Q / am a teacher in a large secondary
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school and part of my duty is to organize the transport for various activities. For some time we have toyed with the idea of buying our own vehicle, but as none of us is conversant with the c.v. field I have been advised to write to you and ask for your assistance.
We already have a car maintenance class at school and sufficient collective knowledge among the staff to keep a petrol vehicle in good condition (except for major repairs), but we have no knowledge of diesel engines. What we really require is a vehicle with 15 passenger seats and one which could, on occasions, be handled by a woman. We would expect to cover in excess of 3,000 miles a year.
We have at the moment about £450 to spend. Is it possible to buy a suitable vehicle in good condition at this price? What would be a suitable van in which we could have windows fitted and fit seats ourselves? Is a diesel engine any more difficult to look after than a petrol engine?
AWe would first of all say that a petrol
engined vehicle would suit your needs better than a diesel. It is normally considered that a break-even point for a dieselengined vehicle is 10,000 miles a year and certainly even with a secondhand model it would be more than 3,000.
You may just about have enough money with £450 to buy a secondhand van suitable for conversion to a 16-seater but very few are of sufficient size. The only one that we know of that is sold with this number of seats is a standard model Ford Transit. Not many of these 15-seaters come on to the market and the lowest price for a van with 9ft. 10in. wheelbase, which is what you would want for conversion, would be a little more than you have to spend. You should be able to get a five-year-old 12-seater for about £400-450.