Im in the market for a small cheap van until my car lease runs out next year and I go for something bigger to hold onto for longer.

I’ve been scouring Gumtree and autotrader constantly and I saw an ad on Gumtree last night that ticked all the boxes. Right price, low mileage, full service history, tax and mot.

Sent the guy a text to ask a couple of questions. His replies are a bit cagey so I googled his number. Looks as though he’s a pretty regular car seller despite appearing to be a private seller. He’s also given me an address to see the van and its a car repair place in a pretty dodgy area.

Typing that out has probably answered my question, but does this sound dodgy? Heard horror stories of dealers masquerading privately, and the fact its a body shop is even more concerning

leg it

Yep,leg it! Scumtree might not be the best place to look.

Put up his number so we can all text him – scammers love that shit

Sorted

Why wouldnt you look at it ?

I wouldnt turn up holding folding but wouldnt bother me to look at it if everything else is right.

If things didnt add up when i was looking at it i would walk…

How cheap is “cheap”?
If we are only talking a few hundred quid then as long as it has a years ticket and isn’t obviously falling to bits then bid low and see what happens.
If you’re looking at more than a grand then run away fast!

Oh and vans don’t get written off as cat c or cat d, so be very very careful when buying second hand vans!

How cheap is “cheap”?

2006 transit connect
78,000 miles
Full service history
£2k

Run away…

Buy a Toyota hiace, won’t go wrong

The van I had before the van I have now I bought from Irish travellers, it was the best van I ever had, did not cost me a penny in six years ,except tyres.

I must have seen about 30 vans before, every time before going I would ask on the phone was it tidy, as my boss said he did not want me turning up at customers houses in a heap.
Everyone always said yes, I would then drive miles before being confronted by a pile of shit.

This was before I had the power of the internet and was all from small ads.

“Hi I’m calling about the Van/Car”
“Which one”
“-click”

Dealers pretending to be private to get rid of crap with no comeback. Look if you want but go with low expectations and no cash.

now i know its a reasonably old transit id walk…. but only because its a transit

the seller does not bother me – nor the fact that hes in a dodgy part of town…so long as its HPI clear and has all the keys/paperwork.

some of the best cars ive bought have been from the dodgiest of areas.

how ever if you dont know your way round a car and are buying because of the colour/brand/clean interior this method is not for you.

I’m a pretty experienced mechanic so know how to spot a dog but I’m more concerned about it being an accident damaged dog, plus if anything did go wrong I have no recourse as he’s a trader selling privately

again as long as hes not looking for dealer money i have no issue with that. Ive bought this way in the past – basically he was a car dealer who took a van as a trade and wanted nothing to do with it on his lot as he was a car dealer. sold it off cheap for cash as a private sale.

8 years later its still trucking.

as for accident damaged – again id hope id spot it and its repairs when im looking… if i couldnt spot it , it really wouldnt bother me – it would have to be pretty shonky repairs to fall apart in the time your looking to keep it – filler and rattle can spray jobs have lasted longer than most of the cars ive done it too on my drive (my cars go to the scrap yard when im finished) but i got 3 years out of a rattle can and filler job on a fiesta and the repaired area still looked good when i scrapped it….. shame about the rest of the car !

It looks very tidy though the ad states is has some dents and dings. I can’t see any in the pictures. He also listed it as a white van and the pics show a red one. Odds on it’s a completely different van that’s for sale.

now thats a different story.

run.

van probably doesnt exist.

Sounds dodgy going by the description, but +1 to not judging a seller by the area. Best van I ever bought was a 2006 Combo from a pretty dodgy area in Glasgow. 1 owner from new (a tiler), full dealer service history with a stack of receipts. Got it for a great price and sold it a couple of years later for a profit.

A lot of traders might be in dodgy areas, but the van was bought through auction and has a decent history. Same van you would buy on a forecourt in a nicer area, but without the extra margin added onto the price.

I’m sure I saw it advertised a few weeks ago. He also appears to be running the ad for sale in different areas.

I’ve seen that a lot on Gumtree. One vehicle advertised in multiple areas. I normally avoid!

All hail the power of Google Street View. A quick check of the address he gave me throws up a bunch of cars parked outside an industrial unit. Interestingly there’s also a pretty shoddy looking van parked. When I zoom in the licence plate looks very similar to the one in the gumtree ad. The van’s clearly an ex royal mail van (hence the FSH). Looks like he’s buying ex RM vans, doing them up in his body shop then passing them off as a private sale. Cheeky bar steward.

All hail the power of Google Street View

🙂

A further google of his number shows that’s he Polish. hence the possible cagey replies (ie english not his first language).

Royal Mail vans get a lot of wear and tear from all the getting in and out.

BT ones tend to be a little better.

Oh and within 2 months the Royal Mail livery will be showing up on the paint work as the Polish wears off.

Maybe his ‘possible cagey replies’ will wear off as his Polish wears off?

Is posing as a private seller something that would interest Trading Standards?

I wouldnt touch a former RM van, well at least not by the way they are driven round here in S Wales. Constantly stopping/starting the engine to move 3/4 houses then driving like Emerson Fittipaldi, they must be knackered.

The first thing I thought when you posted a pic of a red transit connect van was it was a cleaned and polished up former RM van.
TBH Id be amazed if the mileage was that low, RM vans tend to be used quite a bit.

Oh and within 2 months the Royal Mail livery will be showing up on the paint work as the Polish wears off.

Not if it’s done properly.

You don’t put polish over the marks (that wouldn’t work at all)

You polish them out so they don’t exist anymore.

Nope, its not the royal mail livery thats problem, that paint is lovely and shiny and hasn’t suffered from UV degradation!,

Its the rest of the paint work thats been attacked by years of sun that causes the problem, it fades quicker than the paint that was under the livery!

As an ex-postie… don’t buy a RM van.

Maintenance isn’t always on schedule. Vans are hammered, especially rural delivery vehicles. My van was used 10 miles off-road 6 days a week without any mechanical sympathy.

Transit Connects are great vehicles and can certainly take a hammering – but don’t buy an ex-RM van.

Nope, its not the royal mail livery thats problem, that paint is lovely and shiny and hasn’t suffered from UV degradation!,
Its the rest of the paint work thats been attacked by years of sun that causes the problem, it fades quicker than the paint that was under the livery!

I know why they need doing, I had a commercial contracts with companies that supplied fleet vehicles to RM/Transco/British Gas/ etc.

If they are machine polished properly, any UV damage is removed (it’s in the top surface) and it will stay looking right for years.

Obviously if someone does a hodge job by hand, then slaps a load of shiny wax on top, the problems you describe will happen.

Is posing as a private seller something that would interest Trading Standards?

Only if the seller is in breach of the sale of goods act. In that case, they’d throw the book at him, even if he had no company or sole trader status.

PePPeR – Vans are written off in the same way as cars with cats a,b,c and d as normal – or they are in my experience of buying/selling etc.
I’m just wondering what you know that makes you think different?