[James Styles]

Hi guys, I am looking to get a cheap 2nd hand van by the summertime.
When starting up I’m sure some of you bought a “run about” 2nd hand van to get you about, something that just does the job.
Do you think I could get a ok van for £800-£1,200?
I see a lot of Citroen Berlingo’s about, probably the kind of van I’d be looking at, just a small van that runs.
I would get a nice van on finance but until I move from this rough ghetto type area I wouldn’t risk it as I have no drive, I have to park where I can’t see the vehicle and vehicles around here have been scratched, windows smashes, tyres slashed etc.
Any advice you guys would give?

[Crystal-clear]

There's a lot of people including myself that personally swear by £2,000 vans.
As long as they look robust and reasonably presentable it's always an economy trade off.
There's nothing wrong with that van working for you for years to come.
Just see if you can push the budget a little bit more to get something that will last you for a few years no need to plan to spend 30 grand on a van

[zesty]

In that case, a run around would be good, have a look at ford transit connects, solid engines , and can be picked up for cheap. You’ll have to obviously expect a high mileage van, with a fair share of wear and tear.

If it lasts you a year, and you are able to move, then you could look to finance a better van.

Alternatively, stick with what you’ve got, and work hard to move as soon as possible, or aim to get a round of, say, £1500 a month coming in before moving and upgrading to a van...

Where do you live?

[Scrimble]

buy brand new, a cheap tatty old van always ends up costing more in repairs bills and it wont be long before it goes to the scrap yard,

[nathankaye]

Well done James, seems like your coming a long way from the timid beginner and now moving forward with transportation. Well done 👍

[Crystal-clear]

You can pick up a nice Ford Transit Connect for £2,000 full service history low mileage.
You can sign write it also and it will really look the part if you use your common sense and get it in good condition it's unlikely that you wont have expensive repairs but even if if you have to spend £500 per year to get it through MOTs

Over 4 years you would have spent for example £4,000. You are still at least £16,000 better off than spending £20,000.

[Ooooooog]

Wheels are wheels. Get the best you can afford.

[NWH]

buy brand new, a cheap tatty old van always ends up costing more in repairs bills and it wont be long before it goes to the scrap yard,

Put it down on a new one or nearly new in eighteen months there’s a good chance that van will have cost you 2-3 times the initial outlay.
Especially if you are going to keep a van for a fair few years.

[NWH]

If you think you’ll be getting away with spending 500 a year getting that van through it’s MOTs you’ll be lucky,great vans but like all vans they all are when they are new-nearly new.
Loads and loads of vans out there for a few thousand but you are buying something that’s had its best days,think if it like being married for 20 years and when you get to 45 you trade her back in for another 20 year old lol everything just feels that much smoother and tighter when you get in it lol.

[Crystal-clear]

buy brand new, a cheap tatty old van always ends up costing more in repairs bills and it wont be long before it goes to the scrap yard,

Put it down on a new one or nearly new in eighteen months there’s a good chance that van will have cost you 2-3 times the initial outlay.
Especially if you are going to keep a van for a fair few years.

I see the point you're saying but I've had many experiences we have spent £1,500 and spend nothing for 3 years to get through MOT just £50 other times I've spent about 5 or 600 that seems to be the most.

Plenty of other people as well that have big businesses and just spend moderate on their vans not overdoing it and the numbers do add up.

Each To Their Own I must say I do love the look of a brand new van but when I put it all to paper I kind of realise it's more of a luxury.

If you have less outgoings you can afford to be more competitive or you can also so make more profit which is what we're here for

Probably go up to 4 or £5,000 maximum personally with good service history low mileage.

I've never had any horror stories in the last 12 years but I have heard some other horror stories where people have spent 30 grand and after 4 years need a £3,000-4k repair and you have no choice considering how much you spent.
In that scenario you are £8,5000 a year vs say £2,000 and go worst case 1k a year for mots and repairs that's still 1,500 a year over a 4 year period.

[Crystal-clear]

Mind you there is one very good side which I haven't really explored and that is buying it brand new but literally the day the Warranty ceases is the day you sell it and get another one but I'm guessing a £20,000 van will probably be worth about £10,000 if I'm not mistaken? So that's still £10,000 the cheap van could potentially only cost about £4,000 over this period.

