The best vans for painters and decorators

Painter and decorator vans

If you’re buying a van for your painting and decorating business, here are some things you’ll want to think about to ensure you make the right choice.

Size and load space

You want the van to be big enough to carry your tools, both in terms of size and weight, but not bigger than you need; the smaller the van, the cheaper it will be to run and the easier it will be to manoeuvre and park, which is especially important if most of your driving is in town or on country lanes. If the only reason you need a lot of load space is to carry long objects like ladders, you could get a small van and just fit a roof rack.

Comfort

If you’re going to spend a lot of time in your van, you don’t want to end every day with backache because your driving position is cramped or the seat doesn’t support you properly.

Versatility

If you want the van to double up as a family vehicle, you’ll want five seats that, ideally, you can fold down if you need to maximise load space.

Value: You want the van to be as economical to run as possible, taking into account fuel economy, tax and insurance, maintenance costs and also the warranty.

Security: If you’re going to store tools in the van, you want them to be well protected from thieves.

Here are five painter and decorator vans we’d suggest considering.

Citroen Dispatch: What Van?’s light commercial van of the year in both 2017 and 2018, the Dispatch comes in three lengths, carries a load of up to 1,400kg or 4.02m in length – more than enough for even the most vertiginous ladder – and has twin sliding side doors for easy access. There’s a good helping of standard kit, including ABS, deadlocks, hill assist and driver’s seat height and lumbar adjustment.

Peugeot Boxer: With a mammoth load volume of up to 17 cubic metres and 73 litres of storage compartments, you can accommodate everything you need in here. Yet despite the Boxer’s size, fuel economy gets up to 47mpg in some models. Professional trim includes a touchscreen navigation system as standard, which is handy if you’re doing a job somewhere unfamiliar.

Ford Transit: Reliable and durable, the Transit is a pleasure to drive and hugely spacious, capable of carrying loads of up to 15.1 cubic metres, or 4.22m in length. A sliding side door and rear step make access easy and tie-down points keep loads secure – and if anything does get spilled, the rubber floor covering is designed to be easy to clean.

Volkswagen Caddy: A popular small van, the Caddy is available in standard or Maxi guise, the latter able to carry a load of up to 4.2 cubic metres or 736kg. There’s also plenty of storage, including an overhead shelf, door pockets big enough for a one-litre bottle, and four cup holders. Fuel economy gets up to 64.2mpg in the Caddy BlueMotion.

Mercedes Sprinter: The panel van version carries a payload of up to 2,547kg or 15.5 cubic metres, and standard safety features are excellent - they include autonomous braking if the van detects danger, crosswind assist, attention assist and automatic connection to the emergency services in a serious crash.

At Vanwise Group, we sell a huge variety of used commercial vans, which are available with a range of van finance options. If you'd like to test drive one of our used vans, just give us a call - you'll find us in Harlow.