Oven Cleaning Franchise - Training - Business - AGA

Nissan NV 200 - Taxi of Tomorrow in New York City

 

What an endorsement for Nissan and the NV200? Really fabulous news. Nissan won this deal to replace all of the 20,000 cabs in NYC with Nissan NV200s. One of the other competitors in the running for the prize was the Transit connect - phew great escape from that bag of nails  for The New York City Taxis and Limousine Commission!

One of the great experiences of 2011 for me was getting to drive the Nissan NV200 van - both Brad and Brian two of our franchisees bought one and they are just fabulous vans. Really they are very much like my Daihatsu with the upright sitting position but with the modern touches of a great engine that does lots of miles to the gallon and of course a lot better constructed from a safety point of view.

I've been told in the past that the sort of wear that oven cleaning vans get from going from job to job during the day and all the stop start work is very much like a taxi so for Nissan to get this deal where they will supply all the taxis for New York City is really a huge deal worth billions of dollars. They went for the Nissan NV200 because of its space and its upright sitting position and of course that very economical engine that does over 50 mpg. Also Nissan are currently experimenting in London an electric Nissan NV200 and the hope is that by 2017 they will start having electric cabs in NYC too. The Nissan for NYC will be the van variant to be built in Mexico and then with further upgrade of the interior in NYC. Doesn't it look great?

Related articles

• Nissan driving ahead with electric plans (bottomline.msnbc.msn.com)
• Nissan NV200 Review, Nissan NV200 India, Nissan NV200 Prices (slideshare.net)
• New York City: Nissan NV200 Taxi to be unveiled Nov 1 (inautonews.com)
• New York City's Taxi-of-Tomorrow becomes Taxi-Designed-by-Committee (gizmag.com)
• FedEX to trial the Nissan NV200 EV prototype in London (green.autoblog.com)

Oven Cleaning Van Ford Transit Connect Unreliable

Image by Ivydale via Flickr

Yesterday our Ford Transit Connect oven cleaning van broke down - the one here in the picture with the dodgy sign writing. The gear box wouldn't work. So we got it relayed by the RAC and to the garage that do our van servicing. Apparently, so our Peugeot dealer informed us,  the Ford Transit Connect has a common fault of the gear box going and it usually is the selector box. Today they confirmed this and to get it repaired is going to cost us about £550. We are also getting the brake disks and pads replaced so it is going to be an expensive garage bill when we get the van back tomorrow. So would you buy a Transit Connect - I really wouldn't recommend them in any shape or form. My other Ford Transit connect the van I started OvenGleam with: engine failed at 66,000 miles - replaced under warranty, engine failed again at 117,000 - van scrapped as both Transit Connects had engine failure within two months of each other!

So the history of our Ford Transit Connect that I bought new in November 2005 - turbo went and then three months later engine seized at 56,000 both fixed out of warranty - with the turbo costing about £1000 to replace and the engine £3000 to replace. And now the gearbox has gone at 110,000 miles.

Compare this with our 2006 Citreon Berlingo which cost about £3,000 less than the Transit and we have had also from new - leaking brake cylinder replaced under warranty. Currently at 117,000 and going, touch wood, well. Our Diahatsu vans both bought in 2006 have about 70,000 on the clock and we have never had a problem with them - well stickly speaking that isn't true as yesterday I drove mine into a low wall and the exhaust is now blowing on one of its joins - quoted £700 for the front section which includes the catyltic convertor or £156 for the back bit. I trying to get just the flange, where it is blowing, fixed.

Yes the gear box did cost £550 to fix, this was just sorting out the selector, they did try and upsell asking if we'd like to get the whole gearbox refurbished for £750 which we declined.

So now we just need to it go without problems for another few months.

Related articles

• Turning One Town's Junk Into This Man's Treasure, by A. Arizonan (survivalblog.com)
• Oven Cleaning Van Ford Transit Connect Unreliable (theovencleaningbusiness.co.uk)

Oven Cleaning Van Safety

  

I actually recorded this last June but here it is, me talking about the exciting subject of bulkheads for oven cleaning vans, or I suppose any work van of sorts.Really it is a good idea to have one or else you can find that you get something embedded in the back of your head after an emergency stop.

 

Related articles

• Safety tips for Seniors (resizeinportland.wordpress.com)
• How to observe safety in a company (enermanag.wordpress.com)
• Speed Camera Van promoters are Liars! (politics.ie)

Zemanta helped me add links & pictures to this email. It can do it for you too. 

Oven Cleaning Van Search

Image via Wikipedia

I'm currently looking at vans to choose one to for my business so that I can recommend a van to people who are looking to buy an oven cleaning franchise from us. I have found a supplier who can deliver me the van all fitted out and sign written and it is just a case of choosing one. So my list consists of the following vans:

 

Citroen Berlingo, Fiat Doblo, Nissan NV200, Renault Kangoo.

