right then i want to buy myself a van and ive got some questions which hopefully the collective will be able to help me on.
firstly ive got about £3000 (not much more) to spend on the van itself (try not to temp me into spending much more) and im expecting my insurance to be about another £1000 ontop of that, as im only 23 and only had my license for nearly 2 years an this will be my first vehicle that im the first named driver on..
so hopefully with this limited amount of money im hoping to be able to get something which will tick all the boxes!
size wise: something like a Vito, transporter, transit etc
at least 3 seats ideally the option of having a rear row of seats can be pulled in an out.
best mileage for my money etc..
road tax: now this is one that is confusing me….
question is… is it just off the CO2 emissions or do the number of seats make a difference. as in if it has 5 seats is it classed as a car with a big engine and therefore the tax goes up. if it only has 3 seats its just a van and the tax is almost fixed
ive got to live with this van so i obviously dont want to feel like im being stung every year.
LEZ… i dont go to London regularly but i do sometimes visit family down in surbiton (kingston) just on the inside of the M25.. anyway will i get stung by driving a van this close to london within the LEZ?

thanks in advanced
have any of you got any advice on what i should/ should not get?
or any good deals going.. i live up in sheffield and visit nottingham regularly

cheers

Pete Crawforth
(i apologise for my language)

So..

Buying a van eh.

Look for the basics with van driving.

1. It MUST be white
2. A copy of last weeks sun on the dashboard.
3. Empty coffee cups strewn throughout the interior
4. No signage. God forbid somebody knows who you work
5. Remove accelerator, replace with a switch. Obviously the switch alternates between full throttle and Full throttle. (Yes. Thats full throttle.)
6. Remove indicators. You wont be needing these.

As you were..

Transits are a bit bigger than vitos and Vws. If you are wanting to seat 3 in the front its going to be pretty intimate in a vito. But I drive both regularly and I don't think a vito feels much smaller on the road, even though it carries a lot less.

There are loads more transits to choose from and at better prices than either vitos or transporters, and at £3000 you'll have stacks available.

5 seats in a van is pretty much a fantasy, unless you strike very lucky, fitting the extras yourself is a no-no, you'll get into all sorts of insurance woes. There are vans that have had a second row of seat factory fitted, but they are rare and there will be you and every other biker, surfer, film crew dude and all the others that want a van but want their van to be like a car chasing them.

Think about what you really need a van for and what you really need the seats for. Would an estate car or a berlingo do the job well enough?

i've thought about that but i will need the space a van offers..

if i were to find a van with factory fitted seats does it mess the road tax up?
and are there different tax brackets for vans of certain age reading other forums 2003 seems to be a year that makes a difference.. though i doubt i'll be getting anything that 'new'

I don't actually know whether the seats are an issue or not. By now anyone selling a vehicle will probably have had to renew the tax since the new rules came in, so whatever the seller is paying to tax thats what you'll pay, so ask them.

I thought 2001 was the threshold so was expecting a hike in costs for my sprinter from that year but it didn't happen.

Something worth looking at perhaps…… Vitos are available as quite luxurious 7 seaters, bogglingly expensive when new but the price plummets: my 2001 sprinter cost me 3.5k two years ago, but you can pick up 2001 vitos that cost around 40k in the showroom for the same price. The seats all slide, flip and remove, so lots of options, but as I say, a fair bit smaller, and I'd expect the insurance on them to really hurt.

Surbiton/Kingston is outside the LEZ, but it doesn't apply to vans anyway.

£3000 to spend as said before will get you loads of transits to choose from although steer away from royal mail transits, you may have to pay more to get a transporter and vito that hasn't had the sh*t kicked out of it.

For all of these don't expect the mileage to be low and look for private sellers as you won't have to pay VAT. As for vans that have another row of seats factory fitted, some insurance companies may look upon this as an opportunity to fleece you for more money.

are there any recommendations on places to look for private sellers?

I'm afraid its into the likes of autotrader, there are usually a few around, there are a few dealers that sell vans VAT free as well. Be prepared to look far and wide.

I live around Kingston and found a van to my liking(vauxhall Vivaro) in Brighton 60 miles away.

Autotrader is where it all happens. Keep an eye on VAT. Van owners who are themselves VAT registered will have to charge VAT on the sale too, even if its a private sale, so check and check twice whether the price you are talking about includes VAT or not. At your budget it could put nearly £500 on top of the advertised price

Theres nothing wrong with paying vat if the all-in price is the right price for you though

If you go for aftermarket seats, there are firms that will install them for you, which gets rid of that nagging feeling about whether the seatbelts will actually work, or just pull out of the floor!

If you go for the seats, budget for a window or two as well.

