What a Van Really Costs a Tradesperson Per Year: The 2026 Sum

A used diesel van driven 15,500 miles a year costs a UK tradesperson about £7,700 a year in October 2026, roughly £34 a working day and 50p a mile, before the van is paid for. Fuel is half of it at £3,960 with diesel near £2 a litre; insurance, vehicle tax, the MOT, servicing, tyres, breakdown cover and depreciation make up the rest. This guide shows every line with its source, the new-van version, and how HMRC's new 55p mileage rate compares.

Most tradespeople know their day rate to the pound and their van cost not at all. The van is paid for in a dozen small direct debits and one shocking fuel receipt, so it never appears as a single number, and it never appears in the quote. Yet the Ford Transit Custom is the best-selling vehicle of any kind in Britain this year, with 39,363 registered by the end of September according to the SMMT, and every one of them is a cost centre someone is not pricing. What a van costs is the first number a self-employed plumber, electrician or builder should know, because it is the one that quietly decides whether a £250 day is a profit or a loss.

Below: the full sum with every source, the version for a new van on finance, the clean air zone charges that can add £3,000 a year, the HMRC choice between the flat rate and actual costs, and how to put the van into every quote so the customer pays for it rather than you.

How we did the sum

1. Official rates first. Vehicle tax, MOT fees and mileage allowances from GOV.UK; fuel prices from the RAC's Fuel Watch; mileage from the Department for Transport's van survey.

2. Market medians, not quotes. Insurance from Confused.com's median for the quarter to September 2026; servicing and tyre prices from Kwik Fit and Blackcircles on 24 October 2026.

3. One van, one mileage. A Ford Transit Custom class diesel at 35.6 mpg, the figure Van Fleet World measured on a week-long test, doing 15,500 miles a year, the DfT's average for vans carrying tools and materials.

4. Our assumptions are labelled. Where no published figure exists, such as depreciation on a used van, we say so and show the number we used, so you can replace it with yours.

5. Everything in pounds, per year and per working day, on 230 working days.

The sum for a used van you own

Three things stand out. Fuel is 51% of the total, so every mile you drive to a job you did not win is a real cost, not a shrug. Insurance is better than the headlines suggest: the median for all vans was £736 and Defaqto's data put the typical premium at £603 in August 2026, down 16.6% on a year earlier. And the fixed costs, which run whether or not you work, come to about £3,500 before a wheel turns.

The version for a new van on finance

Ford lists the Transit Custom from £35,150 before VAT. Few sole traders pay that in cash. Capitalise, a business finance broker, put van loan rates at 7% to 19% APR in October 2026 and gave the worked example of £25,000 borrowed at 11%: £818 a month over three years or £544 a month over five. On the five-year deal that is £6,528 a year, of which about £1,530 is interest, and the finance replaces the depreciation line rather than adding to it.

A new van under warranty will cost less in repairs and will not fail its MOT, which the table does not capture. It also appears on the customer's drive looking like a business that can be trusted with a deposit, which is worth something that nobody can put in a spreadsheet. But the gap is £19 a working day, and that is the honest price of the badge.

Clean air zones: the £3,000 line most sums leave out

If the van is not Euro 6 and you work in a charging zone, add the daily charge. London's ULEZ is £12.50 a day for a non-compliant van, which at 240 days is £3,000 a year. Bath charges £9, Bristol £9, Birmingham £8 and Sheffield £10 for non-compliant vans, and GOV.UK lists seven charging zones in England: Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Portsmouth, Sheffield and Tyneside. Greater Manchester dropped its charging plans.

The arithmetic usually points one way. A non-compliant van that enters the ULEZ three days a week costs £1,950 a year in charges, which over five years is close to the price difference between it and a compliant one.

What HMRC lets you claim

From 6 April 2026 the approved mileage rate for cars and vans rose from 45p to 55p for the first 10,000 business miles, with 25p a mile above that. A sole trader can choose between that flat rate, called simplified expenses, and claiming the actual running costs plus the van's purchase through capital allowances. The choice is made when the van first goes into the business and sticks for as long as you own it.

At our figures the actual-costs method wins in the year you buy the van and the flat rate is close to it in the years after, and the flat rate needs only a mileage log rather than a shoebox of receipts. Either way the mileage log is the evidence HMRC will ask for, and it is the record most tradespeople do not keep. A VAT-registered trader also reclaims the VAT on the van and on fuel used for business.

