Good luck Davey, the one thing that hasnt been mentioned so far is communications, my boss has just supplied us with new nokia camera phones on a vodafone contract, because there are only 5 of us there is a 20 minute free call facility between the five phones, so i can talk to the boss or other 3 drivers for up to 20 minutes free of charge ( or call for 19 minutes and hang up and call again :laughing: ) Dont know the financial side of the deal but my boss is happy with it. Hope that helps and once again good luck!!
cheers,
roy…
all the best and wish ya loads of luck mate if you decide to go for it. having run my own business for a number of years granted not in this field, i know exactly how hard it can be and have nothing but full respect and admiration for anyone that does. 
GOOD LUCK TO YA 
On the subject of breakdown cover I use a A A fleet card,the beauty of the card is you only pay if you need to use theyre services
One thought Davey, put spare wheels on em, even if the lads wont change their own wheels, its a call out, but you dont have to buy a tyre, just get the spare fitted. All the best Davey if you do go fer it!
dont know if it helps davey but we have keyfuels, uk/fast fuels, euroshell, shell agency and bp cards in all our wagons (never know wher you will need to fill up 
) but on a week by week basis we almost invariably are told to use euroshell if possible cos its the cheapest, securicor coming a close second. Of course if its an emergency we will use whatever we can but will use the cheapest mostly.
Hopefully it won’t happen but what about an accident pack for your drivers, including a disposable camera. Might keep the insurance down if you let them know your drivers have one and have specific instructions in what to do in the event.
best of luck.
Thanks everyone suggestions and points have been great, it’s just a case of coming to an agreement with the recievers now 
As for the accident pack colingl, I would reccomend them to everyone, the Actros was only a couple of weeks old when it was up in Scotland near Aberdeen if I think rightly, some pratt on a motorbike was weaving his way in and out of the cars in a hurry, and came round the corner on the wrong side of the road, the actros had only just left a lay by 30 seconds or so earlier and the bike hit him head on, they are still waiting his insurance company settling up despite it being over 12 months now. Pictures taken by the police and the press clearly show the truck on the right side of the road and witnessed gave statements about the motorcyclists driving. Dont know what happened to him though as last I heard he was in a Coma for a few weeks 
i would advise setting up accounts with bridge and tunnel operators. imagine your drivers in bristol and you send him to cardiff and he ain’t got no reddies on him and they dont accept cards.could cost alot in deisel. 
jon
Update 
Well on Friday we had a very interesting meeting with a Company from Leeds, ICFL (If I think Rightly) anyway, they are a Finance Company who have an interest in the vehicles and assetts of the Transport Company I was looking at taking over. They are owed according to Liam the sales guy, £65,500 by the transport Company, however, the transport company state they only took out a £50k loan in March this year and the vehicles were put down as Assetts.
I suggested that we (Capitol Enterprises) take over the vehicles and treat the purchase as a take over, however, the finance company wanted us to purchase the vehicles from them, at £65,000 and they would also GIVE us £30,000 to cover running costs for the first 2 months.
After I stopped PMSL at this comedian, I asked what the APR of the loan was, he had based it on £95,000 over 48 months, with repayments of £3500 + Vat per month which in effect gave an APR of 45%
Needless to say he was told where to get off and told to arrange to get the vehicles collected so they can go to auction, where in my opinion, he will be very lucky to get anything in the region of around £15k for the lot.
That now unfortunately makes the transport company owner (An Uncle) liable for a £50k shortfall, there’s one thing trying to help businesses with finance deals, but there’s certainly another where they try and rip the poor companies eyes out.
Needless to say we did not accept their offer, however, maybe the company can still be rescued if the Finance Company come to their senses, but who knows?
Lets see what this week brings
Go to the Auction Dave, and buy the vehicles back at that 15k figure and go for it then.
davey, why don’t you just start another company up with lease vehicles from a dealer, if it’s only the trucks that you need you can get them anywhere, truck people are falling over themselves to rent out trucks for long terms (anything from 1 year upwards) try tls, ntr (part of a van hire company), most truck manufacturers have a rental department too, with lease hire you don’t have to worry about breakdowns, they cover it plus you get to change the trucks whenever you want if you push them.
there is a downside though, they usually repair any damage done by your drivers whenever they see it and you have to be very careful that they don’t try to charge you for damage already there before you got the trucks, give them a very thorough inspection before signing for them.
We are now looking at just purchasing 4 x 44 tonners + 1 x 17 tonner with the view of starting a fresh company, obviously because it was a relative I decided to try and let him keep his current fleet, but the Finance Company are way over the top with there charges, the APR is approx 45% PA that to me is equivelant to the back street money lenders rates, but they were not even prepared to give him a discount for early settlement of his last loan.
I’ve spoken to a couple of reputable companies such as Portfield Finance who have quoted an, £80,000 business loan for only £1500 pm compared to the £3500 + Vat they had originally accepted. It looks like in my opinion, the original finance company had waved a cheque in front of them for £50,000 and they accepted without working out the costs etc, then 1 hit of £30k was enough to finish them because they had to high a repayment per month. Only one of the fleet was 44t the rest were 40t + 17t
I’ve just recieved the O Licence forms today so we need that granted before going ahead and purchasing any vehicles as it cannot really be seen as the original company now due to all different vehicles on the O Licence.
I’m not to keen on leasing, after paying £20 - 30k over the years I would rather see something for my money, there are decent motors on the market for reasonable amounts in my opinion
u have pm
ohterry555:
u have pm
Cheers Mate
oh yes you have…
he`s behind you