Thoughts on this van im considering

Stinky

Stinky

Stinky

Soldato
Joined
28 Mar 2005
Posts
9,250
Hi all,

my van is about to finally pack up and i need a quick fix. so ive been offered a

1999 Merc Vito 108D
MOT end of April
No Tax
136000 miles
Completely New breaks all round

I can have it for £825

its done only 10 miles since the last MOT, it was bought to use for gardening but the owner was then offered a full time position with a company van so its sat in his garden ever since. (about a year)

the interior needs a really good clean. body work is VERY clean slight rust hole by the handle of one of the sliding doors. under is solid.

It used to be owned by a chimney sweep who obviously had a dog or 4.

the drivers seat has been eaten by the dog and has seat covers covering up the hole.

The heater only seems to blow hot air (any idea why this might be? - i assumed it would be a sticky flap inside??)

the heater also doesnt always work, but if you tap the fan in behind the dash it will then start. very temperamental

when you turn on the aircon there is a high pitched whine but then comes and goes, maybe the aircon pump??

now it was up for 950. i offered 600 as a cheeky offer and hes come back with 825. i cant work out weather or not its worth it.

my plan was to use it for a month MOT and sell it one (as then i will have enough cash for my new T4 :D

so i suppose what im wanting is some of your thoughts. will i be able to make my money back + MOT cost in a months time?

i dont know weather to go for it or not! :(
 
If you think you can fix / repair what's wrong with it, and the engine or drive train doesn't blow up while you own then you'll be certain to make some money on it.

If you're expecting to do nothing to it then it's probably not a risk worth taking.
 
You say the under is solid? Double-check this as older Vito's are prone to the subframe rusting very badly.

The body work is also prone to rusting. A friend had one, it was a nice van but literally rusted away infront of him.

I think it will be more hassle than it's worth for a month's use.

What do you need it for?
 
These vans can get a lot of fuel pump and injector problems. Look it up on a Merc forum, yours might run perfectly but your better to arm yourself with as much info on the model as you can.
 
I used to hire for £117 plus vat a week for a brand new LWB sprinter on week to week hire.

I'd walk away and hire. it will be cheaper, and will work
 
atpbx said:
I used to hire for £117 plus vat a week for a brand new LWB sprinter on week to week hire.

I'd walk away and hire. it will be cheaper, and will work
Click to expand...

:confused: Quite frankly these rates being bounded around are absurd.

£117 per week for a LWB van? Lets break that down. There is 52 weeks in a year, netting the company £6084 per year.

Remove services, tyres, insurance, lease cost to them/depreciation.

That company must be making buttons.
 
Jez said:
:confused: Quite frankly these rates being bounded around are absurd.

£117 per week for a LWB van? Lets break that down. There is 52 weeks in a year, netting the company £6084 per year.

Remove services, tyres, insurance, lease cost to them/depreciation.

That company must be making buttons.
Click to expand...

That's not unreasonable. It's more than my work pays for lease hire on lwb transits though that's fairly long term. When we used to just hire vans as needed it cost around £150 a week for a lwb transit but for a full months use we were normally looking at about £500.
 
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