Finances, a word that is guaranteed to bring a sweat to my brow. When I started up I took the decision that any expansion would be paid for in full, I didn't want to have to work all week only to find my income gobbled up by repayments. Since then my vans have all been purchased outright, My (very small) yard and office is on land owned by a family member and therefore the best sort of cheap ... Free !!!.

I buy decent second hand vehicles, and as a man with a van, I employ, as needed, a mechanic with a van to fix them. But now pressure from outside is on me. One of my customers is asking for our van to be liveried, and no older than 18 months at any time. Buying new isn't really an issue as I will simply at the end of its life with the customer put in the general courier fleet. Paying for new is an issue, the instant it rolls into the yard I am out of pocket. A second hand van, bought for cash can be refurbished , resprayed and sorted out mechanically run for a year or two and then sold for very little depreciation. A new ones value plummets like a stone the second it sees its first bit of tarmac.

But the customer is insistent, and their work is consistent and well paid. So do I bite the proverbial bullet and spend out cash on a new van?. I like having the cash in the bank, if it goes quiet I ( and my drivers can still get paid). Engines and gearboxes can be replaced without the worry of how to pay for them. Or do I go for finance and the bewildering array of options and accept that the vehicle is working 2 days a week for the finance company not me.

I realise that many people will say that by earning the money and putting it into the bank for future purchases is the same realistically as paying finance, and your probably right, just to an old fashioned bloke like me, cash in my bank is better than cash in someone else's.

The next couple of weeks will be spent pondering this problem, and visiting various showrooms to see exactly what is on offer, in the mean time I cant help thinking to myself that while a brand new van is a step forwards, is it, with all the finance problems that come with, it a step upwards?

Paul Mcbride runs a small courier business running 5 light vehicles on urgent deliveries throughout Europe