If you’ve ever dreamed of starting your own business, and you love driving, then becoming a courier is the obvious choice for you. As long as you have a clean licence and are in relatively good health, it is an occupation that doesn’t discriminate against age, gender, religion or even size. However, size IS an issue when it comes to the capacity of your van. What kind of work you are planning to undertake will govern the size of the van you need to buy. Your van will be the most expensive outlay you need to make for your courier business, so before you rush in you should do a little research first. Just to make it easier for you, this could give you food for thought.

Big Van
If you want to be able to broaden the scope of your courier work, and feel confident handling a larger vehicle, then investing in a large capacity van could pay off handsomely. Courier work is not just about delivering documents and print jobs; many people utilise couriers for things like domestic furniture removal, office relocations, goods on pallets, and even building materials. If you decide these are the markets you would like to target then the kind of vans you need to be looking at would be something like the Mercedes Sprinter, Citroen Relay or a Fiat Ducato. Of course there are many more and it will pay you to look around and get a feel of how each van drives; but these three are all appear popular with courier drivers looking to fulfil the three main considerations: price, capacity and fuel consumption.

Little Van
If you plan on targeting the smaller sized courier jobs, don’t worry; a smaller van certainly does not have to mean a smaller turnover. What you lack in size you will make up for in terms of the volume of courier jobs you are able to take on as you zip around town or country delivering packages, documents and a huge array of items that need to get from A to B safely and in a hurry. If this sounds appealing to you then you should start your search by test driving something like a Citroen Nemo, a Renault Kangoo or a Fiat Fiorino. All three of these are perfect for the smaller jobs and drive like your normal car. Factors you should look for in a small van include (but are not restricted to) manoeuvrability, comfort, load capacity and of course, the all important fuel consumption.

New or Used?
Whatever size courier van you settle on, the final, and just as important, decision you need to make is whether to shell out for a brand new model or err on the side of financial caution and opt for a second-hand version. Of course this will largely depend on your budget but also you should consider more long-term factors such as costs of maintenance. With the great deals now offered on new car warranties, sometimes buying second-hand and perhaps inheriting some mechanical problems can actually be a false economy for your new courier business.

So the last word really is research, research, research. Yes, ok, that’s three words but at the end of the day, it’s important enough to mention three times!

Author Bio: Norman Dulwich is a correspondent for Courier Exchange, the world’s largest neutral trading hub for the Sameday courier and express freight exchange industry. Over 2,500 transport exchange businesses are networked together through their website, trading courier services and capacity in a safe ‘wholesale’ environment.

Category: Automotive
Keywords: courier