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Buying a banger on a budget
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Is it possible to buy and run a used van for six months for under El ,000?
Will Shiers found the answer as part of our Desperate Van Challenge.
The influx of migrant workers into the UK is boosting demand for used vans. Eastern European tradesmen will be able to afford new vans in the. not-too-distant future, but for now most are looking at the sub-f1000 sector. As a result, cheap, reliable workhorses are scarce.
But is it possible to buy, tax, insure and run a van for six months for under l,000?
We allowed £600 for tax, insurance and fuel, leaving us with just 1400 to spend on the van. As we would have nothing left for repairs or new tyres our purchase would have to be roadworthy and totally reliable. What's more, it would have to be road-legal with at least six months' MoT.
Our first stop was the classifieds on www.roadtransport.com, but the vans here were beyond our price range. We next checked out the auctions, but although we saw a variety of candidates passing under the hammer for a couple of hundred quid, we weren't tempted. Although they came with MoTs, most looked and sounded like they were in their death throes.
The classifieds in the local paper yielded nothing suitable, so we logged onto eBay.Although it is possible to get stung on the internet auction site, if you use it wisely you can pick up a bargain. IN. The keys here are to choose a vehicle with a thorough description, from a seller with plenty of positive feedback who is not hundreds of miles away.
We were attracted to a 1993 Leyland Daf 200-Seriesa twoowner ex-Post Office van with plenty of history.The description seemed honest, admitting that the paintwork was faded, that the bodywork had more holes than a balding hedgehog and that the Perkins diesel smoked on start-up.
But it stressed the van's reliability, and that was what we wanted to hear. It also had eight months MOT and four good tyres.We placed a maximum bid of £400; the next day it was ours for a nail-biting £398.
The description turned out to be been spot on.The van was tatty, noisy, and not particularly attractive -but it was ready to work for its keep with no additional expense.
Over the next six months it was used on a regular basis, mainly for moving furniture, taking rubbish to the dump and doing the odd car-boot sale. it proved perfectly reliable, with the only expenses being £96.25 to the Chancellor for six months' road tax, £10 for two bottles of T-Cut (though we could only be bothered to clean half the van). and £30 for some gangsta' hubcaps.
Nice and thrifty Over the 1,000 miles we covered it consumed five litres of engine oil and sipped its way though just £110 of diesel, equating to an impressive 40mpg.
Having cleared out the garage, loft and spare room, and helped a friend move house, sadly it was time for the Leyland Daf to go.We contemplated putting it through an MoT, but decided against it because it seemed too much hassle. Besides, it had failed the last eight MoTs in a row, so the chances of a first-time pass The van would need a new front number plate, there were chips in the windscreen and who knows what else? So we decided to try our luck on eBay, selling it with two months of MoT remaining.
An honest description, plenty of decent photographs, and the result was a winning bid of £402 i4 more than we'd paid for it. • • To find out more about our Desperate Van Challenge, go to wnwoadtransport. cont/blogs/truckand-van-blog/ and search for 'desperate'. To find a vehicle on the Global Commercials site you can view the entire stocklist or search it by manufacturer and price. Alternatively the website has a 'f ind me a vehicle option -f ill in your contact details and the type of vehicle you are looking for and let the dealer do the legwork.
According to the site, Global "benef tts from purchasing large fleets of used Daf trucks direct from major UK operators". This is reflected in the stocklist, which is dominated by Oaf tractor units. However, all the other major manufacturers are also represented.
Unusually for a dealer website, Global Commercials gives prices for many of its vehicles. Other details available include registration date, annual test date, mileage and, of course make, model and specification. A thumbnail image is provided for most vehicles; click on this to see a commendably clear and large photograph.
It would be nice to be able to search the stocklist by more than just manufacturer and price; many other dealer sites let you search by model: body type, or keyword. Also, we would prefer to have more than one photo available for each vehicle. But apart from these niggles, this is a well thought-out website.
Among the features we like is the ability to select a number of different vehicles to go into your 'shopping list'. You can then use the form to express your interest in all these vehicles in one go useful for big spenders. Global's on-site workshop can handle repairs, bodywork alterations and chassis mods; the firm also offers finance and export services. To find out more about these or any of the vehicles in stock, fill in the 'free call back' form on the website and you'll be contacted.