Buying 2nd hand van, what to look out for?

nusername

I'm looking for a van for under €6000, I'm looking at either a volkswagen transporter or a mercedes vito but if I see a good ford transit I'll go for it.

I need a short wheel base van as I only have a provisional licence & not sure if I can get insured in a long wheel base?

I'm going to go looking tomorrow (Dublin) so I'm just wondering if there is anything in particular I should look out for? Any way to tell if it was crashed etc? I've a 4m pixel camera I intend to take pictures with, to look at & think about it before I come back with cash.

To be honest I have no idea what to look for, I've spent the past ten years on my mountain bike & various 125cc motorbikes.

What sort of questions should I ask when I ring up enquiring about vans? I've seen some bargains like this but I'm thinking there has to be a catch
#########
VW Transporter 2.0 Dsl '99. €5000.00
Black, 17k mls, very clean, low mileage, vgc
#########
It seems like a bargain to me but the mileage makes me suspicious Does that seem reasonable to you lot in the know?

bazz26

nusername wrote:

I'm looking for a van for under €6000, I'm looking at either a volkswagen transporter or a mercedes vito but if I see a good ford transit I'll go for it.

I need a short wheel base van as I only have a provisional licence & not sure if I can get insured in a long wheel base?

I'm going to go looking tomorrow (Dublin) so I'm just wondering if there is anything in particular I should look out for? Any way to tell if it was crashed etc? I've a 4m pixel camera I intend to take pictures with, to look at & think about it before I come back with cash.

To be honest I have no idea what to look for, I've spent the past ten years on my mountain bike & various 125cc motorbikes.

What sort of questions should I ask when I ring up enquiring about vans? I've seen some bargains like this but I'm thinking there has to be a catch
#########
VW Transporter 2.0 Dsl '99. €5000.00
Black, 17k mls, very clean, low mileage, vgc
#########
It seems like a bargain to me but the mileage makes me suspicious Does that seem reasonable to you lot in the know?

That mileage sounds dodgy. Could be 117k miles and VW never made a 2.0 diesel back then, it was either 1.9 or 2.5 litre. That one seems a bit pricy compared to this:
http://www.usedcars.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=551648

Short wheel base Transits with a normal roof are pretty rare here. Plenty of Merc Vitos around. Another one to look at is the Toyota Hiace. (Thousands of travellers cannot be wrong)

Ford Transit:
http://www.usedcars.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=446711

MB Vito:
http://www.usedcars.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=595491

andrew_ireland

I don't know much about vans but I'd do more than 17k miles in one year let alone 8 years. I suppose you could look out for wear on the gearknob, steering wheel and seats but do get a mechanic that you trust yourself to have a look over it. If the seller is genuine he shouldn't mind.

Esel

Just bring up cormie's profile and read all the threads he has started. Be ready to spend some time reading though! :eek:

Bradidup

I don’t think a provisional license would make a difference between a short or lwb Transit. Short wheel based low roof transits are also favoured by travellers because they fit under the barriers at halting sites and other places. A good tip is to check the service history before you buy of any of these vans and bring a good mechanic.

I drive a 01 high roof LWB front wheel drive transit, more economical compared to the rear wheel drive version however when they give more front end trouble and are expensive on labour. The rear wheel drive carries more weight and has a higher loading height. White Transit vans are favoured by courier companies so check mileage & wear.

The Hiace is an excellent choice as someone commented before, they also hold their value. My last van was a 97 lwb, if you are going for one the most economical go for the D4D model made after 2002. Previous models were heavy on juice.

The transporter is also a good choice but I heard mixed reports about the Vito being soft, I would like to hear what others think. If your buying from the trade demand a fresh years DOE as it can work out quite expensive otherwise. Obvious signs of a crashed van would be different shades of paint, cracks in windscreen, etc.

overdriver

Look at the hassle Cormie has had with his Transit. The reviews on Carsurvey.org are very mixed too. Hiace all the way.

