Biggest transport vehicle you can drive on a B licence?

NextSteps

I want to hire a vehicle for a wine-buying trip to France. What would be the car/minivan with the largest storage space for boxes that I could use on a B licence? I was thinking maybe a jeep or people carrier with the seats folded down.

Thanks for any advice!

david

A high roof transit with LWB.

The only problem you will have is ensuring the vehicle isn't overloaded as I'd say all of that wine/glass weighs a fair bit

NextSteps

Excuse my ignorance. What's LWB?

Edit: okay, duh, long wheelbase.

david

http://www.fordtransitdirect.co.uk/newsales/newvans/transit/technicalspec.aspx

This page will show you the max payload for each type of transit. I presume you'll be hiring the vehicle?

Tipsy Mac

Remember too that you might get hassle from customs bringing back anything over 80 or it could be 90 litres per person.

Max_Damage

UB wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance. What's LWB?

Long Wheel Base.

igglou

It means Long Wheel Base, meaning it has more distance between the front and rear wheels than a short wheel base vehicle. So basically, you can fit more wine in!

david

UB wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance. What's LWB?

Edit: okay, duh, long wheelbase.

Long Wheel Base

Your limit's are here, it must be for personal use

http://www.revenue.ie/en/customs/leaflets/pn1878.html

Saab Ed

UB wrote: »

I want to hire a vehicle for a wine-buying trip to France. What would be the car/minivan with the largest storage space for boxes that I could use on a B licence? I was thinking maybe a jeep or people carrier with the seats folded down.

Thanks for any advice!

Anything up to a gross vehicle weight of 3500kg ( i.e combined weight of vehicle and payload do not exceed 3500kg ). The actuall size of the vehicle is not the important bit, its if it has a tachograph or not. You cant drive a vehicle with a tachograph on a B license. Some vehicles ( for example an Iveco Daily van ) can be the very same size but with an uprated suspension and a tachograph can be deemed to carry twice the payload of the normal version that you can drive on a car license. If you're going to France to fill up with wine I'd be more worried about customs than anything. There is a limit as to how much you can bring back. And I know a way around part of this is to split the paying for the load across many different credit cards so you can claim its for each individual persons personal consumption. I forget the limit but I think its about 200 bottles each.

NextSteps

david wrote: »

Long Wheel Base

Your limit's are here, it must be for personal use

http://www.revenue.ie/en/customs/leaflets/pn1878.html

So two people at 90 litres each - 180 litres. Bottles are .75 litres, so that's 240 bottles. At 6 bottles to the box, that's 40 boxes of wine.

Should fit most of those!

Saruman

I rented a large transit van before (to move) and Insurance was not included so I transferred my car policy to it. This cost me money with quinn.
Unless you are buying hundreds of bottles of wine then a car with insurance included is your best bet.

Try www.autoeurope.ie

You could get a Volkswagen Caravelle 9 seater with them and look out for the Gold rate or the rate with refundable excess.

Oh wait, on thinking about it you will not be allowed to take it on a ferry. You will have to check with other suppliers to see if they will allow you to but many will not allow you to do that.

Saab Ed

UB wrote: »

So two people at 90 litres each - 180 litres. Bottles are .75 litres, so that's 240 bottles. At 6 bottles to the box, that's 40 boxes of wine.

Should fit most of those!

I brought 140 bottles back this time last year for my wedding and that much fitted into the boot of the car. 250 odd bottles probably will too. You probably dont need a van at all.

david

UB wrote: »

So two people at 90 litres each - 180 litres. Bottles are .75 litres, so that's 240 bottles. At 6 bottles to the box, that's 40 boxes of wine.

Should fit most of those!

You can get beer, cigarettes, cigarillo's aswell just to make the trip worthwile!

NextSteps

Saab Ed wrote: »

I brought 140 bottles back this time last year for my wedding and that much fitted into the boot of the car. 250 odd bottles probably will too. You probably dont need a van at all.

I drive a mini. You'd be lucky to get a shoulder bottle in the boot.

Saab Ed

UB wrote: »

I drive a mini. You'd be lucky to get a shoulder bottle in the boot.

Ah Ok ... Check out a people carrier without the seats first. Draws less attention

Mercedes Sprinter LWB. I used to get some amount of stuff in the back when I was working for a builder!

high horse

Are car rental companies ok with people taking their cars out of the country?