Your van is the business. If it is off the road the drops do not happen, and the next contract goes to somebody whose van started. Picking a delivery or courier van is a different job from picking one for a trade — you are buying uptime, running cost and load access, in that order, and only then price.
This guide covers the three used vans we see doing courier work around St Helens, Haydock and Liverpool more than any others: the Ford Transit Custom, the Mercedes-Benz Vito and the Citroën Berlingo. Real payload and load figures, what each costs to keep on the road, and where each one lets you down.
Which van is best for delivery and courier work?
For multi-drop parcel work the Citroën Berlingo is the right answer; for anything carrying weight or covering distance it is the Ford Transit Custom. The Berlingo returns around 55 mpg and takes up to 1,000 kg, which suits parcels, pharmacy runs and city drops where you are in and out of the load area forty times a day. The Transit Custom takes up to 1,459 kg into 8.3 m³ and still returns close to 47 mpg on a run — what you want when the job is pallets, trade counters or motorway miles.
The Mercedes-Benz Vito sits between the two and earns its place on long, high-mileage routes rather than on price. It costs more to buy and more to service, and pays that back only if you are doing the miles.
What actually matters when you are buying a delivery van
Most buyers look at load volume first. Payload is the figure that will actually stop you, because a van full of parcels hits its weight limit long before it reaches its roof.
- Payload, not load volume. Check the plate, not the brochure. Ply lining, a bulkhead, racking and a full tank all come off it before you load anything.
- Side door access. On multi-drop you use the side door far more than the back doors. A nearside slider is close to essential; twin sliders are worth paying for.
- Sliding door wear. Rollers and tracks go first on an ex-parcel van. Budget £150–£400 a side if they are notchy or dropping.
- The DPF. Short urban journeys are the hardest life a diesel particulate filter can have. A forced clean is typically £200–£400; a replacement £900–£1,800.
- Service history. At 25,000 miles a year, a stamped history tells you more than the odometer does. No history on a high-miler is where we walk away.
On mileage specifically, see our guide to what mileage is too high on a used van.
Ford Transit Custom: the default, and why
The Transit Custom is the medium van most couriers end up in, and the reasons are boring and good: up to 1,459 kg payload, 8.3 m³ in the standard body, around 47 mpg on the 2.0 EcoBlue diesel, and a parts network reaching every town in the North West. Something breaks on a Friday and it gets fixed on a Friday.
The downsides are real. It is the van everybody wants, so you pay a premium to buy and wait longer to find a good one — the flip side being that it holds its money when you sell. Short-journey examples suffer for their DPFs, and EGR valves are a common failure at £300–£600 fitted. Security is the other honest warning: the Transit Custom is a known target, so if parcels or tools stay in it overnight, budget for deadlocks or a slam lock. Our notes are in why the Transit Custom still leads its class; full specifications are on Ford’s own site. Browse the ones we hold on our used vans for sale page.
Mercedes-Benz Vito: the long-distance option
The Vito is the one to buy if your route is long rather than dense. Load volume runs from 5.5 m³ in the compact body to 6.6 m³ in the extra-long, payloads on the heavier gross-weight versions clear a tonne comfortably, and it is the most settled of the three at motorway speed. Drivers covering 400 miles a week notice that on a Friday.
What we would tell you before you sign: many Vitos are rear-wheel drive, which is superb loaded and unhelpful on a wet January morning when the van is empty. Servicing and parts cost more than the Ford equivalent. And the early 1.6 diesel is the weakest engine in the range — if you can find a 2.1 or the later 2.0, take it. Specifications are published by Mercedes-Benz.
Citroën Berlingo: the multi-drop specialist
For parcels, meal delivery, pharmacy runs and anything else measured in drops per hour, a small van beats a medium one every time. The Berlingo does around 55 mpg combined, carries up to 1,000 kg, and offers 3.3 m³ in the short body or 3.9 m³ in the long one, with load-through under the passenger seat for anything awkward. It fits a multi-storey and a terraced street, which the Transit does not.
The compromises are obvious. That 1,000 kg is the best case and it disappears once you add racking and a passenger, so it is not the van for building materials. The BlueHDi diesels want AdBlue kept topped up and, like every small diesel on a stop-start route, they dislike short journeys — the same DPF warning applies, harder. Citroën publishes the load and payload tables on its own site, and we hold small vans of this type alongside the medium ones in our used van stock in St Helens.
