your thoughts of workvans

[hillel]

Been working for a while already out of my employer's minivan. It's a little tight in there i tell ye.. Time to better my working conditions and get a real van. And tools, but that's for another thread.
Your thoughts and experience with the different vans out there would be greatly appreciated. In particular, the fuel economy as its a figure that seems to be hard to get by. Thank you

[Gordy]

In my humble opinion you can't do better than decide what you want to carry. The bigger the van the more you carry. You need to decide what you need and buy accordingly.
Personally I started with an escort van that lasted 3 months then I upgraded to a transit. I have plenty of room to work and it holds an awful lot of gear.
Parts are easily available and cheap, fuel economy is ok, Insurance is cheap and most importantly it is reliable.
As I said it is personal choice but whatever you get have it stickered up with your details etc as it pulls in business.
On the down side of any van, be careful. I mean remember that it is on wheels and easy to nick. Don't leave all your gear in the van or you'll lose it.

[maxxed]

I agree with gordy about the space being filled because it is there. The most efficient setup I ever had was my Jeep Grand Cherokee. I had modified the interior by removing half of the back seat and installed a bench with shelves. In the back I made a raised floor so I could store tool kits out of the way ( occasionally used things) and then still had an open area to hold larger items.
It was tight but I had everything I needed in this space to do auto, residential, commercial, safe work and alarm installation.
Carefull planning can lead to an efficient work vehicle

[Eyes_Only]

A lot of locksmiths in the US are starting to go towards the Dodge Sprinter. Lots of room and very fuel efficient from what I've heard. But you can't drive it into a underground/covered above-ground parking structures or you'll smash up the top.

[hillel]

yeah, ive heard the same of the dodge spronter's mpg but its a little too big i think. even parking in the customers driveway could be difficult to impossible in some places. i drove semis before i started locksmithing and had enough of that... but anyway, thank you very much people.
that jeep is probably something to see. how large of an inventory could you carry in that? its alway nice not to have to run somewhere to get parts..

[maxxed]

I still have the jeep, I use it mainly to pull the racecar to the track. all of the " custom" interior is still in place. It is full of things from my move still and it will take a while to clean out, but I should post pics so that a new lockie can see what can be done in limited space.
I had power inverter and a back up battery system so that I could work in it and not drain my main battery. There was also 175 watts of lighting above the bench
The shelf in the back stored 16 locksets there was 9 tool kits stored under the floor and my large alarm kit sat on top of the floor. The pin kit was stored in the bench and so were the keyblanks. The key machine was attached to a chain so I could move it around on the top and a bolt through the bench gave a hook to secure it during travel.
The passenger seat and floor area could hold larger boxes of equipment when doing larger jobs


I did a similar thing to my PT Cruiser but I didn't take it as far as the Jeep. Pulling up in a silver Cruiser with a purple flame job and custom wheels did catch a fair bit of attention on the job.

[hillel]

well, i put a deposit today on a chevy astro. i hope it works well for me.

[linty]

sprinters are awesome but probably a bit too big. My shop has been using safaris and savannahs for our fleet and they work pretty well.

[hillel]

yeah, but the midsize vans are pretty hard to find. i almost went with an e-150, but then i found this astro - a beaituful '04, a bit high on mileage but very nice.

[Eyes_Only]

I heard also that some locksmiths who specialize in only one field of locksmithing will at times use a Scion or Honda Element.

[WOT]

sprinters are awesome but probably a bit too big. My shop has been using safaris and savannahs for our fleet and they work pretty well.

The Mercedes/Freightliner/Dodge Sprinter is offered in 3 different length and 3 different roof heights. I think they're all ugly as sin though and reminds me of that ugly Airbus cargo jet.

The roof heights available are 8', 9' and 10' and good mpg is because it comes with a standard 3.0L V6 turbodiesel engine with available 3.5L gas for $2,000 or so less.

There's a wealth of info here:http://www.thinkcuv.com/pdfs/07FLsprinterbrochure.pdf

Dodge version:
http://www.dodge.com/en/2008/sprinter/

Freightliner version:
http://www.thinkcuv.com/ (they don't wanna call it stigmatizing "van" )

[Eyes_Only]

I see more and more of these vans around my area lately. I see locksmiths use it, UPS, medical emergency vehicles and Office Depot too for some reason.

[prag]

It is always a good idea to see what the vehicles other lockies in your area. This should give you an idea of make of vehicles to consider. I am also considering upgrading my vehicle and what I've also done is ask other lockies about their vehicles and why they got it.

I've also experienced that its better to ask them these questions at the local locksmithing meetings or suppliers product demos. Maybe it can be the free booze or food or not being in the work enviroment that makes everybody just more talkative.

[robotmaxtron]

Since the thread has seemed to make it's way back to being recent.

My employer had been running out of a Chevy Express 2500 and things were fine, it was a little cramped in there repinning and such but things were ok.

Whenever i was hired on he got a minivan and built a series of shelves and such in the back and now both of us prefer the minivan. It's more fuel efficient, the work space is less crowded actually and again it all boils down to how many tools do you really <i>need</i> . I think we all know you can find enough things to fill a space.

Your experience may vary.

[prag]

Just came from a trade show today. It was a tool trade expo but not with locksmithing tool but general tools. There was something that caught my eye.

It was a Iveco truck/van. This vans loading area is big. I'm 1,9m tall and I did not need to bend, actually had another 20cm or so headroom extra. The length of the vans loading area was about 4/5 m long. I started salavating just thinking about the possiblities of this work space. Hell, its bigger than my work space at my business. Just imagining the work bench and key racks and where the machines can go but...................

Only dreams for now, because this van comes with a major price tag. Sorry I didn't get any brouchures. But nice to dream.