Have I been mis-sold a van?

mgdavid

first things first - did you get an HPI check done, or did the seller show you an HPI printout? If not, why not?

colino

I'd be more suspicious of a 10 year old commercial vehicle that didn't have body repairs, they are workhorses after all. As insurance is high for commercials, even car-derived vans, don't fall for the low mileage being down to a previous owner who used it to take his wog dogging. Commercials generally run up most of their lives and mileage in the first three years, just when they would be traded and first clean MOT issued.

fivetide

mgdavid wrote: »

first things first - did you get an HPI check done, or did the seller show you an HPI printout? If not, why not?

first things first - from the first post:

the damage was not recorded with insurance

So van seems HPI clear.

Cbeaux

arcon5 wrote: »

Put it through an MOT? You'll then know for sure if it's road worthy in the eyes of the law. At the moment, suggesting it's potentially not roadworthy is a major overreaction... unless you mean unroadworthy when it comes to you selling it on, in which case it has nothing to do with the historic repair work, cars/vans/all vehicles do become unroadworthy over time, which is why we maintain them.

Just on my way to see a local MOT tester. Suppose they can perform a mock test and he's a friend of my brother so he might take 5 mins looking over the van panel wise.

Thanks for the last piece of advise also, but I'm aware vehicles need maintaining. 😄

Cbeaux

facade wrote: »

The best advice I can offer is to get it independently inspected, emphasise that you believe it has been in a severe accident, and you want to know if it is safe.

This will cost up to £200 I believe, but for peace of mind it will be money well spent An MOT will not look for misaligned subframes etc, only glaring faults.
My brother bent his car in the middle once, it MOTd fine, because it roller tested ok, but on the road it kept tying to drive into the hedge.

When you have the report, you can then go back to the trader with ammunition rather than stand there while he tells you that Ford are so poor at assembling vans that they all look like that.

Or if it is pronounced safe, you can keep it and chalk it up to experience, you have the report to pass on when you come to sell it.

All sounds fair enough.

I sort of already decided that if it is safe I'll utilise the experierence and learn from it. I got a friend to drive behind me today after he mentioned checking for chassis alignment. The term he used was 'crabbing'. It appears the van tips over to the left slightly when on a flat even road. The inspection, as you suggested would highlight this.

Cbeaux

mgdavid wrote: »

first things first - did you get an HPI check done, or did the seller show you an HPI printout? If not, why not?

HPI clear by dealer (experian) and HPI clear by my own check.

Cbeaux

fivetide wrote: »

first things first - from the first post:



So van seems HPI clear.

The van is HPI clear.

facade

Cbeaux wrote: »

All sounds fair enough.

I sort of already decided that if it is safe I'll utilise the experierence and learn from it. I got a friend to drive behind me today after he mentioned checking for chassis alignment. The term he used was 'crabbing'. It appears the van tips over to the left slightly when on a flat even road. The inspection, as you suggested would highlight this.

"Crabbing" is when the car goes sideways, or more realistically goes forwards with the longitudinal axis of the car out of line with the road-you have to keep the wheels turned slightly to run straight. If you drive behind it it appears to be turned left or right.

Tipped to one side isn't a problem, most vehicles do this, you notice it more with a high vehicle like a van or 4x4.

Jamie_Carter

facade wrote: »

"Crabbing" is when the car goes sideways, or more realistically goes forwards with the longitudinal axis of the car out of line with the road-you have to keep the wheels turned slightly to run straight. If you drive behind it it appears to be turned left or right.

Tipped to one side isn't a problem, most vehicles do this, you notice it more with a high vehicle like a van or 4x4.

Although tipping to one side could indicate that the suspension has been replaced on one side.

colino

Can't think of any van, even a little connect, that doesn't look lop-sided, because of its slab sides, following the camber of the road.