I may have the numbers modelled up on the new van to 3 years old but basically if you lose 4 or maybe 5k at a push that could be decent considering the peace of mind you'll get.

[Don Kee]

First van was a £1000  T280, only lasted me a year but because of that van I was able to save up £3500 in that 12months to buy another, ‘better’ van.
I now have a Custom that I’ve had from new and two of us working out of it.

All because if that one grand van I started with.

Don’t underestimate what a cheap workhorse can do for you when you first start.

[NWH]

Doesn’t matter how much it’ll be worth if you are gonna keep it for years.

[AuRavelling79]

I think the vandalism concern you have is a valid one. It's been easy for me with the two brand new vans I've bought/hire purchased as I can park on a gated drive.

My sons in law have bought 2nd hand vans - one paid £9K for a two year old Pug Expert the other paid £1000 for a 13 year old Pug partner. Both are running OK.

I bought a brand new Doblo for about 10K and ran it for 8 years and sold it to son in law one. He ran it for 4 years and sold it to someone on this forum as a cheap and cheerful runabout. It might even still be running now.

I only changed it to go bigger and have had a brand new Hyundai iload which cost about 16K in 2012 and which I am running trouble free after 8 years. When I bought it I planned on it lasting 12 years and although I may be unpleasantly surprised I might just run it "forever".

TLDR: If you are parking on the street in a rough area I would be fearful of spending big money.   

[Spruce]

You can pick up a nice Ford Transit Connect for £2,000 full service history low mileage.
You can sign write it also and it will really look the part if you use your common sense and get it in good condition it's unlikely that you wont have expensive repairs but even if if you have to spend £500 per year to get it through MOTs

Over 4 years you would have spent for example £4,000. You are still at least £16,000 better off than spending £20,000.

Do make sure you you tell James to get any Transit Connects thoroughly checked as they suffer with bad corrosion issues. The council has 2 x 10 plates working out of the local  council offices with rotten sills.

Citroen/Peugeot did galvanise dip their early Berlingo vans from 2000 onward but it was only from the top of the sills down.  The Dispatch/Experts were galvanised dipped from 2005 (the facelift).

Vans without side loading doors are cheaper but ones with are much better for window cleaning imho.

[dazmond]

i bought a renault kangoo for £1200 with 91,000 miles on the clock when i first went WFP 10 years ago and snapped the torsion suspension bar on the back axle going over a speed bump too fast within a week(this is BEFORE i put a tank in the back! )i also had to fork out for a new exhaust straight away but i had it for around 4 years and sold it for £300 with 126000 miles on it....

just get a cheap van when starting out....you can upgrade when your earning better money......

[Stoots]

Buying a second hand vehicle is always pot luck.

It doesn't matter if its a grand or 5 grand or 10.

You could buy one with faults or you could buy one and a month later the clutch/head gasket etc goes on it.

You jusf don't know.

A van with 50k isn't guaranteed to be any better than one with 150k. The one with 150k might have had a recent clutch/gearbox/turbo/cambelt etc and the 50k one might have all these to go bang in the next couple of years.

First van I bought was £600. A 1.9d fiat scudo with the best part of 300k on the clock. I had it two years and it never missed a beat. The next van I bought was 2.5k and the gearbox went on it within 6 months.

Now I have a van that was 6k. Its now worth probably 4k so don't forget to take depreciation into account. A  nearly new van might cost you nothing in repairs over 5 years but lose 5k in value. The old banger might have cost you a grand in that time but still worth pretty much what you paid.

Get what you can afford.

[mufcglen]

My first van cost me £250, a Peugeot partner with the old tractor reliable 1.9d engine, no turbo’s no electric windows or even central locking!!
Lasted me 2 years before I needed a bigger van for a bigger tank and although I have a lovely transit custom with heated seats etc I still miss that little van!!
I even sold it on for £700 lol

[NWH]

An old van most of the time means problems,look on a second hand car forecourt nearly all of em will have over 60000 miles on the clock because at that mileage that’s when the bills start coming in.

[KS Cleaning]

If you’re spending 8-1200 on a van make sure you have it checked over by a mechanic. There might be a few decent ones out there but the large majority will be money pits.