Is a Pickup Better For My Business?
The Pick-up truck is almost always the better-looking vehicle in a contest against your standard white van but does its practicalities stack up against owning a van for business? Mostly seen across the UK as a countryside farmer vehicle used for transporting feed and livestock around a variety of terrains that require a tough vehicle. However, the pickup is becoming a more common occurrence amongst small traders such as mechanics and decorators and even couriers.
What is a pick-up?
Pick-ups are actually considered as vans as long as they have a payload of 1000kg or more. This is extended to the pick-ups that have removable hardtop covers, if you are hoping to tax your vehicle as a regular car then you need to make sure the cover doesn’t mean you exceed the 1 tonne benchmark.
Most pickups are considered light commercial vehicles (LCV’s), so they are taxed differently to your typical company car. The benefit-in-kind (BIK) is set at a flat rate, irrespective of CO2 emissions or price. Two seat pick-ups, and other trucks and vans are classified as LCV’s automatically, as they’re not thought to offer the same non-business benefits to their drivers.
As a blanket statement these types of commercial vehicles are used as fleet vehicles, company cars or for other business purposes. It seems as though driving or even supplying a pick-up truck when it isn’t classified as an LVC has benefits all round. There have also been improvements towards comfortability and style.
What options do you have?
- Single cab – Two-door trucks with two seats (driver & passenger)
Single cab pickups are usually reserved for the entry-level ‘workhorse’ type models, while the slightly more Lavish designs are appointed to top models and are almost always exclusively available as a double cab.
- Double cab – These popular models have four individual doors and lots of space for four or five adults inside.
The decision to opt for a double cab model will mean the pick-up is more practical for everyday use, making it much easier to load passengers through the back.
Double cab pick-ups do have smaller load areas also known as the pick-up bed. For example, a double cab Nissan Navara has a bed that is 210mm shorter than the king cab versions, while there’s a 768mm difference in load bed length between Ford’s regular cab models and the double cab variants in its Ranger model.
- King cab, Super Cab, or Crew cab – These have small rear doors and occasional rear seats.
Crew cabs tend to have four full sized doors instead of the two found on double cabs and the space to carry the enitrie crew as to say, this is why the crew cab is popular with people who have larger teams or families.
As previously mentioned, Pickups have come a long way in terms of comfortability and luxury, which there never previously was, the growing popularity of the vehicles have led them to become increasingly luxurious. As well, the fact that pick-ups are aesthetically pleasing gives a good impression when turning up to a customer’s house, 4-wheel drive is usually a standard also which is another great addition.
Does it stack up against a more traditional work van like the Ford Transit? – There must be a reason most people are opting for a van instead of a pickup.
Most obviously if your business requires a lot of equipment being moved about, then as a good as a pickup may be, a van is better. Especially if the equipment needs to be stored overnight, or for a long period of time, as good as a pickup’s security can be, again a van is better in this instance.
Ply lining is also often used in vans to prevent damage to the inside of the vehicle whereas a pickup doesn’t really have an option to do that.
Both vans and pickups come with benefits and deciding which would be best for you comes down to the needs of your business and the capacity in which the vehicle will be used.
Hopefully the information in this blog helped in aiding your decision, we would love to see your top pick of work vehicle – tag us on Instagram @briantree_van_sales.