 

Really what surprises me is how bad dealers are at selling vans. When I bought our Citroen last year, from City Motors Bristol, all I did was make sure they could get one go into the showroom and pay the deposit. I didn't bother with a test drive as I we had had the older style Berlingo since 2006 with only a couple of small problems with it. Before buying it last year I went into the VW dealer to look at the Caddy - they were pretty helpful. I went into the Renault garage on more than one occasion the showroom was completely empty so no service. The Kangoo they had on the forecourt advertised at £7500 + VAT but was a deal that wasn't available as you had to get the standard spec, without the sides doors, and by the time you had added the doors etc the price suddenly had jumped to £12500, so a big increase just for two side doors!

 

This year we went out on a Sunday to look at the vans. The Nissan dealer was pretty helpful this time and show us the van and went through all the main points. The Nissan NV200 to us still looked like a big van but it is very good on fuel averaging 55 mpg.

 

The Renault garage, the same one as last year, there was two ladies who were very helpful in showing me the Kangoo vans. Unfortunately they didn't have the standard model available just the Kangoo Compact and the Kangoo Max. But I still took the measurements that I needed. 

 

At the Fiat Dealer they had lots of salesmen but as they had a special, separate office for commercial sales, which was closed on a Sunday, they were unable to show me a Doblo van. t back in the week a couple days ago, and really the new Doblo is a great quality vehicle Fiat have really improved it. I really liked the fact that the fuel consumption was listed at 58 mpg if you go for the Euro 5 which has the button that allows you to switch the engine off if you are stationary in traffic - a press of the clutch and it starts again. Also I noticed it had that thing where if you are going to do a hill start the engine will stop you from rolling back - that is you can take your foot off the brake and it won't roll back. Also we liked the safety features of the van and especially the air bags, including the side air bags in the cabin.

 

So after all my looking have I come to any conclusions, which van would make a great oven cleaners van? Well all the vans, surprising, are very much the same size and the quotes I have been given mean that they are all very much the same to buy. Of course I like the fact that they have quoted high MPG on a couple of the vans but I will believe it when I see it, as the weight of our fitted equipment will bring the mpg features down a bit.

 

Well the Doblo is a great van but it still looks pretty dam ugly but is a 'maybe' as I can get it with a tailgate and two side doors which is our ideal arrangement. The Nissan looks good and is also a 'maybe'. I have ruled the Renault Kangoo out as I didn't like the build quality in the cabin, and now storage space, and also if I don't get any response when I go to the garage to try and buy one what will the service be like if I've got a problem? And after my problem with City Motors Bristol last year - really they were just crap sorting out the problem with my Berlingo (I do another post on it) I bought off of them - I don't really want to do business with them again whether it's at their Renault or Citroen garages.

 

I've started noticing the Nissan NV200 on the road and I think if we do it right the sign writing will look fabulous on this van. I am going to look out for the Dublo too and I think the next best thing would be test drive them both.

 

 

 

Related articles

• Electric shock (economist.com)
• Fiat to supply Opel with a range of vans (autoblog.com)
• Report: Nissan-based four-door Smart scrapped (green.autoblog.com)
• UPDATE 1-Fiat signs deal to supply light vans to Opel (reuters.com)

Zemanta helped me add links & pictures to this email. It can do it for you too.

Red Nose Oven Cleaning Van

One of our guys turned up a the office last week with a Red Nose on his oven cleaning van. We were impressed as this year's red nose that you buy from Sainsburys in a lot better than last year. Last year it was the magnetic one which kids either knicked or it blew off in the wind. This year it's a plastic one with a monster face on and you get some red  tie wraps with it so that you can secure it to the vehicle.

 

Nigel says that he is getting some 'looks' - well the van normally gets a few sneers and laughs anyway but with this it makes it even better, uglier or whatever. It looks the part; I need to go and buy another four...

Related articles

• Sainsbury's launches sandwich war with Pret and Greggs (mirror.co.uk)
• A Loaf, a Jug, a Solar Panel: Green Energy Now on Aisle 9 (fastcompany.com)
• Sainsbury's creates 6,000 jobs (bbc.co.uk)

Zemanta helped me add links & pictures to this email. It can do it for you too.

Oven Cleaner

We are all getting exhausted from cleaning so many ovens, not that I am complaining. Last week I cleaned an AGA cooker a day and this week I have had lots of different sorts of ovens from range cookers to AGA cookers. Being an oven cleaner at Christmas time can be very tiring with all these ovens to be cleaned and after todays lot I am feeling more than a bit tired. As we are packing them in and also working on Saturdays it seems like being on a conveyor belt getting them all done. But soon it will be all over for Christmas. We tend to take the whole holiday period off so we will have time to get ourselves back together ready to get going again in the New Year.

 

So already we are making plans for next year and I am excited by the prospect of growing our business even more. We will be looking to take on a new member of staff in the first few months - depending on how demand pans out. But we still have capacity to take me off the spare van and get someone in to run this van. Then I will be looking for a new van, which will be interesting after this year's experience of trying to get a new van quickly. But lots to look forward to.

oven cleaning franchise testimonial

 

Here is simon with his oven cleaning franchise testimonial. It isn't that great in the way it looks as I filmed it too far away from him and the light wasn't brilliant. Though the sound is fine - you'll get the gist of it.

 

Simon is OvenGleam Berkshire and things are going very well. It was a great time, just before Christmas, to start an oven cleaning business.

