Question on commercial vehicles

[surrey7er]

Hi Folks,

A question for commercial vehicle operators:

what is the biggest vehicle (both in terms of payload and cargo volume) that you can drive in the UK without a Tachy?

Is it a Luton?

Links to any good internet resources for such questions would be much appreciated!

Many thanks

[s2sol]

The largest vehicle you can drive without a tacho has a gross vehicle weight of 3500kg. Effectively, this will give you a maximum payload of around 850kg - 1250kg. A luton with a tail lift would give a payoad at the lower end of this range, a MWB panel van at the higher end. It's a common fallacy that the larger the van is, the more you can get into it, unfortunately. All manufacturers websites will give an idea of unladen weights, but you have to factor in ply lining, a tank of fuel, the weight of the driver and the crap that gets carried around - lunch, tools, straps etc.

I've got an Iveco 35S12 XLWB with a high roof, and I reckon to get 1000kgs payload, with a load space of 17m3. FWD vans will be lighter, but there aren't many that offer that sort of cube. What are you looking to carry?

[surrey7er]

thanks for the reply... I've been doing some looking around, and there are some 3.5tonne vehicles with a payload of up to 1750kg allegedly...

Ideally, we need about 1.4 tonne payload and as big a volume as possible, as it's for furniture carrying...

who are the usual suspects?

I'm thinking

Ford Transit
VW Crafter
Renault Master
Iveco

who else should I look at?

thanks again...

[s2sol]

I reckon you've got them all there. Renault do a Master low loader thing, which looks good for furniture.

[B17NNS]

There is a 3500kg Sprinter, Transit Jumbo worth a look too.