As for juice, I get 38 mpg. That's in a pre D4D high roof, LWB model. I'm not sure how that compares?

useeme

My Hiace is available on the adverts site.

nusername

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I'm going to have a look at general motors hiace in a while.

Can anyone confirm they are insured in a lwb & have a provisional? Quinn direct will give me an online quote so hopefully it won't be a problem.

useeme

Van now sold

nusername

Yup, I bought it, lovely clean van and the insurance companies had no problems insuring me in the lwb on the provisional.

Very pleased with it so far General Motors

Esel

Aaaaahhhhh!

cormie

Haha, I was wondering would I be used as an example:D

Anyway, whether or not you have a provisional or full wont make a difference. The LWB/High roof thing is only a concern if it's over 3.5 tonne, in which case you need a C license and not the regular B car license. Unless there is something I'm unaware of

Tails142

I drive vans all the time, different ones from rental companies. Generally driving large distances with fairly heavy loads packed to the top (soft drinks). Sorry I cant be too specific on the models/engine sizes but I dont really have that good a look, its usually a different van ever day.

Transits, I've driven low roofs, high roofs, standard wheel base, lwb etc. I read somewhere that there are over 1000 different combinations of detail to a transit. They're fairly reliable, there is some issue about a solder connection on the battery terminals that fail on every transit at some stage leaving you stranded in the middle of nowhere (happened to me, mechanic said it was chronic) and I've had a couple of flat batterys from leaving the door open and the inside lights wearing on, but its probably just that the battery needed replacing. All in all a good sturdy van, will take punishment, cant really fault it, nothing too exciting.

I've driven long wheel base mercedes sprinters. These vans are as far as I'm concerned fairly ****e. With heavy loads the brakes turn to **** (I probably overload them on a regular basis), the suspension is way too light, but they are a comfortable ride if you're going long distance, just stay off the back roads and take it easy at roundabouts I had serious clutch issues with them (got stuck in the middle of newlands cross one day) had to pop it into first and crawl along with the starter motor cause the clutch was completly gone :eek: but as I say the vans get punished by long miles, heavy loads and drivers who dont give a ****. It's a mercedes so they're comfortable as I say, but the stereo in the one I had was dire. seriously !! I'm not sure about the costs, if these were the same cost as a transit I would pick them, but if they're a few k more expensive I'd forget it.

I drove a hiace a couple of times when the rental company had nothin else to give us. Handled fairly well considering it was packed to the brim with cases of soft drinks but the hatchback rear door is a pain in the arse cos it means you cant get stuff forklifted into them, not that you would be doing that often cause the pallet alone probably takes up like 10% of the space. Not a serious van contender unless you dont need the space... I would definetly pick a vw golf van (1.6 tdi's fly like a rocket!!) over a hiace, yuck.

The best vans though are those opel ones, vivaros (had to look it up ). These are deadly vans!! The interior on them is very nice, better than the merc, though the gear box gets in the way of the middle seat a bit... if that matters. They've got 6 gears too!! only thing I've ever driven with 6 gears, but definetly a very comfortable drive. Not sure if they come in lwb, only ever driven the standard, but a very well designed modern van. Someone I work had an issue with a petrol hose into the engine coming off...?!? so he was stuck down in cork for a few hours but apart from that I dont think we've had any issues with them.

So I hope this helps you out a bit, maybe you can find a good vivaro for cheap. As to what to look for in terms of wear... check the back obvisously for dints and bangs, sometimes the locking mechanism on the back door can get destroyed from forking pallets in, I also see vans all the time missing the door handles on the inside... what happens to them?? Just check the sliding door closes properly, had a transit once where it wasnt sitting into the clips right and gave me a nervous drive thinking it would pop open at any moment as there was a noticable gap. Also just smell the cab, sometimes we get vans that stink somethin awful!! Oh and check the roof for scrapes and even holes, I've had many a bash on the roof haha, rental companies never check the rooves for scratches though

Also if you've never had a van... you can get them panelled on the inside with a lovely plywood interior to stop dints on the inside being dints on the outside, if you get what I mean, something to look out for depending on what youre carrying.