Driveway could be tricky. As mentioned, check any rental agreement but I would also check the lsnd registry for any clsuses relating to the address.
Plus check with the council as they can zone your property sometimes if someone gets upty about your unit and thus prevent you even in future.
Other things I don’t think have been mentioned:
MOT would likely still be needed which us around the £100 mark for unit then pit fee, or similar for DVSA stations. Plus you need to have it prepped professionally by a qualified mechanic beforehand.
Does it need regular checks like commercial ones do? I can never remember how often this is for units vs trailers, but i assume it would still need that.
Roadtax will be cheaper for private use.
One thing I’d be wary of is reliability of a 2012 unit. It might be a Volvo, but it’ll also be pretty heavily used no doubt and thus ready for expensive stuff needing replacement.
Oh and as mentioned, I assume you’ve driven solo units in the wet? Personally I always ask to take a trailer and swap it at the main depot rather than go solo after too many hairy moments (and I’m not a race around driver).
Franglais:
With no fifth wheel and registered as a private vehicle would it really need tacho, limiter, etc?
And there was me hoping I could get to the end of the thread without reading the words “fifth wheel”.
My equally correct advice to the OP is to go for it. As a private vehicle you won’t need tax, insurance or MOT, in fact you don’t even need a driving licence of any description. Just buy a stick of chalk and if the Police pull you over, quickly draw a chalk circle around the truck and they can’t touch you.
Well, you wouldn’t forget where you parked it at Tescos (provided the height barrier is up) and you might have a cool bro’ pub car park effect but really as said not that great to drive solo.
adam277:
I think the best gearboxes are probably the most modern ones.
I-shift is fantastic. Scania’s is good as well.
Even DAF and MAN which I believe both use astronic gearboxes are ok. Even if the delays in shifts can be annoying.
I used to be against auto boxes. I am a firm convert now.
Oh no that will set a certain someone off. Personally if I never drive a manual again it’ll be too soon! Dual clutch iShift, as good as it gets
robroy:
I had an F7, an F10,.and briefly an F12 which was a demo in the 80s,.all excellent trucks for their time as far as I recall.
A Fuller box was/is a good box if you knew how to use it, if you did you could run all day without even using the clutch, (apart from setting off) and play a tune with it.
However for those who could not use it properly, it was a cluster [zb] of crunches and grinding.
The Volvo box in those days was an excellent proficient smooth full synchro,.and if I’m honest easier if not better in a truck to drive…,akin to a car.
So come on Carryfast, and please no Google based fact b/s (I may regret this btw ) .speaking as somebody with experience in both type of boxes… Why tF would you want to fit a Fuller into a F12? …,.and especially for what the o/p wants to use it for, (however bizarre that may be.)
Either way you need to match engine speed to road speed either to match the clutch and flywheel faces and/or to synchronise the gears during a shift.
Do that right with a Fuller you get a lighter faster shift than with the synchro.
Do it wrong then get lots of grinding noises, or wreck the clutch and the rest of the driveline eventually.
Don’t tell me that on the approach to a roundabout etc you just left the engine at idle dropped a gear then reengaged the clutch against the idling engine.
Also not much difference if you don’t match the engine speed exactly when you re engage the clutch.
So at that point might as well do that in neutral to synchronise the gears too.In the case of the Fuller among others the result was a more satisfying drive with the bonus that the thing was also much simpler to maintain/fix and more durable and you can still get the parts for it probably unlike the Volvo box.
Ok, thanks for the driving lesson.
Whatever, if I had a moment of madness and bought an F10, with a perfectly good working standard box, the last thing I would do is attempt to replace it with a non standard box with all the conversion complications and headaches that would undoubtedly bring…and why would I.
(Note to Carryfast, please dont give me a step by step conversion guide, with diagrams ,.as the above is never going to happen.)
switchlogic:
Personally if I never drive a manual again it’ll be too soon! Dual clutch iShift, as good as it gets
The auto v manual debate is like marmite.It’s the same with trucks or cars.
There was even the Hydramatic/Torqueflite v Muncie rock crusher wars among the hot rodding car community half a century ago.
For me the only place for any auto/automated transmission is in a scrap metal skip and even then it’s a waste of space.
Quite right too. Us young whippersnappers need to respect our wise elders, as Carryfast made clear when he mentioned over and over and over again about me being a young (26.4) bus driver. You don’t sound even that experienced, you’re probably a van driver with frilly curtains and a wallet on a chain
Quite right too. Us young whippersnappers need to respect our wise elders, as Carryfast made clear when he mentioned over and over and over again about me being a young (26.4) bus driver. You don’t sound even that experienced, you’re probably a van driver with frilly curtains and a wallet on a chain
Ok you’ve rumbled me, wannabe trucker, ‘‘All the gear no idea’’
But to be fair it is a BIG van.
Punchy Dan:
The speed limiter will have to stay in use .
The op may struggle with insurance as cheaper classic insurance doesn’t normally cover vehicles until older than 15 years old.
It’s only just in recent yrs I’ve been able to stop putting a card in but I can’t remember if that was when my lorry got to 25 or 30 yrs old .
robroy:
Whatever, if I had a moment of madness and bought an F10, with a perfectly good working standard box, the last thing I would do is attempt to replace it with a non standard box with all the conversion complications and headaches that would undoubtedly bring…and why would I.
(Note to Carryfast, please dont give me a step by step conversion guide, with diagrams ,.as the above is never going to happen.)
) .speaking as somebody with experience in both type of boxes… Why tF would you want to fit a Fuller into a F12? 
…,.and especially for what the o/p wants to use it for, (however bizarre that may be.)
