Afternoon,

Apologies if this has been done before, but I wanted a little bit of advise regarding vans..

I am looking at buying something small, like a Berlingo size. And seem to find loads at around the £1000 mark..
Question is, what should I look out for? Anything to really avoid?

And if anybody has anything on here, let me know 🙂

Thanks,
Josh

Only small vans I’m familiar with are Ford Connects etc. If you buy one of those at that price, buy a MIG welder as well 😉

Joking apart, look for rust on sills and rotted brake pipes.

Engines, with timing belt changes, will go forever but the rest of the van will fall apart.

Are you looking for Bangernomics at that price ? I bought an old van a couple of years ago as I didn’t know how much I would use it but I wouldn’t be without one now. So much easier for loads of things than a car. I’m now looking to get something newer now as mine is really on its last legs now but I’ve had a couple of years out of it.

Berlingos and partners don’t really rust too much -heaven knows I’ve tried.

Unless you are set on a van I’d buy a multi space and remove rear seats-put curtains on windows. 2 seats in the van is a pain at times but as above I wouldn’t be without the load space over a regular car -even an estate doesn’t come close to the berlingos back end. My mates passage estate is a stupid faff compared to the berlingo but he doesn’t do French cars.

I have the van wife has the multi space. Same engine same spec. Vans about 100more a year to insure.

On berlingos be sure to check the rear axle- the stub bearings have Ahabbit of going- about 400quid for a new beam. Symptom is rear tires pointing in substantially on one or both sides.

Engine wise look out for regular servicing. Esp on hdis . I’d avoid anything with replaced turbos.

I have 2 dw8 1.9ds they have silly short timing belt intervals- about 45k/3 years and a 10k minor service due to small sump compared to bigger vans. Timing belt and water pump are easy changes you just take out inner wheel wall on that side.

Front springs and wheel bearings tend to last about 80k.

And if it’s a drum model it’s heavy on front brake pads and disks.

Over all had them for 7 years and am looking at a mk3to replace the multi space.

My next van will be much bigger.

Avoid ones with old rolled up carpets in the back.

How’s about a 2005 berlingo van, Dw8 1.9 normally aspirated diesel, 80000 miles, timing belt done 5 month ago, £200 under your budget?

It’s the 1.6 hdi’s with the small sump, not the dw8, that’s why the 1.6 eats turbos without regular oils and filters. The 2.0 hdi is bomb proof, the 16 year old recovery/ breakdown call out and Mtb carrying Scudo is on 170000 with no major mechanicals discounting the usual engine loom wear, and I’ve just thrown a timing belt on a 6 plate scudo 2.0 on 260000 hdi,this one is a race motorbike barge, motorway miles mainly

Dw8 only has a 4.8litre sump.

The 1.6 has a 3.5litre

But tbh I’m more used to 6.8-7litres on commercials

Thanks for the advice guys, I had read similar things, but it’s always good to get a real life opinion..

Ulysse – Sounds very interesting, presuming this is yours?
Can you fire me an email to Josh@jh-sports.co.uk?

Cheers all

try and check everything works, bought a 500 quid van and windscreen wipers didnt work, found out in the rain on the motorway.

Avoid ones with towbars as you dont know what theyve been pulling also red ones, ex post office,and their drivers dont care.

vans are mostly bomb proof now, had 2 x 500 quid ones and only replaced the window winder and windscreen motor.

just change oil and filters and get a warm jacket as older vans are cold.

No coat needed in my old peugeot expert it’s nice and warm even on the coldist of days.
Mines a 2002 and now about the budget you wanted far more room and three seats much better than smaller van and no harder to park.
Only issue this year was a leaking heater matrix. Simple and cheap to
Fix just time consuming.

