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Personally I find a good relationship with a local garage who understand that you NEED that van has worked well for me. I did have the power steering belt go last year, I broke down mid afternoon was collected by the recovery truck an hour later. The fault was diagnosed that afternoon and I collected the van 10am the following morning. I'd arranged for our hedge cutting gear to be dropped off at the first job that morning so disruption was kept to a minimum.
I guess this is where commercial contracts are a blessing or jobs you can just turn up on if something like this happens or you have job canceled.
For me the cost of insuring another vehicle, taxing, servicing etc isn't worth it for the odd occasion like this. If you have a personal vehicle you use outside work then it may be worth going for a pick up or one with a towbar giving you the option of taking a trailer out if you have one behind your car or pick up?
Sorry to hear about your woes Darren.
Long term I'd buy a second vehicle...even if it's just a small cheap van.
Maybe it's also worth getting to know (you may already do?) your local colleagues and suggest you offer each other some support in times of crisis.
Have found very few of the after market warranty packages provide true cover, often too many exclusions to make it with while. Most exclude repairs due to wear and tear (...and try getting it fully defined....it's hard work). So we take it on the chin...
The only warranties we've ever had have come with the purchase of vans and only run for 6months or so unless you pay extra.
What I do have is good breakdown packages (via our insurance brokers) on our vans that not only will attempt to repair roadside, but will get van (and occupants) to your chosen destination (even if two separate destinations). Basic breakdown packages often limit recovery to 10miles. Fine if you're in your home town, but when miles away from home you do not know who you will be taken to. The cynic in me suggests that breakdown companies have 'preferred' local partners that may not always suit you well.
We have a great local, small garage very popular with local trades (and is a Good Garages member) that has served us well and, as suggested above, recognise the importance of having a van back on the road promptly.
When was the cam belt due for replacement....was the light on for replacement do you know when it was last done? What I'm trying to say is if the required preventative servicing had been done then a contigency is probably not required unless extreme bad luck ensues...with servicing things are either countered in advance or as they are due or allowed to mount up..the later can sometimes lead to the requirement of another vehicle...
Oh and stuff the garage do it yourself if poss is my motto ;-)
Mark
p.s. having a few vans, we can normally deal with a short amount of time off the road, but we do know a local van hire place that has all our details on file (inc licenses) from which we can hire at short notice. Normally, the cost of hiring far outweighs the loss of work while the van is repaired.
I'm in my fifties so insurance is cheap it is also handy when the transit is away for its mot etc.
We have 3 vans so can normally work around one being off the road, ii have always had a second vehicle, we still hire vans as my youngest guy is too expensive to put on the insurance but sometimes I need him to drive a vehicle so it is cheaper to hire as and when
The van was serviced in July and the cam belt is due for a change at the next service!
I toyed with buying a second van earlier in the year but decided I was making a spur of the moment decision due to us being so busy and decided to wait and make more of an informed choice rather than a reactionary one.
Ironically, my wife had a new car yesterday as she had had her previous one for over 10 years. I could of probably got by with the old one if we still had it. But we were concerned it was due a major breakdown! We have to take our shoes off to get in the new one :-) so that's not an option.
I'm not particularly happy about the breakdown, but stuff happens and it's how you deal with it that makes the difference. It's broken, fact. I can get cheesed off and say "if only" or I can move forward and be ready in the future.
Maybe I should buy a runaround 2nd van now, rather than hiring one?
Thanks for your replies.
Just goes to show that we must charge a realistic rate to pay for events like these. I have had one breakdown in 14 years, all with the same vehicle. Its a 1998 Daihatsu fourtrak and I am going to keep it going as long as I can, I will probably cry when it dies.
Next vehicle will be an electric van. The day of the combustion engie is nearing its end.
We have an account with Northgate, even if we don't need it it its nice to know they will drop a van off within the hour, so everything is not disrupted. And I think there the cheapest around at about £100 per week for a lovely new van/tipper.
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