Thinking of buying a van

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will actively seek to purchase a box trailer and get myself a trailer licence test. I will hopefully view and purchase in august.

Any things I should keep in mind when buying? I'm looking for a 12ft l x 6/7ft h x 6/7ft w.

For example should what type of material should it be made from, and the roof, shoudl it be of the same sturdy material as the walls. Also, is it a problem if the front is a triangle cone thing.

Double axels are the best im guessing so that way it stays upright, correct?

Insurance for trailers seems cheap. I'll make sure I get proper wheelclamps. Once we have a driveway built, it will reside on there locked down to an anchor I will have built in to the driveway.

I'm not looking to carry too much meaning it shouldn't be too heavy and not exceen the weight limit for the car towing the trailer.
 
ok as you've made you desicion this is probably a bit late, but its a slow evening so i'll stick my experiences out there.

I have a peugeot expert 05 with the hdi engine and i have to admit i love it. i use it mainly as a social vehicle and for getting around at work. insurance hasn't been any different for me in comparison to my old 1.8 veccy estate. reliability wise i have had a couple of issues with it, high pressure fuel pump sprung a leak and a the electro valves that control the egr and waste gate wore out and caused the engine to surge. ironicly all these parts were german (bosch), the french bits are still going strong. economy wise its not as good as a car but it still gets 40 mpg. paid 7k for it when it was 3yrs old and it had 15k miles on the clock.

I have to admit that if i'd been able to find a vw for the same money, in similar condition and similar spec/condition then there would have been no contest but they just hold their value too well, a cheap one is usually ex AA and though usually well maintained still come with really high millage and probably coutless hours of run time on the engine (you don't thing they sit with the engine off while they're waiting for a call out do you?)

over all certainly don't regret buying it, its done me well, loads of space in the back when i go camping (i do a fair bit of outdoor sporty stuff so there is always loads of kit as well), it drives like a car and pulls very well on hills. only additions i've made are a reversing camera on the back, replaced the some what weedy horn and fitted a tow bar (recently towed a twin axel trailer with a full set of kitchen cabinets and appliences and it and it didn't break a sweat), oh and dropped in a pipercross high flow filter though that was more because i tend to run a basic service on it about every 5-6k miles and in the long run works out cheaper than paper (the extra air flow doesn't hurt either though :) )

so there it is my experience with a pug expert
 
Thanks laz, I'll keep that in mind about the Peugeot Expert if i was to ever change my mind, but it seems like I'm deffo going to go ahead with the trailer as it's the best option for my usage.
 
I went down the ebay route when i bought mine. ended up with an A1 kit from these guys eBay My World - thecaraccessorystore by the sound of it you're doing exactly as i did and trawling the reviews. I also found Witter tend to be regarded as one of the best out there but just didn't have the cash at the time to go for one of theirs. I've been happy with my cheapee alternative. it turned up as a very complete kit and a decent clear set of instructions. only extra tools i needed were allan keys, multi meter and a pair of pliers. every thing lined up nicely and didnt need forcing just clip the cage nut in to the chasis and bolt it down. even the vampire taps for the electrics were included. had the whole thing fitted and wired in bout an hour and a half (tea breaks included, you can't work on any vehicle with out tea :D )
I went for a flanged bar but that was purely because i had a bike carrier that i needed to bolt on behind the bar, also gives me the option of swapping it out for a draw bar if the need ever arises. only thing i would say is that with a flanged bar you some times need to cut a small section out of the bumper to to fit it, where as with a swan neck it will usually bend under it and often has the option to remove the ball from the main bracket and leave no visable sign that a bar is fitted.
 
Last edited:
laz2336 said:
I went down the ebay route when i bought mine. ended up with an A1 kit from these guys eBay My World - thecaraccessorystore by the sound of it you're doing exactly as i did and trawling the reviews. I also found Witter tend to be regarded as one of the best out there but just didn't have the cash at the time to go for one of theirs. I've been happy with my cheapee alternative. it turned up as a very complete kit and a decent clear set of instructions. only extra tools i needed were allan keys, multi meter and a pair of pliers. every thing lined up nicely and didnt need forcing just clip the cage nut in to the chasis and bolt it down. even the vampire taps for the electrics were included. had the whole thing fitted and wired in bout an hour and a half (tea breaks included, you can't work on any vehicle with out tea :D )
I went for a flanged bar but that was purely because i had a bike carrier that i needed to bolt on behind the bar, also gives me the option of swapping it out for a draw bar if the need ever arises. only thing i would say is that with a flanged bar you some times need to cut a small section out of the bumper to to fit it, where as with a swan neck it will usually bend under it and often has the option to remove the ball from the main bracket and leave no visable sign that a bar is fitted.
Click to expand...
Nice one mate, wasn't too sure what the difference was. Hmm, don't you have to wire it in to your car's electrics? I mean the trailer should work with the car's brake and indicator lights right?
 
Pimped said:
Nice one mate, wasn't too sure what the difference was. Hmm, don't you have to wire it in to your car's electrics? I mean the trailer should work with the car's brake and indicator lights right?
Click to expand...

You hook it in to the loom that runs to the rear light clusters. Usually there will be a main loom that runs to one side of the car and a sub loom from that then bridges across to the light cluster on the other side. you do all your connecting on the main loom side. for this i just hooked a multi meter to ground then used a sewing needle wrapped around the other meter probe to probe the wires when the desired light was on (i didn't have a wiring diagram for the van so didn't know the colour codes on that side. the colour codes for the towbar socket wires were clearly marked) then its as simple as placing the vampire connector around the loom wire, slotting the corresponding wire from the towbar connector into the other side and squeezing together with pliers.

for basic rear lights that is all you need. when you see cars with 2 different coloured sockets on the back the second socket is for power and charging to a caravan (to charge a leisure battery and keep a fridge running, oh and you get the reversing light in here as well which you don't get on the standard connection) that does require a load of additional heavier cables to be installed the full length of the car, but for what your after you don't need this.
 
Just a note on the Trailer Licence.

from dvla them selvs when i asked also on teh direct .gov websute

you can tow a trailer as lonmg as the combined weight (car+trailer+load) dosent exceed 3.5ton

so you can basically tow a car on a trailer on a standard B licence
 
As a 37 year old I can tow up to 7.5t I regually tow 3t on a trailer with trailer weight and vehicle added together. I also have driving card for tachographs. I only missed out on hvg by grandfarther rights by a few years.
 
Hey guys sorry I never realised you had replied. Some really good info posted here but after looking at all the costs involved, I've decided that even a box trailer isn't the best option for me.

So now I'm looking at getting a MPV / 7 Seater car from which I can remove the rear seats and use for my needs. I'll be looking for an M or N reg so that it wouldn't cost me more than £800 hopefully. Insurance for vans is too expensive for me so this is a good solution (although I've yet to get a quote for insurance on a 7 seater).
 
fisco2001 said:
aslong as u passed your test b4 1997 you should be ok to tow a trailer if you passed after your gonna have to do the traller test.
Click to expand...

Do ya know what ?

Sometimes it's good to be OLD.

:banana:

lol csb
 
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