French stuff does not seem to rust much compared to others but with anything old just look over everything and try everything before buying

Pikeys! Watch out for pikeys. When I was after a van for my business I found lots of van/pikey combinations & every one a turd 👿

Had a ’03 Peugeot Partner a while back. Awesome. Mine was ex council too. Bright orange mind you 🙂

At that price range expect a long and frustrating search 😐

You are firmly in shit heap ex-builders van territory. You will be shocked how bad some of the vans at that price range are, I’ve been there. If there’s any tell tale sign it’s been a builders van don’t even go and look at it! It will have been overloaded, never serviced, flogged to death and the interior will be shagged.

A lot of the cheap high-milers I looked at had knackered clutches and dodgy turbos.

If it’s an ex-business van make sure it’s a lightweight industry (sometimes says on the V5) not gardeners or builders.

Don’t get caught buying an insurance write-off for top money they have often been repaired on the cheap. Some cheeky **** try to sell them for the same price as a legit one 😆

There’s a few unscrupulous traders who try and dupe you into stumping up a deposit before you can test drive, walk away. Most private ads are actually traders.

Had a few try and bump up the price after negotiating by claiming they advertised it without VAT, even when I asked beforehand 🙄

Be prepared to travel and try and buy from a poorer district/county. There’s loads for sale in Yorkshire and Blackburn/Burnley way and you tend to get more for your money.

Remember with French vans the build quality is often awful with poor quality components that don’t stand up well to use and abuse.

Non-turbo will be agricultural and slow but won’t need a turbo replacement as high milers often do.

You are very unlikely to get a FSH (unless it’s a fleet vehicle) at that price if any history at all.

A damaged body from careless driving (not rusted teh ****) isn’t always the end of the world, if the rest of the mechanicals are spot-on and you can live with it.

Engine wise look out for regular servicing. Esp on hdis

Take a service history on a 1.6 HDI with a massive pinch of salt. Regular oil and filter changes with the right oil[/u] are what matter and the right oil is something very, very specific. So unless its been serviced since forever and right up to date by a main dealer then a stack of receipts isn’t going to tell you whether the garages doing the servicing knew their arse from their elbow. A lot of the bad rep those engines have is down to that – garages not knowing just how pin-point specific the oil requirements are.

Remember with French vans the build quality is often awful with poor quality components that don’t stand up well to use and abuse.

Are all transits French now ?

I’d take any PSA / Fiat group van over any ford, any nissan/vauxhall/Renault offerings any day of the week…
Macuiskeen, my mate is the director of a motor factors, and his fleet of high mile punished heavily stop start driven Berlingos are some of the best I’ve driven and worked on, the 1.6hdi’s always got highest spec oils at 3000 miles, oil and filters at the next 3000,and oil and turbo pressure pipes at the next. 190000 on the clock of his 7 plate M59 berlingo and still going strong

The one I mentioned above belongs to his brother, it’s not that they run them with no expenses spared, it’s getting parts and consumables at trade cost 😉

What ullysse said.

I bought my first with great apprehension

Was never disappointed with it and bought the wife one.

I’ll buy a newer one when it needs replacing.

The best bit about French vans is the French vans are crap attitude folk like the above have. Means they are dirt cheap

I’ve got a 1.9 Fiat Doblo 2005 the engine is brilliant, the interior dials not so but I’d have another, I’ve been really impressed with it. I’m getting nearly 50mpg! It’s ‘only’ done 115k so it’s still running in!

Macuiskeen, my mate is the director of a motor factors, and his fleet of high mile punished heavily stop start driven Berlingos are some of the best I’ve driven and worked on, the 1.6hdi’s always got highest spec oils at 3000 miles, oil and filters at the next 3000,and oil and turbo pressure pipes at the next. 190000 on the clock of his 7 plate M59 berlingo and still going strong

Yep. But thats not the history most vans will have. I’ll probably be acquiring a Berlingo soon but its one thats been in the family since new. I think they’re great engines but I’d have to accept I was taking a chance on one if I didn’t know its history. However as a gamble its not a bad one – the cost if its did lunch its turbo isn’t really more than the saving you make over the non turbo or petrol versions in a year – you could afford to **** a turbo every year and still be saving money. 🙂

However compared to care your pals berlingo gets …… my current DTI engined Astra van has been largely neglected – ex fleet from a construction company, several owners since, came with no service history 5 years ago and has had an oil and filter change once a year (and no special instructions) since then (approx 15 – 20k annually and I forgot to service it this year )and is otherwise ignored and is now 12 years old and also at 190k. And perfectly reliable. Thats the life most £1k vans will have had – some engines can live with that better than others.

