Due to the small business I’ve begun operating, I’m looking for a vehicle to cart around books in. My largest typical need will be transporting 10-20 banker’s boxes full of books, while I may wind up doing some loads in the 4-5 box size.
I’m considering getting a used minivan and stripping the rear sets, though I’m open to suggestions from The Dope.
My budget is under-$5000. I expect to put on less than 600 miles per month, as I’ll be using my mid-sized sedan for most of the smaller loads.
Suggestions?
Have you looked in to fleet sales? That sort of set up - a used van - seems like something that would be retired from, say, a medical courier company.
My dad has bought several fleet vehicles (Tauruses, but still…) and they have always lasted a long time due to regular maintenance and low mileage when they were in use.
Thanks, ZipperJJ.
I’ll look into that. I’m debating truck-style van or minivan. I guess it depends on how much 14 banker’s boxes full of books weighs. Should probably do that calculation before I make a purchase.
Speaking of Taurus, the new Taurus X would be a snazzy choice if I could afford one…
I can not recommend highly enough a Toyota Previa.
Absolutely bulletproof. Some of them were AWD.
As a bonus I think its the only minivan in which you can lay 4 x 8 sheets down flat!
My Father-in-Law loved the 2005 Caravan he used to tote around truck parts. He does not like the new 2008 his company gave him.
I had a Soccer Mom Dodge Caravan for a while, and the thing I absolutely hated about it was that you couldn’t fill up the back end behind the seats with groceries–there just wasn’t room. You could carry a lot of cargo if you wanted to leave the seats down, but the behind-the-seats space
just.
would.
not.
fit the contents of an average shopping cart full of Kroger bags without jumbling them all together in a huge pile that fell out as soon as you opened the hatch in the driveway at home.
I wanted my Aries station wagon back SO BAD.
We eventually got a Ford Focus with a nice big trunk. I could get an entire shopping cart full of groceries in there, including cases of pop. We’d leave the parking lot low to the ground, shocks groaning, but at least it all fit.
Fourteen bankers boxes full of books? With the seats down in a minivan, you’ll kill your back bending over and reaching in the side door to haul boxes out. And you’ll have to crawl in there to reach the far ones. Get a pickup truck with a poptop. The working level is up higher, so you don’t have to stoop to get boxes out. A minivan is made for carrying kids, not cargo, no matter what Detroit wants you to think.
Ms. Goose raises good point about access, but one which has an elegant solution for either Pick-ups or minivans.
My neighbor has a pick-up with a false floor/drawer. The floor slides out providing a large and accessible work space or the drawer slides out full of tools and supplies. It looks like a fairly thick aluminum diamond plate.