24/7 ServiceVans & commercial vehicles
A van that will not start costs you the working day, not just the morning. Our mobile van jump start service attends panel vans, tippers, taxis, campers and light commercial vehicles wherever they are parked across the UK, using approved equipment for both 12V and 24V systems, with prices starting from £50.
Commercial vehicles differ from cars in ways that matter before anyone connects anything. Give us the details when you get in touch so the person attending can bring suitable equipment.
Most panel vans run 12V, but larger commercial vehicles can use a 24V starting system. We use approved equipment for both 12V and 24V vans and light commercial vehicles — the equipment required is not interchangeable, so telling us which you have, or simply the exact vehicle, avoids a wasted journey.
A loaded diesel van asks considerably more of its battery than a small petrol car, especially cold. Marginal batteries that would still start a hatchback will not turn a commercial diesel.
Van batteries are frequently under a seat, under the floor, behind a panel or in a step. Access takes longer than lifting a bonnet, and the manufacturer's designated jump points may be somewhere else entirely.
Beacons, inverters, refrigeration, tail lifts, tracking, racking lighting and tool charging all draw from the same electrical system. Working vans flatten batteries in ways private cars rarely do.
Converted vans and campers often carry a second battery bank with split-charge relays. Which battery is flat, and how the system is wired, changes the approach entirely.
A van full of stock, on a construction site, behind a barrier or in a depot yard has practical access issues before any electrical work begins. Height restrictions and site permissions matter.
Driving a car rather than a van? Our car jump start page covers that side of the service.
If your vehicle is not on this list, ask — the answer is a straight yes or no rather than a guess.
Working vehicles fail at inconvenient moments in fairly predictable ways. Tell us which of these is closest to yours.
A courier van that dies halfway through a round is a live problem for every remaining drop, not just the driver. Give the current stop's address and, if the round is time-sensitive, say so — it is useful context even though it does not change the mechanics of the job.
A taxi that will not start at a rank or outside a depot at handover time often means two drivers affected, not one. Confirm exactly where the vehicle is and whether it is blocking the rank or other vehicles.
A refrigerated van with the engine off for any length of time can put a temperature-sensitive load at risk, separately from the starting fault itself. Mention the load and how long the unit has been without power so the urgency is understood.
A camper away from home with a flat starter battery is often also running habitation equipment from a leisure battery. Say whether it is the starter battery, the leisure battery, or you are not sure — it changes what needs connecting.
A tipper that will not start on an active site brings site rules into play before anything else — sign-in, PPE, banksman supervision and vehicle movement restrictions. Flag these when you get in touch.
Unlike most cars, opening the bonnet on a van doesn't always show you the battery. Knowing roughly where it sits helps set expectations for access time.
Common on many panel vans. The seat base usually needs to be tilted or removed to reach the battery, which takes longer than a bonnet release.
Some layouts place the battery beneath a floor panel or a plastic cover in the footwell, held by fixings rather than a simple latch.
Larger vans and minibuses sometimes house the battery behind the entry step or a side panel, which needs a trim tool or fixings removed rather than being freely accessible.
Many commercial vehicles have dedicated positive and negative jump-start posts, usually under the bonnet, specifically so the battery itself — wherever it is mounted — never needs to be reached directly.
Commercial use puts a battery under a pattern of load that private motoring rarely produces.
Multi-drop work is the hardest possible pattern for a battery: constant restarts, short runs between them, and no sustained charging period.
Charging tools, running lights, using an inverter or working from the load area with the engine stopped pulls the battery down quickly.
A van that sits from Friday afternoon to Monday morning, with trackers and telematics awake the whole time, can be noticeably down by the start of the week.
Fitting a cheaper battery below the specified cold cranking amps or the wrong technology for a stop-start van is a false economy that shows up in winter.
More on why batteries fail and whether a boost will hold on our flat car battery page.
Equipment fitted for the job a van does can draw on the electrical system in ways a private car never sees.
Campers and converted vans typically use a relay or DC-DC charger to keep a leisure battery topped up from the alternator while driving. If the starter battery is flat, the leisure battery cannot usually start the engine on its own, and vice versa.
Standalone fridge units on refrigerated vans often run from their own dedicated battery or directly from the vehicle's system, and can draw heavily even when the engine is off.
Powered tail lifts pull a significant current in short bursts. Repeated use with the engine off, especially on multiple stops, adds up over a day.
Fitted racking with internal lighting, plus tools or devices charged from an inverter, all add a background drain that a private car's electrical system was never designed to carry.
Where a working van breaks down often comes with its own set of rules that a driveway or high street never would.
Many depots require sign-in, ID, or advance notice to let an outside vehicle onto site. If your van is inside a depot, check what is needed to get a vehicle in before assistance is arranged.
Active sites commonly require PPE, a induction or sign-in process, and may only allow vehicle movements under supervision. Mention this so it can be factored in.
A van loaded with stock or equipment can make reaching an awkwardly placed battery slower, particularly if access panels are blocked by cargo that would need moving first.
Roof racks, ladders and external fittings do not usually affect the electrical work itself, but they can affect where a vehicle can be parked or manoeuvred, particularly under height barriers.
Sites with fixed opening or closing times, or yards behind a locked gate, need someone available to grant access at the right time. Confirm this alongside your location.
For anyone running a van or a fleet of them, the real cost is usually the time lost rather than the fault itself.
What you can do to make a van jump start as quick as it can realistically be.
Getting back on route is the immediate win. What happens next affects whether it happens again.
Fill in your details, then send them to us by WhatsApp or email. Mobile service – we come to you.
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Local pages for some of the main towns and cities we cover. Availability is always confirmed by postcode.