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Suzuki - 2004 Suzuki Carry - Julesisjustjules

Good morning

i am considering purchasing a mobile coffee business, it is down in Somerset and i live in Leeds so a long way to travel to view. I have had a look on the website regarding the last MOT and just looking for some advise. It passed in Oct 2016 and is due again shortly. The last MOT it firstly failed on the following, it has low mileage but i am just wondering if it worth investing £8k into this vehicle as i am unsure if the below will be an issue. I am 2nd guessing that the exhaust was probably sorted.

Look forward to hearing from you and any advise you can offer before Friday would be appreciated as i am planning to view at the weekend and i don't want a wasted journey.

Jules

MOT Test | 55,186 miles

Fail

Advisories

Exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gases (7.1.2)

Reasons

Offside Rear Brake pipe excessively corroded load valve to flex hose chalked (3.6.B.2c)

Nearside Front Front suspension has excessive play in a lower suspension ball joint (2.5.B.1a)

Suzuki - 2004 Suzuki Carry - badbusdriver

You really need to put a link in to the advert, so members can see the van in question. I had a look on autotrader and Ebay, the only one I found was on eBay, in Cheddar at just under £9k that it?.

Difficult call. Nice carry's of that age can be had for £1500-2500, so how much is all that equipment worth?, and I don't just mean what the seller says it's worth. My gut feeling is that if you are prepared to spend that much money, get a van locally and have it converted yourself. Possibly a better idea would be to get a trailer set up which you can tow with a car. That way all of the expensive coffee equipment is not tied to a 13 year old van. The suzuki itself is a hardy little thing, very basic mechanically, so not an awful lot to go wrong there, but rust could be a big issue.

Suzuki - 2004 Suzuki Carry - Julesisjustjules

Thank you and yes that is the vehicle i am considering, the equipment, electrics, etc is worth quite a bit even 2nd hand, the coffee machine has recently been serviced. A lot comes with the package, reckon the van is probably somehwere around £2k in value.

Suzuki - 2004 Suzuki Carry - Avant

Is £8k for the business as a going concern as well as the van? Even if adapted, surely the van on its own isn't worth more than £2k?

Suzuki - 2004 Suzuki Carry - Julesisjustjules

yes i agree around £2k for the vehicle the rest is in the equipment, i have looked into towing a trailer but i only have a Ford KA !!

I have looked into doing my own conversion and it is not cheap, looking at £14k

Suzuki - 2004 Suzuki Carry - Julesisjustjules

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pop-up-Cafe-Business-Mobile-Cof...O

vehicle link on ebay :-)

Suzuki - 2004 Suzuki Carry - badbusdriver

As I previously mentioned, the carry van is a hardy little thing with little to go wrong mechanically, but even so, I'd really be urging you to take someone with you that has mechanical knowledge about cars. Also just to have another point of view to bounce off of. If you go all the way to see that van on your own, you are more likely to buy it, even if it doesn't look as good in the flesh.

Something else I would highly recommend, is going on to a suzuki forum (there definitely is at least one, but I forget the actual Web address). They will be able to tell you exactly what to look for, and being an enthusiastic bunch (certainly regarding the carry and supercarry), you may get very lucky and find a forum member lives near to Cheddar willing to help look it over for you.

One last thing, which I am sure you will be aware of, and planning to do, is make sure absolutely all of that very expensive equipment works. You would essentially be buying about £7k worth of 2nd hand coffee making equipment, and I don't know where you would stand if something major packed up a couple of months after you bought it. I didn't notice if it was being sold privately or by a business/garage, but that is something else I'd be looking into.

Suzuki - 2004 Suzuki Carry - Julesisjustjules

sound advice, i will certainly have a look into the Suzuki forum page, thank you so much, it's very much appreciated. I have a friend who lives in Swansea so i will entwine my journey then i won't be travelling there and back in a day and can make the most of the hours and miles on the road by visiting a friend.

Suzuki - 2004 Suzuki Carry - John Boy

I'm a member of a Suzuki forum. This link is direct to the Carry section:

www.suzuki4u.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=15

Be warned, though, it's not a very lively forum *. I doubt whether you'd get a rapid response to a query. Indeed, a week or so ago, I recommended the forum to someone who even had difficulty registering as a member. His question was answered elsewhere, so I didn't pursue it for him. If you have the same difficulty, let me know on here and I'll send a PM to the moderators.

* I'd like to think that's because Suzuki vehicles rarely develop faults!

Suzuki - 2004 Suzuki Carry - Ethan Edwards

I've seen a small takeaway coffee business being run out the back of a Smart for two car.

Seriously impressed at the intelligent use of space.