 

We did a business launch a few weeks ago at a DIY Superstore in his area and things went very well.

Related articles

• Kitchen Stoves: A Look at Some Options (mydecorarticles.com)
• Baking Life Upgradeable Ovens: Everything you need to know (games.com)

Oven cleaning vans oven gleam

Here is a photo of our oven cleaning vans which includes our franchisee's van. Alan's van wasn't in the line up as he'd been to far away, cleaning ovens in Devon, to make our weekly meeting that week. It isn't a good photo as it was getting dark and as the battery was flat on my camera we had to use our phone cameras to take some pictures.

So from left to right, our newish Citroen Berlingo,  Daihatsu Extol, Daihatsu Extol,  Ford Transit Connect, Citroen Dispatch.The van missing is the older Citroen Berlingo.

Related articles

• My oven goes boom (ask.metafilter.com)
• Clean Naturally! (merrymicrofiberblog.com)

Oven Cleaning Uniform

Image by Ivydale via Flickr

We have just got some new fleeces for the winter as it is getting a bit cold and I must say this one piece of work clothing I seem to like so much that I am wearing it during the day whilst oven cleaning and also outside work hours. Usually I can't wait to get out of my dirty oven cleaning stuff at the end of the day but these fleeces are really comfortable and I am wearing them whilst doing other things. Last Saturday I was wearing it in Costco and a lady asked me for a leaflet which I was a bit embarrassed about as I had forgotten that I was wearing it - they have a large OvenGleam logo on the back which means you can see exactly what we do.

Related articles

• Did I Leave the Oven On?! Try the Rubber Band Method (thekitchn.com)
• Baking Life Upgradeable Ovens: Everything you need to know (games.com)
• Use Oven Cleaner to Seriously Clean a Bathtub [Household] (lifehacker.com)

Oven Cleaning Van Employees Use for Private Use.

Image via Wikipedia

If you have oven cleaning employees like us, or other employees who have their vans at home or operate from home, or / and they are using their vans for private use then here is a nudge to make sure that if they do use them it might just cause a few problems for both them and your business. You really need to stop them doing it as there are implications of this sort of use.

We have had a few issues on this ourselves and have taken the advice as re the post of the company HR Smart. For their main site see human resource solutions

For the full blog entry re this see full entry go to: Oven Cleaning Van Personal Use

My edited parts of the HR Smart blog post:

'In 2008 the HMRC changed its rules regarding employees using their company vans for private use without incurring any tax costs

. ...I couldn’t but help notice either the number of employees either employed to undertake driving duties at the weekend or the number of company vans that were in use, possibly flouting the rules and leaving themselves open for a heavy tax demand and bill.

 

... the definition of a company van in the eyes of the HMRC is any vehicle with a maximum laden weight of up to 3,500 kilogrammes. Secondly, a company van is a vehicle made available to an employee by virtue of the tasks they are employed to carry out.

 

 

How do I know if the employee has private usage?

Employees have to pay tax on a company van if they have significant private use of the vehicle. Significant use is defined as use and availability for holidays, regular supermarket shopping, and/or regular weekend use, to name but a few. 

 

Whilst on the reverse, private use is deemed to be insignificant if:-

 

• The private usage is the exception rather than the norm
• Trips made are irregular, so the ad hoc trip to the doctors
• Lasts for short periods of time on odd occasions in the year

 

How much will the tax bill be?

Remember tax is personal so it is the employee that will become liable and therefore the taxable amount levied on each employee for private use will be £3,000 for the use of the van and a further £500 if fuel is also provided.  As the Employer you will have pay Class 1A National Insurance contributions on these amounts as well.

 

So if your employees have access to their vans and use them for personal use, the way the employee can reduce the tax liability is by them contributing towards the cost of the private usage. Sadly, they and you cannot avoid the fuel tax and employer national insurance contribution unless the employee pays the full amount of £500 towards the fuel.

 

The tax liability can be reduced if another employee has use of the van for part of the year or does not have full use of the van for the whole year for any other reason.

 

 

What are my responsibilities as the Employer?

As the Employer, it is your responsibility to put systems and records in place to aid your annual returns. We recommend that you:

 

• ask all vehicle drivers to record mileage undertake and keep records of mileage to show where the van has been used.
• get the employee to sign a disclaimer letter stating that the van will only be used for work purposes and that should any tax become payable, the employee will have to pay all tax amounts including the Employers NI contributions. This letter should be renewed each year.
• include use of van details in the employment contract and consider having a vehicle policy devised.
• track who is using the van on a monthly basis and in what proportions, including periods of 30 days or more where the van was not in use.

Further guidance on the taxation and employer duties relating to Company Vans can by found if you log onto the HMRC website at www.hmrc.gov.uk/vans

 

If you would like your employment documentation reviewed in line with the recommendations above, give us a call on 0845 6100 651.'

**************************************************************

I'd agree with all this give HR Smart a ring if you need help.

Related articles by Zemanta

• IR35 abolition welcomed by contractors group (computing.co.uk)
• HMRC takes hard line on directors (independent.co.uk)