Good Morn Everyone,

I am in the process of looking for a delivery vehicle...a used one. Right now I'm looking for something not too big. I need to save money on gas. I don't do a lot of deliveries right now....so I'm looking for something to use for maybe a year & trade it in for what I really want.

Can you give me some hints on what to get. Sedan (if possible) or Mini Van (l0l I swore I would never buy one of those) Right now I'm driving a 92 Ford F-250 and it is killing me in gas.

I also need to add it to my business insurance of course so trying get by with the minimum if possible. Cause right now majority of my profit is going to gas & vehicle up keep.

Help is much appreciated

Well, I've had my best experiences with minivans & larger SUVs--large, flat spaces and good dispersion of air conditioning. Larger, heavier vehicles take bad roads better.

We have a hybrid Mercury Mariner. Flat cargo area. Great mileage. Feels like it has NO shocks whe it hits bumps! We have used it to deliver--I cringe a lot--but getting at least 30 MPG makes it hard to leave at home, especially when a delivery is over 10 miles away.

We also have a Honda Odyssey. LOVE the dual side doors. We take out the middle seats, put the back bench down and have acres of flat space. I often put cakes in the very center of the car. It rides so smoothly, no matter the road surface. It's new, so it gets decent mileage for a big car, but even the used ones are good, too.

In both vehicles, I put down at least 2 layers of memory foam under the cake box. It really does absorb the shocks of big bumps & the box can't slide on it. Won't travel without it, even with dummies.

Rae

I recently bought a 2006 Kia Sportage for my cake business and I couldn't be happier with it.

The back seats fold down completely flat and give me a ton of room for cakes. In addition to that, there is storage area underneath the the rear floor where you can store your emergency cake repair tools (lots of room there).

The air conditioning is phenomenal and cools down the cabin quick and has lots of good air flow in the rear area. I've delivered cakes over some fairly rough roads with my Sportage and the shocks are great. It's not a luxury vehicle but, for a Kia, I was surprised how smoothly it rode over potholes and rough roads. Like Rae stated, put down some memory foam regardless of the vehicle you use and you'll always be happy with the results.

As for gas, I get between 24-25 MPG and I love it. I had a 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 before this and I think I was getting about 9 MPG with that...lol
Even better than that, my insurance went from $150 a month for the truck down to $85 a month for the Kia Plus, the purchase cost was VERY low compared to comparable vehicles I was looking at for the business.

I couldn't ask for anything better than the Kia. It serves every purpose I bought it for and it does a great job!

HTH

Todd

i have a honda pilot, and i love, love,love it, gas mileage is good for a bigger vehicle and it rides fairly smooth, the back end is very roomy, i can get at least three tiered cakes in the back, just remember to use the shelf liner ( havent tried memory foam but i am now) my helper has a nissan ( i think its an armada but not sure) and she loves it, deliveries go easy for her too, i like nissans and hondas because it seems like they require less maitenance than other vehicles i have had in the past 9 and i have had several) also, they hold their trade in value better which is good if you know you want to evenutally upgrade, i do have to say i have used my moms escalade for deliveries and despised it, made for luxury, not for delivery.

I have a Ford Windstar. It's old, but has all the bells and whistles, like automatic sliding doors. It gets about 20 mpg in the city. I take all the seats out on big deliveries- I've had fifty 8" cake boxes in there, all laid on the floor, they fit perfectly.

I swear by my '04 Ford Escape. I get about 22 MPG. The back seat folds down *flat* so there is plenty of room to carry cakes. I bought it used in '04 and I've not had problems with it until the last month or two - a strut (shock) started leaking and needs to be replaced.

WOW thanks .... I guess I was just thinking the bigger the worse it would be on gas...but as I can see I was wrong ... thank you all ... I definitely need to do some test drives & more research. Thanks again

We have a '04 Ford Freestar. It works well for deliveries, the back folds down flat and if I need more room, the middle bucket seats tilt up towards the front seat giving me another foot of floor space. The AC works nicely in the back, and there are seperate controls for front and back so I can chill the back without freezing myself out. Dual sliding doors, and with the back door open I can fit in a 4x8 feet sheet of plywood in there. It sticks out the back of course, but it's wide enough an opening.

Also, whatever vehicle you go with, maintenance will help extend your gas mileage. Regular oil changes! And keeping your tires properly inflated will help with tire wear and help your shocks do their job over those bumps.

memory foam! GREAT idea!!! I have a Mazda5, it's a micro mini van - I think it's the smallest "mini van" you can get. I would have loved to get a larger vehicle but that just doesn't work here at all - lack of parking, small streets, having to bonzi illegal park to run a delivery in real quick... anyway it's great for size, the back folds really flat, and I love the sliding passenger doors. It's also nice and zippy over hills. BUT - it's got a lover sport suspension (it's a Mazda after all) and you can feel every pothole and dip. I think the memory foam tip is going to be GREAT!!!

Thanks CC!

Jen

i have a 2008 scion xD. I get great mileage 28-32mpg and the the seats in the back fold down completely so i have a big flat surface for my cakes. and the only maintenance its needed is the typical oil change and new tires. i love it.

While this isn't a cheap car, I just purchased a LandRover L3, smooth ride, and COLD COLD COLD a/c vents in the rear as well. But mind you, I also use this not only as a delivery vehicle (we have a commercial van as well for deliveries), I also use it to tote the whole family around, and to use when meeting with clients at their homes/sites. But, when I fist started, I had a 4 cylinder mini-van with the sliding door (which I LOVED because I didn't have to reach in too far, and the sliding door was large enough to pull the cakes out easily) The paint job was HORRIBLE when we bought it, but mechanically it was sound, so what we did instead of a paint job was to get a vinyl wrap which also doubled for us as free advertising. Oh, the mini-van was a Honda Odyesee (I know I didn't spell that right)

I have a new Toyota FJ Cruiser. My back window is getting a wrap this week. This vehicle already turns heads and my huge cupcake wrap cannot be missed. I had the graphics done professionally and it was worth it. The vehicle is army green and the graphics are predominantly bold pink. I only did the back window because I didn't want to change the look of the vehicle. The tops are already white and the background of the graphic is white with pink swirls in the background. The cupcake is about 2' tall with my web address, logo, tag line, service area, and "100% Scratch Every Day".

The air is freezing cold, it is flat in the back, and also holds four coolers flat if needed. I use the industrial sized shelf liner found at home improvement stores to keep everything from slipping. It is just like the stuff we use to keep cakes from sliding, but it is black and much thicker.