Buying a Used Van

cherylblade

Can anyone help me with a logistical nightmare, please?

I'm getting ready to buy a used van.

My plan was to buy a cheap van, drive it home and SORN it whilst I work on it.

I don't have someone that can drive me to the van, then leave me with it, so my original plan was to travel by train.

I've just been reminded that tax no longer transfers with vehicles, so I need to tax it to drive it home. The cost of taxing a vehicle JUST to get it home when I don't even want it taxed, plus all of the public transport to get to it, has ended up mounting up significantly.

In fact, it would be a lot cheaper to pay a vehicle delivery company to pick it up and bring it to me. I'd have to face the risk that the van wasn't as advertised, I guess. But then, I'm not a car/van expert anyway so that risk was already there, somewhat.

However, now I'm stuck with how to pay for a vehicle without going to see it and handing over the cash. I can't just trust them and pay up front by bank transfer, but I don't know what other option I would have.

This 'pay for tax immediately' thing has thrown a massive spanner in the works, Does anyone have a solution or am I just going to have to pay a small fortune to tax a vehicle that I didn't want to tax, for one journey?

facade

The correct thing to do is tax it for 12 months, then as soon as you can (I think you have to wait a few days, so don't buy it on the 28th) declare it SORN and get 11 months money back.
You need to have insurance to drive it anyway, and it must have an MOT or you can't tax it.



Better is if you can simply get the owner to drop it off at your house, and then you drive them home in your car with it left on the drive.


There must be a van for sale within a reasonable distance surely?

Head_The_Ball

Regarding VED (tax), if you pass an APNR camera the van will presumably still show as owned and taxed by the current owner as the DVLA records will not have updated on the day of sale.

If you get stopped by a traffic police officer then you might be in trouble.

You also need to consider insurance as driving without valid insurance is a more serious offence, and can have far more serious consequences, than driving without tax.

Can you ask the current owner to drive you and the van back to your home and complete the sale there? You could pay his/her expenses or just negotiate that as part of the deal.

wgl2014

If the van has an MOT and is properly insured I would weigh up the risks of just driving it home whilst untaxed. As above on the day of sale the database will still show it registered and taxed to the previous keeper.

ratrace

when i bought my astra what i did was, i drove in my car to the sellers house on my own 50 miles away


checked the car over took it for a drive, liked it paid cash to the seller took all paper work and keys of them, called a local recovery guy near sellers place to get it deliverd to my house sameday


total cost was £90, heck of a lot cheaper than getting it taxed and insured risk getting points and fines, not very mse yes but as i dont buy cars everyday the cost was justified


hope this helps

cherylblade

Head_The_Ball wrote: »

Regarding VED (tax), if you pass an APNR camera the van will presumably still show as owned and taxed by the current owner as the DVLA records will not have updated on the day of sale.

If you get stopped by a traffic police officer then you might be in trouble.

You also need to consider insurance as driving without valid insurance is a more serious offence, and can have far more serious consequences, than driving without tax.

Thanks. The insurance isn't a problem as I would pay for temporary insurance. Unfortunately, temporary tax doesn't seem to be an option.

But I hadn't known about the refund option mentioned above. So it's a big initial outlay but at least I could, theoretically get it back.

cherylblade

facade wrote: »

The correct thing to do is tax it for 12 months, then as soon as you can (I think you have to wait a few days, so don't buy it on the 28th) declare it SORN and get 11 months money back.
You need to have insurance to drive it anyway, and it must have an MOT or you can't tax it.



Better is if you can simply get the owner to drop it off at your house, and then you drive them home in your car with it left on the drive.


There must be a van for sale within a reasonable distance surely?

Thanks. The refund option might be best.

Unfortunately my demands are very picky for a van and I can't find many, if any, within easy distance. I'm looking at 2-3 hour drives for the ones I've seen so far.

I'm wanting a cheap van, around £500-700 absolute maximum at this point (with a budget for repairs and improvements down the line, but would rather not spend more initially), and it needs to be a small van but with full use of a flat back (no ramps or big interior wheel arches), and also automatic, which as you can imagine limits my options a lot. So I wouldn't be expecting someone to bring it to me.

It would be great to find one closer, but having been searching for a month or two now, I haven't seen many of these coming up and they've all been some distance away.

cherylblade

ratrace wrote: »

when i bought my astra what i did was, i drove in my car to the sellers house on my own 50 miles away


checked the car over took it for a drive, liked it paid cash to the seller took all paper work and keys of them, called a local recovery guy near sellers place to get it deliverd to my house sameday


total cost was £90, heck of a lot cheaper than getting it taxed and insured risk getting points and fines, not very mse yes but as i dont buy cars everyday the cost was justified


hope this helps

Thanks. That is a good option. Gives me a chance to see it for myself.

davidwood681

What is your budget?

Cheap vans that aren't knackered are a rare thing today

facade

cherylblade wrote: »

Thanks. The refund option might be best.

The reason for the 12 month tax is that a 6 month one includes a 10% surcharge that is not refunded.


Be very careful when you tax it that you are taxing it in your name- you have to use the number on the new keeper slip NOT the one on the front of the V5 (and you fill in your name and address online and tick a box that says "I am the new keeper" or "change of keeper" or similar .

If you use the number on the front of the V5, the tax is in the last keeper's name, and they will get your refund sent to them.


You only need to SORN it before the 1st of the next month to get that month refunded, but the online portal only works in office hours, so you might want to keep it taxed and temporary insured for a short time.


Be careful- if it isn't SORN'd at any time, it must be insured or you automatically get a big fine.

lincroft1710

cherylblade wrote: »

Unfortunately my demands are very picky for a van and I can't find many, if any, within easy distance. I'm looking at 2-3 hour drives for the ones I've seen so far.

I'm wanting a cheap van, around £500-700 absolute maximum at this point (with a budget for repairs and improvements down the line, but would rather not spend more initially), and it needs to be a small van but with full use of a flat back (no ramps or big interior wheel arches), and also automatic, which as you can imagine limits my options a lot.

An automatic van for £700? These are words which do not go together well.