van and to sign up with pantherII (I guess), my question is which is the best van to start with...so many choices... new-used, ford-gmc-sprinter, DIESEL-GAS(is this one very important?). I'll apreciate any information you guys can give me...
the best cargo van to start with
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I think you may want to take some time and research the archives of these forums.
The reason being, Your question is a hard one to answer. The question you ask is all about a matter of individual preference. I mean as far as the type of van. The Chevy and Ford is you most common used in this business. Diesel or gas is what can you afford to buy? Sprinters are too new to tell. I would recommend that you buy new because a vans life in this business is very short. So why buy someone else's headache
If you are looking to do this kind of work for any length of time you may want to buy a D unit.
The reason being, Your question is a hard one to answer. The question you ask is all about a matter of individual preference. I mean as far as the type of van. The Chevy and Ford is you most common used in this business. Diesel or gas is what can you afford to buy? Sprinters are too new to tell. I would recommend that you buy new because a vans life in this business is very short. So why buy someone else's headache
If you are looking to do this kind of work for any length of time you may want to buy a D unit.
The only thing I would add to Teacels answer is that I don't like what I've heard about the Sprinter. I like the versatility with the height. But rumor has it there are engines puking at 100k and bad weather handling is terrible. If I did it tommorow it would be another E350 Powerstroke.
I don't run a van, but I think the age-old answer to this question still safely applies to expediting as far as I see it, and would be the way to go for me if I bought a van-
Gas= Chevy
Diesel= Ford
Sprinter= Dodge
(Had to throw that in with no meaningful purpose)
I totally agree with Tony to buy new. Few companies want vans more than 3 or 4 model years old. Most vans I see used at full capacity for expediting are pretty well beat after 3 or 4 years.
Do consider that $25-30k spent on a new van might in some cases be better invested into a used C or D unit truck as Tony mentioned also. There is a lot more work out there for the trucks, and you will be rolling more often which is kind of the "name of the game" in trucking. My D unit moves steadily. Van work looks to be more along the lines of "feast or famine" with most of the expediters.
-Weave-
Gas= Chevy
Diesel= Ford
Sprinter= Dodge
(Had to throw that in with no meaningful purpose)I totally agree with Tony to buy new. Few companies want vans more than 3 or 4 model years old. Most vans I see used at full capacity for expediting are pretty well beat after 3 or 4 years.
Do consider that $25-30k spent on a new van might in some cases be better invested into a used C or D unit truck as Tony mentioned also. There is a lot more work out there for the trucks, and you will be rolling more often which is kind of the "name of the game" in trucking. My D unit moves steadily. Van work looks to be more along the lines of "feast or famine" with most of the expediters.
-Weave-
I have a friend from Sanford Fl. and he swears by the Chevy 1 ton (3500). He has 5 of them and he and his wife started out driving the first one and then he just started buying more. They are now sitting at their new home in Sanford (by the pool) and making a comfortable living. He has all of them leased to the same company and seems to be doing well. The first one he bought is well over 400k miles and no serious problems. The Ford would probably do as well but he likes the Chevy. I think there was a pole taken on this web-site a while back and the Chevy out numbered the Ford 2 to 1. No offense Ford lovers !!
In reply to Aviator, I could afford the Sprinter, even the totally tricked out one from Knoxville. Saw it at the show and I really liked it a lot. I asked the salesman how much weight I could haul with it set up like that and he didn't know. That seemed like the kind basic info he should have known. Anyway, I've got 616k on my van right now and it's been reasonably dependable. That's why I would go with it again. I really want to talk to the people who make it to 400k+ with the Sprinter. But I think thats still a little way away.
I wanna thank y'all for your advices, but the thing is that I can't afford to buy a new unit, and I am not very comfortable investing 30k in something that I am not sure how it's gonna work, even though I am optimistic about expediting. So my decision is to buy a 2001-2 Ford 350 with around 100.000 miles on around $ 12000, to start with...I hope to see y'all on the road soon. Thanx again!