Ideas on Van purchase please

martin1018

Could I please ask for advice on the purchase of a van.

I'm in the process of starting a new business. I need to buy a specific vehicle, a Ford Transit Long Wheel Base, High Roof van, with twin rear doors and side loading door. List price is about £26k + VAT

I need to get one that is as new as possible as I will be installing a conversion in it, which is unable to be removed later, and expensive at £10k+:eek: so need to get a vehicle with a potential long life.

The conversion cost is non-negotiable so I need to keep the van costs as low as possible, whilst getting a van in as good a condition as possible, with mileage as low as possible. The sort of ideal we're all after I'm sure!

I've thought of trying pre-registered, lots recently sold out at about £14.5K + VAT - still too high a cost really.
Looked on e-bay this evening and found some on there with 30K mileage or so for about £10k + VAT but I'm unsure of buying such a high value item there

Any ideas???

I've found such useful info on here about all manner of things (very interesting web developer yesterday for instance) and just hoped someone may come up with recommendations for suppliers or suggestions of new places to look.

Thank you for any ideas.

scbk

Just out of interest, what kind of conversion is it, and can it be done diy or using 2nd hand parts?

pitkin2020

is the conversion spefic for the transit?? if not id look more towards merc sprinter or the large VW (name i forget at the moment, largest one they do)
As for buying of ebay dont be scared as you will obviously go and see it before actually commiting to buy and if anything is misdiscribed you can walk away its no different to buying a car/van from the autotrader, just dont pay via paypal and with all cars/vans of that value get it HPI checked

martin1018

scbk - The conversion I am buying is fully professionally fitted, an all-in-one job which is really the business. The conversion is for dog grooming and as all our work will be conducted in the vehicle I really want it to be first class. Previous customers I have spoken to, independantly of the conversion company, really rave about it, and having seen one I can see why. It is a good job, and I know what I'm getting for my money and am prepared to pay it.

So unfortunately I can't do it DIY or cheaper, as much as I would like to.

So to some extent the van costs have got to give a bit.

Thanks for your interest.

martin1018

Pitkin2020 - The conversion is specific to either the Transit or Citroen Relay. Out of the two the Ford wins on parts / availability / ease of servicing etc.
Thanks for your comments on E-bay. Most of those I'm looking at are actually from dealers anyway so there should be no concerns there. HPI is a certainty.

Thanks for your input.

pitkin2020

it sounds like your working the wrong way round to me, the van is going tobe the main asset to your business without you wont be able to travel to your appointments/locations so that is where i would be spending the main part of my budget, its ok having this great conversion but if you have bought an unreliable van with no warranty it would be useless.
As the conversion your looking at isnt going to be interchangeable you are going to want a van that has the best warranty money can buy which i would say your only going to get from a brand new one with manufacturers warranty
Its only my opinion

martin1018

Pitkin2020 - You're not wrong.

This is the dilemma I'm struggling with. I'm just hoping for some-one to point me in the direction of a way to find, preferably a pre-reg, cheaper than the 14.5K + VAT.

Thanks again.

Kilty_2

That's nearly half list price - I really don't think you're going to find cheaper....

I know it's a buyers market at the moment and all that, but come on.

pitkin2020

hmmm i dont know what to add really, a couple of options
A trade in, do you have a car you can trade in against one from a dealer (ford)?
Phone around and see if any have ex demo's in stock? you would have to phone high and low though
Auctions, you may be able to pick one from a liquidated company through the auctions?

Or is there no way to save money on the conversion, a deal to be done with them maybe or leaving something out from the conversion that you could either do without for now or something you can add in cheaper yourself, or maybe if you did some of the prep work yourself if you have the skills might save a few quid??

pitkin2020

the only other option is maybe a lease hire??

Kilty_2

pitkin2020 wrote: »

the only other option is maybe a lease hire??

I'd think this would be a struggle if they're converting it for specialist needs.

There may be companies out there that would lease a pre-converted van but it'll be expensive and I doubt they'd do it for a single vehicle based operation, more likely to insist on a small fleet.