The Transits are fine to drive but the Vauxhall Vivaro and Primastar/trafic) is ahead in terms of refinement/handling, though its a bit smaller. I had the smallest engined Vivaro about 3 years ago and it was slower than my humungous twin wheel luton Transit I have now, which is only 100ps. It wasn't even nippy at slow speeds, but as you got towards 50mph it was a real chore on any sort of incline. So get a quicker one if possible!

cheers for the advice.. nice one
any other gems out there?

Yes ….. be aware that vans are governed by different speed limits on A roads and Dual Carriageways

Ok emissions wise doesn't relate to vans of the age you'll be buying it's a fixed rate based on load generally of around 190 a year. Having rear seats very rarely makes a difference to road tax, there are a small number of crew cab vans which get classified as cars (generally due to being privately registered not company among other things as I understand) but these are rare. Just check the v5 to make sure.

Rear seats are nice if they are removable but a bit of a hassle if not. They are very easy to get fitted to pretty much any van, budget around £600 for a new fixed pair. Some insurance companies don't like this but most are fine as long as they are professionally installed and you have the certificate. Try NFU (national farmers union) and CIS (co operative) for private van policies. NFU were cheapest (from everyone) for me for years.

At your budget I'd stay away from transporters as the residuals are just too high so anything you can afford will be high miles and pretty old. Mark 1 vitos rust very badly and are shockingly built (especially interiors) at that sort of money look into transits. Common, not much cred, but anyone can repair them, you can be fussy about condition as there are so many around. Also condsider the fiat scudo, peugeot expert, citroen despatch collection. These are the smallest 3 seat vans available. The vauxhall vivaro, renault trafic, nissan primastar group are also worth a look. The only common fault with these is gear boxes so walk away if anything feels notchy or odd. Both of the last 2 sets are made in 1 factory with the same engines and key parts with only cosmetic differences.

I'm also in Sheffield and have done quite a bit of van selling/buying over the years so if you want any further advice drop me a line.

My van is 3.5t and £185 tax for 12 months. If it was taxed as a private vehicle I suspect it would be up in the top brackets with the big 4×4's.

thanks guys..
ive been looking at the 'fiat scudo, peugeot expert, citroen despatch collection' that you mention but they seem to cost the same, tax the same, and have similar mpg to much larger vans so im just thinking i may as well go for a larger vehicle.

What are you actually using the van for day to day?

If a transit isn't too big how about a Sprinter?

I'm a VW man myself but for £3k in a transporter you're not gonna get that much. The 2.5tdi is the one to buy, the 1.9 is a slug. I'd expect at least 150k miles for that sort of money as they seem to be popular at the moment and every surfer and biker in the land seems to be chasing after them. However, It's not uncommon to see 250k miles on these vans as they seem to last well provided they've been well serviced.

I'd not touch a Vito with a very long pole, go to bed one night it'll have rusted away by the morning!

Try LDV for bargain motoring, not pretty to look at but very cheap for what you get.

Other than that the Scudo etc are nice vans to drive and have there are lots around to make sure you get a nice one.

Vivaro etc is also ok but I'm not a fan of the way it drives, my dad has one since new and has not had many issues with it, he likes it.

The new Despatch is the worst vehicle our company has ever run. Probably out of your budget, but if anyone else is considering it, just don't!

i gather that not all vitos are bad as far as body work goes..
an i definitely don't need anything larger than a transit.

looking around it would seem that you get more for your money with the vitos that are around though i havent managed to find any transits yet that seem worth a look.

HEREis a link you may like to look at

May be more than your budget though…….Sorry! 😕

I use a vito for work. I get a brand new one every 2 years, on my 4th one at the mo.
Only had 1 breakdown in over 6 years. There is no contest in my eyes, but then I don't have to part with my hard eaned cash!!

Hope this helps….good luck

Hope to be getting my van on Sat 🙂

My limited knowledge runs to this:

Mrs BP limited my search to German vans and was firmly against Transits so;

Vitos with metallic paint last longer. Early ones are FWD so better if you're not loading them up all the time. Engines use chains not cam belts sa last a lot longer. You can get 'Dualliners' with the second row of seats factory fitted. Vitos tend to have more 'stuff' in them, aircon, drivers and passenger air bags etc.

VW T4 will cost about 1500 more than the same Vito. Will have better body work and the service history is very important. There are a lot of crappy ones around. Far less 'stuff' in them.

Any van can have seats fitted in the rear, if done by a certified garage then they're OK with insurance companies. Budget £660 in a VW T4 for a double seat trimmed to match the front seats. Side windows fitted are around £300 a pair, rear windows the same regardless of van.

You can check MOT results and mileage history for any vehicle here VOSA Site if the seller will give you the last MOT number.

Good luck.