Hello All,
It seems I might have finally convinced my CivCom to look at purchasing a Squadron Minibus… can anyone give me a rough idea of the insurance cost - those with SOV Minibuses probably have the any driver permission policy between 25 & 65 years old.
Obviously there are other associated costs involved it would also be helpful if someone can give me a rough figure that they spend on their own SOVs on an annual basis.
Cheers, R.
I think it’s about £500 for us on insurance
But I am not too sure about annual running costs over that
My unit has just purchased a new 17 seater:
£900 for first year insurance (we have zero no claims) but will drop in the future
£200 approx for road tax
You will also need to factor in running costs such as MOT every 12 months, fuel consumption around 30mpg for the larger vehicles which is partially offset by refunds from HQAC for sanctioned events.
If you’ve got a brand new bus you will make money on the Accounts 4’s
Try KD Brokers for insurance - fully covers you for everything even arms and ammunition and airfield running. Currently paying circa £600 per year. Tax is £200 ish as taxed as a bus. MOT and servicing at least another £200 a year plus repairs etc. Don’t get a 17 seater unless you have D1 licences. If using car licence Section 19 permit etc then we limit the driver to 12 cadets plus kit for the max weight rules. Ours is 15 seater max 3.5t.
Look very closely at bus weights - especially on the Ford Transits . The older models were a lot lighter than the 2014 onwards model buses and I believe the 12 seater sits on the 3500kg limit so the 15 seater now falls into D1 territory.
Towing a trailer is now problematic as well
Summary of Gross Vehicle Weights:
On camp a couple of years ago we had a new transit 17 seater from MT, they had a weight measuring system fitted to the bus. We had a stroll up the Wrekin, the bus was carrying 3 staff and 14 cadets of various ages but mainly the younger smaller size. They all had a small bag with water and smacks and a rain coat. you could not even call it a day sack. The bus was 20kg GVW . If the bus was carrying adults or even older cadets the bus would have been over weight.
Not a fan of the new transit the older ones had a much better payload.
The new 2019 model looks to have dropped in weight again so Ford have learnt from their mistake.
Our unit had to purchase a new 2014 onwards model at the time as it was a condition of our grant funding that it had to spent on a new vehicle. I would have rather sourced the older version myself.
Have you got the specs for the 2019 model?
Ford had a press release this week with pictures of the new interior/exterior and mentioned they were using aluminium to decrease vehicle weight and increase the vehicle load capacity. No exact figures - I’d think they will follow later in 2019.
Do you have a link? This will directly affect us as we’re considering whether to accept an incorrect vehicle they’ve made us, and if there’s a chance a newer one will be more suitable I’d love to know