Which car for DIY project at home?

[fisheggs]

Hi Guys,

As per title, going to be renovating our home with some structural work and cosmetic, so will need some transport that will be able to go to the local tip etc and lug some plasterboard about etc.

Trying to stay away from a van due to trying to save on skip costs an my understanding is that vans going to the local tip = chargeable.

This may have been covered before, so apologies if it has.

[timbutjack]

I did the same. Went with an old e class estate (£500)

Was good for 10+ skip loads then sold it.

Vauxhall Zafira would be pretty good for extra space. As long as it has rear windows they wont ask anything at the tip.

[ALBA MELV]

A Citroen Picasso or similar mum wagon.

[herewego]

You may find you can register the van with the council and be allowed to use it for a dozen recycling centre trips a year.

[jock mcsporran]

I sold my Exige and bought an RS6 for load lugging duties.

[croakey]

Thread done

[wseed]

fisheggs said:

Trying to stay away from a van due to trying to save on skip costs an my understanding is that vans going to the local tip = chargeable.

I fell foul of this while renovating my last house. I bought a landrover 110 so that I didn't trash my daily driver. 1st trip to the tip and I got a jobsworth over telling me it was a commercial vehicle and I needed a permit. My protest that it was a private vehicle and not commercial went unheard. I don't know if I was more annoyed that I'd bought the wrong vehicle of that he's called my landrover a van .

[wseed]

Oh to add. Landrover was useless anyhow due to the pedestrian sized rear door too.

[fisheggs]

LOL Thanks for for the replies guys. Im leaning more towards the estates, poss merc / audi. Don't think i could bring myself to do that to and RS6 though

What flavour of Ovlov is that croakey?

[TheJelley]

I went for a rover 75 estate, heated seats on a tip run are a must in my opinion.

Cant get rid of the bloody thing now, though.

PM me if you want a sheddy steal.

[BL Fanboy]

Berlingo MPV is pretty good. Square load bay - no wheel arches and low load height. Also cabin tall top to bottom. Seats can come out easily if need be.

[Piersman2]

I did exactly what you're wanting when i did my house up. I bought a £650 Renault Espace , ran it for 3 years with about £200 a year to scrape through MOTs, and then sold it for £450.

It was used to do nothing other than pick stuff up from builders merchants and dump rubbish at tip. With no seats in, any 'proper' size MPV is almost as big as a transit van inside and would be better than an estate car.

[bazza white]

Fiat multipla. 3 seats in the front to when you have ditched the rears.

[alex_rsa]

If you want to take sheets of plasterboard inside the vehicle you will need something based on a van with the seats removed. 8 foot from the back door to the front seats is a looooong way.

I use a Shogun and stick the plasterboard on the roof but you need to be tall to lift plasterbord onto the roof of a 4wd.


Just check you can fit a 8ft length of timber (or piping) from the front to the back with the door closed. With the Shogun it will fit with one end on the dashboard...

[JimbobVFR]

BL Fanboy said:

Berlingo MPV is pretty good. Square load bay - no wheel arches and low load height. Also cabin tall top to bottom. Seats can come out easily if need be.

I have one, it's a van but it isn't a van for any official paperwork. In Sone ways it's the worst of both worlds but cheap, tough and ideal for use as a van. Mine has a proper van roof rack and a towbar so is perfect for your purposes.

Alternatively have you thought about a trailer, it varies by council but ours are fine with a trailer.

Also another thing to bear in mind is our council now charge everyone for rubble or Plasterboard, they actually wanted to charge me for a single broken brick. You may find it simpler to simply hire a skip.

[boyse7en]

JimbobVFR said:

Also another thing to bear in mind is our council now charge everyone for rubble or Plasterboard, they actually wanted to charge me for a single broken brick. You may find it simpler to simply hire a skip.

Same here. Minimum £7 disposal charge, whether its a bucketful of rubble or a van load of Plasterboard.
I started burying mine in a big hole under the drive, which surely negates the purpose of the charge. Most other people seem to think the best thing to do is do drop it in a nearby hedge, along with some old tyres (they are chargeable too)

[croakey]

fisheggs said:

LOL Thanks for for the replies guys. Im leaning more towards the estates, poss merc / audi. Don't think i could bring myself to do that to and RS6 though

What flavour of Ovlov is that croakey?

He is a Volvo 940 Se TURBOOOOO

Stands me in at just over £800 with a years MOT, absolutely love it

[northwest monkey]

ALBA MELV said:

A Citroen Picasso or similar mum wagon.

I used a Picasso. Surprising the amount of crap you can fit in one

[bomma220]

Mk 1 or 2 Ford Galaxy? Huge inside, both rows of rear seats are removable, must be about the size of a Transit

Connect. Big choice of engines too, can easily be bought for shed money, easy to move on to the school run crew

when you're done (if there's anything left of it !)

[clockworks]

It actually costs more in Cornwall to dispose of a broken sheet of plasterboard than it does to buy a new one. Civic amenity tips charge £10 per rubble sack or sheet of board.