The three compared
| Model | Max payload | Load volume | Typical combined mpg | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ford Transit Custom | Up to 1,459 kg | 8.3 m³ | Around 47 mpg | Weight, pallets, mixed motorway and town |
| Mercedes-Benz Vito | Comfortably over 1,000 kg | 5.5–6.6 m³ | High 30s to low 40s | Long routes and high annual mileage |
| Citroën Berlingo | Up to 1,000 kg | 3.3–3.9 m³ | Around 55 mpg | Multi-drop, city work, tight parking |
These are the manufacturers’ best-case published figures for the diesel vans. Every one drops with racking, a bulkhead and a passenger, so check the plate on the van in front of you.
What it costs to run, not just to buy
The purchase price is the smallest number in this decision. A van doing 25,000 miles a year at 45 mpg burns roughly 2,500 litres of diesel, so the gap between 45 mpg and 55 mpg is worth several hundred pounds a year on its own. That is the real argument for the small van whenever the load allows it.
Vehicle tax on a light goods vehicle is a flat annual rate, and since April 2025 electric vans pay it too — current figures are on gov.uk. Clean air charges apply only where a scheme actually runs: London’s ULEZ costs £12.50 a day for a non-compliant van, Birmingham, Bristol, Sheffield and Bradford operate charging clean air zones, Greater Manchester’s was shelved and Liverpool has no charging zone at all. A Euro 6 van covers you everywhere. Then the MOT, where vans fail on the same handful of things every year — see our breakdown of common van MOT failures. If you are VAT-registered, the VAT treatment is often worth more than anything you win on price: that is set out in our guide to reclaiming VAT on a used van. Payment options are on our van finance page, and every van we sell carries warranty cover.
What this means if you are buying in Merseyside
Ex-courier vans come through the trade constantly, and the pattern is the same every time: the engine is the healthiest part of the van and the body is the worst. Sliding doors opened two hundred times a day, a load floor with no lining left, a rear bumper that has met a lot of bollards. None of that stops the van, and all of it is worth money off — provided you know to look.
What we will not take in is a high-mileage van with no service history, because we would then be selling it to somebody whose livelihood depends on it. Apply the same test at a private sale. Everything we retail is inspected, prepared and MOT’d before it reaches the forecourt in St Helens. More sits in our van guides and our reviews page; if you would rather ask, contact us. Walk-round videos go on our YouTube channel.
Common questions
What is the best van for courier work?
For multi-drop parcel work, a small van like the Citroën Berlingo is usually right — around 55 mpg, up to 1,000 kg and it parks anywhere. For heavier or longer routes, the Ford Transit Custom carries up to 1,459 kg into 8.3 m³ and is far less tiring over a day.
How many miles is too many on a used delivery van?
On a well-serviced diesel, 120,000 miles is not the problem people think it is. Motorway miles are gentler than town miles, and a stamped history matters more than the odometer. What we will not buy is a high-miler with no history at all.
Do I need a Euro 6 van for delivery work?
If you drive into London, yes — a non-compliant van costs £12.50 a day in the ULEZ. Elsewhere it depends on the city: Birmingham, Bristol, Sheffield and Bradford charge non-compliant vans, Greater Manchester’s scheme was shelved and Liverpool has no charging zone.
Can I reclaim the VAT on a used delivery van?
Sometimes. If the van is sold VAT-qualifying and you are VAT-registered and using it for business, you can usually reclaim it. If it is sold under the margin scheme there is no VAT to reclaim. Always check which one you are buying before you agree a price.
What should I check before buying an ex-courier van?
Sliding door tracks and rollers, the load floor, the rear step and the bulkhead — multi-drop life shows there first. Then the DPF and the service history, because short urban runs are hard on both.
Chris · Director, Merseyside Van Sales · Buying and selling work vans across the North West since 2009
Looking for your next van?
If you are running parcels around St Helens, Liverpool or the wider North West and your van is starting to cost you drops, come and look at what we hold. Used medium and small vans of exactly this type, prepared and MOT’d before they go out, and an honest answer on which one suits your route.
Browse our used vans for sale in St Helens →
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