Putting the van into every quote

The van costs £34 a working day whether you charge for it or not. Three ways to recover it:

• Build it into the day rate. £7,716 over 230 days is £33.55. On a seven-hour day that is £4.80 an hour. A plumber charging £45 an hour who has never done this sum is really charging £40.

• Charge mileage past a radius. Most trades work within 15 or 20 miles. Beyond that, 50p a mile each way, stated on the quote, is the cost of the fuel and the wear, not a profit line. Customers accept it when it is written down before the job.

• Price the fetch. A trip to the merchant is a mile cost plus an hour of your day. Quote for it, or order ahead for delivery and let the merchant's van do the miles.

Nobody argues with a line that was on the quote. Everybody argues with one that appears on the invoice.

How an AI agent helps

The hard part of this sum is not the maths, it is keeping the numbers current and getting them into every quote. That is a job for an agent.

• Keeps your own van sum. Give it your mpg, your mileage and your premiums and it produces this table for your van, then updates fuel from the RAC price each month.

• Writes the mileage log. Each job gets its distance from the postcode, logged with the date and the client, which is the HMRC evidence in the form HMRC wants.

• Puts the van in the quote. The day rate carries the £34, jobs beyond your radius carry the mileage line, and the terms carry the clean air zone charge where it applies.

• Flags the flat-rate choice. Before the tax return it compares simplified expenses against actual costs for the year and tells you which is worth more.

• Chases the invoice that pays for the fuel. It sends the reminder on day one after the due date and adds statutory interest when a client is late.

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Manus and Meta's Muse will all do the arithmetic if you type the numbers in. What they do not do is bring the work. On Jobbit Pro jobs arrive briefed, with the distance known and the payment held in escrow before you turn the key, and the same agent that scoped the job writes the quote with the van already in it.

Your 30 days

• Week 1: find your real mileage. Read the odometer today, note it, and check it again in a month. Multiply by twelve. Most people are surprised in both directions.

• Week 2: collect the direct debits. Insurance, tax, breakdown cover, the finance if there is one. Add the last two fuel months and the last service bill.

• Week 3: do the table. Replace our figures with yours, including an honest depreciation line. Divide by your working days.

• Week 4: change the quote template. The day rate rises by your per-day figure, the mileage line appears beyond your radius, and the agent keeps the log from here on.

Read next

• Self-Employed Expenses: 40 Things You Can Claim in 2026 (and 10 You Cannot)

• Trade Rates by UK City in 2026: Plumber, Electrician and Handyman Prices in 16 Big Cities

• Handyman Hourly Rate UK 2026: What to Charge by Job and City, Plus a 10-Minute Quote

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to run a van per year in the UK?

About £7,700 a year for a used diesel van doing 15,500 miles at October 2026 prices: £3,960 fuel, £648 insurance, £360 vehicle tax, £55 MOT, £272 servicing, £260 tyres, £161 breakdown cover and around £2,000 depreciation. A new van financed at £544 a month takes the total to about £12,200.

How much is van tax in 2026?

The standard light goods vehicle rate for 2026/27 is £360 a year, or £378 paid by monthly Direct Debit. Older Euro 4 and Euro 5 vans registered in certain years pay a reduced £140. Electric vans have paid the standard £360 since 1 April 2025.

What is the HMRC mileage rate for a van in 2026?

From 6 April 2026 the approved rate for cars and vans is 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p a mile after that, up from 45p. A sole trader using simplified expenses claims that instead of actual costs, and the choice sticks for as long as you own the van.

How much does van insurance cost for a tradesperson?

Confused.com's median premium for business use with carriage of own goods was £648 in the quarter to September 2026, against £736 for all vans and £2,486 for haulage. Defaqto put the typical van premium at £603 in August 2026, 16.6% lower than a year earlier. Tools in the van are usually a separate cover.

Should I buy a new or used van as a sole trader?

On our figures a used van owned outright costs about £34 a working day and a new van on five-year finance about £53. The new van saves on repairs and lost days and looks the part; the used van saves about £4,500 a year. If you work in a clean air zone, a Euro 6 van of either age avoids charges of up to £3,000 a year.

How do I charge customers for my van?

Add the per-day cost, about £34 on our sum, to your day rate, and state a mileage charge of around 50p a mile each way for jobs beyond your usual radius on the quote itself. A free Jobbit Pro profile brings briefed jobs with the distance known in advance, and the agent writes the quote with the van already in it.