Day van for under £6k?. where do I start ..lol

teaselMay

Ok there's one key thing you need to differentiate that will likely make a big difference to your search. You want seats that you can travel in in the front obviously, but the seats that you want in the back you don't want to travel in. That difference is crucial because of the rules, insurance and safety of seats for travelling in.

I've not properly sorted my Expert yet for nightmare neighbour reasons but even as it is it would meet what you're after.

There really aren't that many types of van around these days. For example the 2020 Expert is the same as a Dispatch, Vivaro, erm couple of others I think too. Generation before that the Trafic, Vivaro and Nissan equivalent were the same van.

When I was looking my budget was 7K and I could have bought what I have, a 2020 commercial van Expert in reasonable condition or a 2013 I think it was Expert Tepee (the car version) in pretty poor condition. Paying someone to add opening windows to the sliding doors, the only bit I'm not doing myself, cost about £600.

smallzoo2

Again… poor explaination on my part

Majority of the time the rear seats would not be used but sometimes our daughter would come with us and her rotweiler…

teaselMay

It would be easier to find a van with three seats in the front for travel, ie the driver and a double bench, and then the back seats not needing to be travel seats. Not impossible to have travel seats in the back but it narrows your market on a tight budget

smallzoo2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82005154#Comment_82005154

That's actually an excellent point..not sure which small vans etc have that

teaselMay

most of them do, some only have two in the front but a standard van most commonly comes with driver and double bench seat.

smallzoo2

Small vans like caddys etc don't but I guess you mean bigger vans.. thanks though

QrizB

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82005303#Comment_82005303

All the vans you mentioned at the start do:

Vauxhall Vivaro (aka Renault Trafic), Mercedes Vito/Viano and the Hyundai i800… why havent I included the VW Transporter

And so does the Peugeot Expert / Citroen Dispatch / Fiat Scudo, the van that teaselMay drives.

smallzoo2

Thank you for that

Goudy

Van's come in all shapes, sizes and configurations.

To use Ford as an example of sizes, you have the Transit van (the big one), The Transit Custom (the middle one, that everyone thinks is a Transit but it's a Transit Custom) the Transit Connect (the smaller MPV based one). You also might get versions of hatchbacks, like the Fiesta in tiny van versions.

Some or all will come in either Panel, Crew or Kombi versions.

Panel is just that. Two/three seats up front and a load space.

If you need seating and space, look for crew vans.

These generally have two rows of seats in a three and three layout. The second row usually fold up or come out all together with the release of a few quick catches. They may or may not have side windows in the middle panels, but the rear third is load area.

Kombi's usually have three rows of seats, like a mini bus but not at well trimmed and are glassed all the way around, but you could remove whichever rows if needed. These will be more pleasant to be in and drive due to all the windows.

You might also find full mini bus or Tourers. These are usually better equipped and trimmed and far more expensive.

Just a word of note, most vans will be liable for VAT on top of the price. So there's a 20% chunk a private buyer can say goodbye to.

There is another option worth considering if it's a daily driver. Something like an imported MPV like the Nissan Elgrand and Toyota Alphard.

Up unitl recently I ran a Mercedes Vito Dualiner (Crew van) to facilitate a hobby . It was an older one but it was cheap as chips and did everything asked of it and more.

knightstyle

Neighbour has a Ford Smax and has the easily removed seats permanently in their garage.