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I'm in the market for a new mid-sized van.It will be second hand although relatively new,but as HJ has the car by car breakdown,does anybody know of anything similar for vans,or any other info availible? Thanxs for any advice.
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kam, if you can give us a bit more info as to what you have in mind.......
Whats your budget?
What will you carry?
The van you have just now - were you happy with it - perhaps you just want newer, of the same?
Transit still rules in the panel van market, but only just, plenty of good competition from other makers.
If you go nearly new, you might like to think twice about ex daily rental vehicles.Not always the best maintained & lots different drivers, but you will get a late van for a good price.Also beware, some from this source will be down-spec on trim levels too.
Probably best to go for something operated by a company on lease. 3 years down the line, 100.000 miles will be quite common. Make sure you've a good history to back up lower miles.
If you were going to try auction purchase, let us know which area you are & I'll let you know the better centres.They don't all offer a commercial sale.
Check out the new deals on offer, like cars, 0% finance, free insurance & other incentives, worth looking at.
Also click on link, to the right, here
new-car-leasing.com
see what they can do for you.
Lots more info along shortly!
VB
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How new is relatively new?
Also;
What type of journeys will you be doing, motorway or rural? The Transits and newer mercs are good on the motorway, but these types of vans go for a premium.
Do you need Short wheel base or long wheel base?
What is the total weight you'll need to carry and do you need a high or semi high roof?
What type of goods will you be carrying?
Have you considered a Box van?
Do you have any particular security concerns (are you carrying £5K antiques)
Will you want Power Steering? (I suspect you will).
Diesel or petrol? I would suggest diesel, especially if you're to be doing some mileage in it.
In addition, I would be wary of previous use. I deliberatley avoided builders vans and the like, because they tend to overload them at times and the waste they carry can have corrosive properties (lime morter for example). Not only that, they are usually a complete mess by the time they've finished with them!
I would also be wary of ex hire vans. We all know how we treat them when we use them, and they are often driven by people who shouldn't be allowed to drive them, and almost always by those who are not familiar with them, hence the clutch etc often takes a battering.
Unless you're spending serious money (Several Ks) you will be looking at Mileages of 150K plus, 100K if you're lucky. This in itself shouldn't pose a problem, but look at the service history or evidence of servicing. If you can find out the previous owner of the van, give them a call and find out more about it. This is what I did (albeit after the purchase). My good feelings were confirmed.
As with all vehicles, the older the van, the less important the make and model is and the more important its condition, history, etc is. For example, a choice between a battered 1995 Transit or a clean 1995 LDV for the same price could go either way.
I bought a Renault Trafic SWB 2.1 diesel, which has never let me down, though has cost me a new PS pump over and above what I had anticipated.
When I started looking, people in the backroom (Vansboy, Dave Taxi Driver etc) gave me loads of good advice and steered me awy from LDVs, and persuaded me to look at Transits, Mercs etc.
However, for my money (app £1K) I found the market very fickle. I was almost offered an R reg LDV with 100K (I think with the Ford 2.5 TD) for £900 in generally good order, which was due in as a trade in, but never turned up. I believe the same van found its way to a dealer near me who put it on at about £2,700!
I found vans being sold privately for anything up to £1K that were 200K miles plus and anything up to 10 years old, having been used by builders, blacksmiths etc, carrying untold weights of rubble, anvils etc.
Although I tend to be wary of dealers as far as the trade is concerned, I found the van that I actually bought being peddled about 15 miles away from where I lived, for the £1K that I had. It was the N reg (6 year old at the time) SWB Trafic with a standard roof at 182K miles. I had already decided that my main priority was to be able to carry a variety of building materials and waste, even with the aid of ladder racks if need be.
This Trafic met my needs, but I was concious that I would need to spend some money on it although it had only light use (stationery supplier) and had been well looked after (some receipts etc). It had about 4 months Tax and MOT and I knew the next MOT would not be plain sailing, (in actual fact the total bill (including test) came to £100). It had been part of a fleet from new. The only immediate issues were that it had suffered a few superficial knocks on the corners.
I managed to negotiate the price to £750, and duly left the deposit.
To date it has cost me a few quid to run, but that is mostly scheduled work (timing belt, services etc). The only real surprise was the PAS pump. No matter how careful you are, there will always be the unexpected.
Good luck!
Hugo
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Thanks all for the good advice,our budget is anywhere between 4-7k,mainly town driving,obviously diesel,recently tried a transit connect and was quite impressed but a little pricey.Thought of either Citroen,Peugeot,or Renault fills us with dread if the reliability of their road cars are anything to go by.Plumbing is our business so weight capacity has to be factored in.
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Hi Kam, Best van I would recommend is toyota hiace powervan,and get a good local garage to sevice it- That is if you want trouble free no nonsence motoring. Wouldn't touch "vw" because of IMHO useless dealerships -"never again" they are only good at issuing bills.
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AK, cannot comment on ''useless dealerships'' dsepite running vw vans for many years. My only experience of them is when I buy a year old ex-demo, always at a huge saving off list and always ply lined (easier to clean out)and with other extras fitted by the salesman who has run it for a year.Once out of warranty my vans are serviced by a local mechanic (£20 ph labour only)and parts sourced at trade from an adjacent motor factors.Oil filter/change costs approx £40 - probably less than the cost of an hours labour at a main dealer. Never have any probs selling them privately...done by word of mouth. Hope I'm not tempting fate !
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The Connect is still a VERY new van, so not many in the used market place, just yet.
There are, however, 4 in BCA Nottingham 27 Jan.
Miles from 1500 - 3000. Guess these will be direct Fords own fleet. Demo vehicles & out to test the price main dealers will pay.
Chance of saving a couple grand, possibly?
Don't be put off with a Pug Partner, you'll find these in auction, within Peugeot Contract Hire sections. They should have good history & be main dealer maintained.
In your job, watch out for anything with a lift up rear door. It's nice to work under, but the number of rear screens replaced, due to forgeting that bit of pipe or ladder on the roof.....
VB
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VW Transporter. I've run various models for almost 20 years, including the old flat front,rear engine syncro.Would recommend low tech 2.4 5 cylinder diesel. Reliability,not performance,is the primary aim, and together with various body options,and two wheelbases to choose from, this has it in spades. Or have I just been lucky ?
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We bought a new Renault Master 120 last year. Lovely powerful van to drive but the back-up from Renault is dire! 2 weeks to get an alternator and a similiar time to get a steel wheel. We getting a Merc next time. Customer service is as important as the driving experience if you are running a business. We had to hire a vehicle for the two weeks as Renault wouldn't help even though the van is still in the warranty period. The alternator was replaced free of charge.
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For road tests and technical data on all current or recent van models try this: www.whatvan.co.uk/search.asp
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Have you thought about an ex BT/GAS etc transit or box van?
Dont get as abused as a builders van would and are well serviced.
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£10,125was £10,475Details
£12,185was £13,000Details
£30,650was £31,200Details
£18,200was £19,050Details
