9 seater vehicle leasing options

sysprogrammer

Hi Folks,

2 quick questions please.

1) I have been on to two well known leasing companies in Ireland and have received quotes of €400 per month including vat for leasing a 9 seater MPV. (New vehicle)

I am asking here if anyone has any other recommendations for lease hire in Dublin ?

Ideally I would like a 2nd hand vehicle on lease plan with maintenance.

2) I was thinking of converting one of my existing 16 seater minibus to a 9 seater (this is a viable option for me) and I am wondering is this a difficult process to complete for insurance / registration ?

I understand this question may be better suited to the motors forum but one or two of our regulars here also run Trucks & Bus so I'd like their opinion.

having a 9 seater vehicle allows my tour guides to drive, which would give me more capacity more often at a lower rate per hour than a bus/driver combo.

thanks in advance for any help.
Sysprog


Sysprog

Alkers

As far as I know you can remove the seats yourself and then contact vehicle registration in Shannon to have the log book amended to reflect the new capacity. The ability of your tour guides to drive the 9 seater vehicle would also depend on the GROSS vehicle weight (i.e. the maximum permitted laden weight) being 3,500kg or lower, assuming they are on a B licence.

sysprogrammer

Thank you Simona, I had hoped this was a Cat A modification so they (shannon) only required notification. I'll call them today.

and I must double check the g.v.w. I hadn't thought of that.

Sysprog

quietsailor

Simona1986 wrote: »

As far as I know you can remove the seats yourself and then contact vehicle registration in Shannon to have the log book amended to reflect the new capacity. The ability of your tour guides to drive the 9 seater vehicle would also depend on the GROSS vehicle weight (i.e. the maximum permitted laden weight) being 3,500kg or lower, assuming they are on a B licence.

Its not as easy as removing the seats yourself - you have to ensure the seats can't be replaced as then you could (from the revenues point of view) pay tax for a nine seater and then put back in the seats to carry 16 people.

If you take them out yourself you'll have to weld in the mounting points so they can't be used again and then bring it to a vehicle engineer to have it certified as being a 9 seater. Then you can get the log book changed.

quietsailor

http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057581508

I am posting from a phone so the link above may not come through as a link but it is a thread that talks about converting normal Jeeps to crew cab Jeeps. Some of it doesn't apply to you as it talks about the load bed area but if you read through it talks about the engineers and I think there was useful links in there as well

sysprogrammer

Thanks QuietSailor , very good of you to go search out a link from a mobile.

We do use a local garage for all our work and they talked out the plugs that fit into the old seat mountings holes that they use for conversions. However,

I think it is probably best to sell the vehicle as is , and lease a vehicle more suited for this purpose.

Which brings me on to my next issue, I filled in 5 contact forms for Van leasing companies and only received 1 reply, so time for a few phone calls.

cheers,

quietsailor

Your welcome. I hope it all works out for you.

Alkers

quietsailor wrote: »

Its not as easy as removing the seats yourself - you have to ensure the seats can't be replaced as then you could (from the revenues point of view) pay tax for a nine seater and then put back in the seats to carry 16 people.

If you take them out yourself you'll have to weld in the mounting points so they can't be used again and then bring it to a vehicle engineer to have it certified as being a 9 seater. Then you can get the log book changed.

I have gone through the process in reverse, reverting the no. of seats in a campervan when I bought it (4 seats to 8), using the original seat mounts which were never removed.

Worth a shot with filling in the form in any case I'd have thought?

sysprogrammer

Hi Simona, the main motive for now selling the existing bus is fuel costs. a 9 seater vehicle will both cost less and consume less fuel in the long term thanks for replying