My crappy French van is far better than the vw golf tdi my gf drives. The golf cost more to buy and costs more to fix and needs fixing more often and is going rusty ( common vw audi front wings ).

Remind me again why French stuff is rubbish

Aye, at that price point, it’s a gamble.
But use it for a year until your business gets established, if it passes another mot use it another year or chop it in and you’ll likely get the purchase price back, if not scrap it and treat it like the cheapest rental ever

I did this for a while cheap vans as a second vehicle. Cheap vans are cheap as they have usually had a very hard life and become expensive to repair and run. I now buy large unfashionable estate cars instead, Rover 75, Mazda 6, Honda Accord etc. They have normally been owned by old men who have them from new and have had them serviced when due on the dot

I’ve had both the Berlingo van (2 of) and Partner car variant.

From my experience, if regularly serviced both the 1.9d and 2.0 Hdi will run and run, it is the electrics that tend to go and door locks.

If you don’t mind the looks, i’d go for the car variant, less likely to have been trashed, plus you can take out the double seat in rear, leaving the single and have a 3 seater where you can fit 3 bikes in without removing wheels. Plus even the 2.0 Hdi is pretty cheap to insure as they are mostly driven by 84 year olds.

The guys talking about mk1 Dispatch/Expert/Scudos know the score. The 1.9 and 2.0HDI engines run forever and they’re galvanised so very few have rust issues. Bought my current Dispatch for a grand with a full tank of diesel and it’s reliable, cheap to run and can easily fit 3 bikes and 3 people. It hasn’t got power anything so no electrical issues, only problems have been the usual door handle problems which aren’t hard to sort out if you have half a mechanical brain.

On citroen/ Peugeot /Fiat door lock issues, it’s seldom the lock, but a worn key. An experienced locksmith can make an educated guesstimate of the original key blade profile and fine tune the cut on the vehicle.
Chris /Rob at Olympic Lock & Safeguards are my go to guys

Thanks for all the replied on this! It’s made for some interested reading.

I think we have however had a slight change of plan…
After going a test driving / looking round at a few Citroens and Renaults they didn’t quite meet our (probably too high) expectations. And I think we have decided to spend a little bit more cash, on something newer and ‘nicer’.

Now looking at 2010 (ish) Ford Transit Connect, or Renault Kangoo.
Feel free to criticize this as much as you want..

Any advice again would be great.. Seemingly as we raise the price to 3/4K the choice gets much much larger!

Ulysse – I never did hear from your mate with the Citroen?

depends in what way they didnt meet your standards.

a £1000 van id expect to have some small issues regardless of brand but id want a 12 month ticket and id be happy to get a year out it tbh.

3-4k should buy you something that runs for a good time.

ive had 7 years out my pug i bought for 3500 @ 3 years old with 38k on the clock- its now at the region you have been looking at and it has its issues but its now 10 years old with 110k on the clock and not an easy life.

on transit connects check seriously for rust on the undersides . wings , sills and subframes/body mounts.

Not going to talk about renaults – never been a fan.

He’s still got it, he’s just been doing loooooong days so expect he’s getting home and crashing…

He’s called ian, 07979681706 if you want to contact him direct

I’ve had a Kangoo for the past couple of years, and it’s been brilliant.
It’s the 1.5dci, and I’ve put 40k miles on it (now on 70k) and pretty much all it’s needed are the usual service items- filters, oil, pads, wheel bearings, now done belts and water pump too.
I get well over 50mpg out of it, even loaded up for trips away with a kayak on the roof.
Not the most luxurious or refined, but I’d have another.