Buying a used Van

[Minibiker]

Hi all

I'm looking to buy a used van around the £200 - £2500 mark, either a Transit Connect or SWB transit.. Just looking for a few pointers really, Is there any main points to look out for and what sort of mileage is decent for an older van, most vans I've seen are around 120,000 - 150,000 miles

Cheers

 

[Scania]

Forget mileage, go entirely on overall condition.

Most vans rack up huge mileage relatively quickly, be very wary of anything showing considerable wear on the pedals and steering wheel yet a supposedly lowish mileage, I'd consider anything with less than 150k on the clock low mileage for a commercial vehicle, as an example we have an 18 plate VW van at work that's not far off 400k miles and I'm assuming your look for something quite a bit older than 5 years!

Incidentally,to look at the van at work bar a few stone chips, you'd never believe it's done half its actual mileage!

Check it's mot history, get a history check done - a paid for one - and as I say study it's interior carefully, so long as it's in decent condition, has a full and verifiable service history, don't worry too much about mileage.

Be very wary of something showing relatively low miles that looks scruffy.

I have a few friends who are couriers and do huge mileages, all have either Mercedes or VW vans.

 

[dave28]

Your looking at an old Ford so look for rot underneath with a torch.

My brother had Ford vans and he was phoning the AA so often that they told him that he was over the limit of acceptable call out lol.