Van & Light Commercial Recovery

For most people a breakdown is an inconvenience. If the van is how you earn, it's a cancelled day.

That changes what matters. A private car owner usually wants the cheapest sensible option and can wait until tomorrow. A plumber with three jobs booked wants to know, within about ninety seconds of ringing, whether the van will be at a garage tonight or whether they're hiring something in the morning. Certainty is worth more than a few pounds either way.

So we try to give trade customers a straight answer fast: where the van can go, when we can get there, and whether the garage will actually be open to receive it. If the honest answer is that nothing useful happens before tomorrow, we'll say so on the call, so you can start arranging a hire rather than waiting on us.

The other thing worth knowing is that a van going onto the bed isn't the same job as a car. It's heavier, it's taller, the weight is often distributed oddly, and what's in the back matters. All of it is manageable — it just needs establishing on the phone rather than discovered on the driveway.

The line is 3.5 tonnes gross. Below it, a van goes on the same tilt-and-slide flatbed as a car. Above it you need a heavy-recovery operator with different kit and a different licence, and we'd rather tell you that than turn up and fail.

Under 3.5 tonnes covers most of what's on the road: Transits, Sprinters, Vivaros, Transporters, Berlingos and the rest, plus pickups like the Hilux and the Ranger. Luton bodies, dropsides and tippers are usually fine too, though a Luton's height is worth mentioning, because it rules out some multi-storey car parks and the occasional low bridge on the obvious route.

Where it gets less certain is weight you can't see. A van's plated gross weight is on the VIN plate, usually inside the driver's door or under the bonnet, and that's the number that matters — not the model name on the back. A 3.5 tonne van with a tonne of aggregate in it is over the limit, and that's before anyone starts arguing about it at the roadside.

If you're not sure, read the plate to us on the phone. It takes a minute, and it's a great deal better than a wasted journey that neither of us wanted.

A tradesman's van often has more value in the back than in the vehicle itself, and it's the part most recovery firms don't discuss until it's awkward.

Our position is straightforward. What's in the van stays in the van, it travels locked, and it's your property throughout. We don't unload it, sort it, or take responsibility for an inventory nobody ever made.

Practically, that means if the load is valuable and the van is going somewhere that isn't secure, take the tools with you. There's usually room in the cab. A garage forecourt overnight is not a locked compound, and neither is your driveway.

It also means telling us if the back is loaded before we quote. Weight changes whether we can take it at all, and stripping weight out at the roadside is time somebody ends up paying for. And ask every operator, not just us, the insurance question: are they covered for the vehicle while it's on their truck, and what about the contents? Get that answered before the van is loaded rather than after.

Plenty of the vans we move aren't broken at all.

Dealers and traders are the regulars — part-exchanges going back, stock moving between sites, a van bought at auction that isn't taxed or MOT'd and legally can't be driven anywhere. Fleet relocations are the same job at a larger scale, and they're usually planned far enough ahead that several can go in one run.

Private buyers are the other half. Buying a van three counties away means either a day off and a train ticket, or paying someone to bring it to you. If it isn't insured in your name yet, transport is the only legal option regardless.

Non-runners are routine. Seized engine, blown turbo, no keys, or a van that's stood on a drive for two years with flat tyres and a dead battery — all normal, all much easier if you say so when you ring. It doesn't have to start for us to move it.

Three minutes of preparation makes the call much shorter on the day you actually need it.

Know the plated weight. It's on the VIN plate and it's the single fact that decides whether we can take the van at all. Photograph it once and it's on your phone forever.

Know where the van is going before it breaks. Most trades have a garage they use; far fewer have checked whether that garage will accept a vehicle dropped off at seven in the evening. A two-minute conversation with them now saves an hour of ringing round later.

Keep our number written in the cab, not only in your phone — phones get left in vans, which is a problem when the van is locked and the keys are inside it. And if you run more than one vehicle, say so the first time you ring. Knowing there might be a second or a third changes how we schedule you.