Choosing a work van is not very easy, and there is a lot of personal taste that goes into it. Over the years having founded and operated a franchising company in the cleaning sector, I’ve certainly given a lot of thought to work vehicle philosophy. And, I’ve always listened to our vendors, franchisees, and customers in trying to design the most efficient work vehicle handling a multitude of factors and considerations. Now then, let’s discuss this.
When gasoline or diesel prices are quite high fuel efficiency is a major key for a mobile service business. It could easily cost between 25 and $35 a day in fuel if someone goes with a large V-8 engine. Most men prefer a large engine with a lot of power, as they get older they are often more prudent, and not on the gas pedal so much. Younger drivers seem to have a lead foot, and if you have V-8 work vehicles they burn through a lot of gas, especially if they’re not paying for it.
A six-cylinder work vehicle makes more sense economically, and generally it can still hold the load, but it’s not very good for towing trailers, and the work van becomes quite a dog when it’s fully loaded. Then there is the option of getting a minivan, but generally they can’t really hold the weight, and they require extra leaf springs, some only have four cylinders, and you are bound to have transmission problems, rear end issues, and blow out wheel bearings on occasion. When fuel prices are up at five dollars a gallon, it’s nice to have a four-cylinder vehicle, but it can’t tow a trailer. It might have trouble with its power and transmission getting up steep hills when it’s fully loaded.
A smaller van also has less area on the outside for signage, therefore makes less of an impact in advertising and marketing while driving around. However some of your greener customers may appreciate that you have a small van instead of a large one, they may believe that to be more environmentally acceptable. Small vans are also good for getting into parking structures, and some larger vans can’t get into all the parking structures in a city. Larger vans also cannot get into the garage in a lot of homes therefore, if your employees take the vans home at night and leave them outside, they might be vandalized, broken in to, or painted with graffiti.
Then there is the issue with space, what good is buying a van if you can’t get everything inside? One of the reasons for buying a van is so you can lock up all your equipment and materials, so no one will steal stuff out of the back of a work truck. If you have to leave some of your materials at the shop, and you need to keep running back to the shop to pick them up because they don’t fit in the van, then you are wasting all the fuel you’ve saved. Indeed, choosing a van for a work vehicle requires a lot of trade-offs and thought. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.
