Best Van under £4,000?

It’s a bad time to buy a van. So much demand.

Regardless narrow the variables,

FSH vs mileage (more service history (I.e not “some”) and more than average mileage isn’t always a bad thing

Lots of previous owners and short ownership.. Big bad clues

Research biggest issues with exact model hyper looking and if you find a good, do a HPI check and go DEEP on related clues/issues

Buy from a dealer pay their margin, buy private, don’t. Your budget I’d suggest private if you can. Find their Facebook and look em personally if you can. Some random profile with min. Info or fully private, no family photos etc.. clues

Try buy a van that’s had, at least recent, personal use, not trade use, works van. Buy the time they reach your budget they can be semi-mullered

BE AWARE. Golden rule, if it looks to good..

After all that, go see one, armed with a list on your phone of all typical issues, problems, hotspots etc. USE this list when there, it’s shocking how easy you forget when chatting.

Good luck

And btw don’t, repeat don’t cover it bike stickers. So dumb, your just advertising the bloody contents. Why people do that I don’t. Oh, I do, it’s showing off

*short WB std/low roof most vans are on the 2m mark so you can park em anywhere

Bad time to try and buy a decent £4k van - a Transit will need welding, French stuff won't need welding but will need gearbox/injectors, MB stuff will have a million miles and worn out.

Unless you absolutely 100% know your way round the oily bits of cars/vans just buy a big MPV instead - Galaxy/Sharan etc and a decent tent.

Just had a look at £4k dross on autotrader - my choice would be a Citreoen/Peugeot Expert 2.0 (avoid the 1.6). bulletproof engine, galvanized body. Will have electrical gremlins though.
Or an older Citreon relay or dispatch with the 1.9 engine. Will be glacial but reliable (ish)

£4k really doesn't get much in van world nowadays .
Got mine three years ago, LWB Transit, 6yrs old and 79k for £4.5k and that took a lot of finding then! Now 9yrs old, 105k and similar stuff is being advertised for £10-11k, it's mad.
Also, the big problem, unlike cars which people seem to sell because they fancy a change or because its three years since they bought it or whatever, the only reason people seem to sell vans is because it's ****ed
Unless you absolutely must have a van now wait for the price crash when diesel hits £5/litre....

I think that the price crash has happened. Mine had halved just now on WBAC from what it was a few months ago

For £4k Eldest_oab bought 2009 SWB mid-top Transit.
95k, we've done a lot of rust prevention and painting, and it's getting some welding done in September. Mechanically solid, I'd did need new pads and discs on the back.

He's got 'triangular' double bed in there, storage, small cooking area and garage for up to 3 bikes. Plus solar panel & battery, roof been vent etc. Even with free donations and huge amount of keeping costs down, he sunk a further £1800 into it.

It's a vehicle that is OK, but pre-pandemic would have been £2k, not £4k. And that took a lot of searching - vans are in short supply.

Pics

https://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_outandabout/albums/72177720300543524

As a van owner, enthusiast and buyer of many bangers and cheap cars, I'd echo what other people have said. You need to double your budget or buy an MPV of some kind.

As a van owner, enthusiast and buyer of many bangers and cheap cars, I’d echo what other people have said. You need to double your budget or buy an MPV of some kind.

As per the other van thread, doubling your budget still doesn't get you much... it's still a risky 150,000 mile van then.

Galaxy, voyager or i800. Can Def do those things (not at the same time without a load of fiddling thou)

Berlingo or the JDM MPVs.

Ford Galaxy isn't a bad option - ours is an 09 plate and about 165k miles on it. Just cost me £220 for service and mot. Looks like I can't financially justify getting rid of it for another year.

All the back seats fold down so it doubles up as a van when needed.

I've have slept in it, my bikes roll in without taking the wheels off.

As per the other van thread, doubling your budget still doesn’t get you much… it’s still a risky 150,000 mile van then.

That's true but I recently got lucky. I just bought a very clean Peugeot Boxer with 90k on the clock for £8000. 2 private owners traded in at a dealer.

I was bloody sick of looking by the time I found it. The best thing about buying it was that I could stop looking at ebay and autotrader all day, every day.

@sharkattack

isn't the Boxer a bit bloody massive ? They do seem great value for money in terms of a van sized van.... but they're vast.... i'd expect a bit noisy and thirsty too ?

You can most-likely get a decent medium-sized van for under £4k - but it'll be older, high-mileage and you'll have to choose very carefully (and be lucky).

Also, you're putting a reasonable amount of money into something that might end up scrapped within a few years.

My suggestion is that everyone stops buying vans until the prices get more sensible again. Are we all OK with that?

i’d expect a bit noisy and thirsty too ?

With his sound deadening in and avoiding motorway speeds, eldest's Transit just did here to Italy at 38mpg in real peace and quiet.

My dad gave me his old Hiace - 107, 185k on the clock. He was going to scrap it for 500 quid until said I'd sell it. To my suprise, similar vans were going for 4-6k on eBay. Why?

isn’t the Boxer a bit bloody massive ? They do seem great value for money in terms of a van sized van…. but they’re vast…. i’d expect a bit noisy and thirsty too ?

I bought the short wheelbase, low roof as I wanted the biggest van that I could comfortably fit on the drive at home. It's not much longer than an Octavia estate but because of the shape it feels massive in the back compared to a Vivaro/Transporter sized thing.

It's probably pretty thirsty but it's for trips away not using every day. It wasn't that loud on the motorway with the bulkhead in but when I remove that I'll be insulating and carpeting etc. Shouldn't be too bad.

Good luck. It’s not really the right time to buy a van.

Vans are selling at a premium at the mo due to things like chip shortages. Lead times on new vehicles are 6-18 months so people are either keeping what they have or selling way too high.

Also I’m really noticing the rising fuel costs with my Transit Custom compared to my wife’s medium SUV.

You could get a Berlingo L2 within your budget. Same wheelbase as the standard one but about a foot longer in the body. Mrs Davesport has one, bought new in 2014 it has genuinely been the most reliable vehicle we've owned. Plenty of room for two adults to sleep in the back & 3 DH bikes with wheels on fit easily. 3 seats in the front but it's a squeeze if you have more than 2 people. Don't know if this thing is galvanised or not but so far there's no visible corrosion on the bodywork. Easy & cheap to service. I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

Don’t know if this thing is galvanised

yep they are - my 2004 Peugeot Partner / Berlingo is remarkably rust free underneath.
IIRC all Sanev vans are galvanized (Citreon/Peugeot/Ducato/Berlingo etc)

I didn't think anything wasn't galvanised these days?

yep they are – my 2004 Peugeot Partner / Berlingo is remarkably rust free underneath.
IIRC all Sanev vans are galvanized (Citreon/Peugeot/Ducato/Berlingo etc)

Cheers RNP. Explains a lot. By comparison my mate bought a Merc van based Hymer 4wd all singing conversion. At < 3 yo there are random rust spots appearing in places on the panels. Not covered by the the original or "enhanced" warranty he bought. Don't know if this is a common occurrence.

My dad gave me his old Hiace – 107, 185k on the clock. He was going to scrap it for 500 quid until said I’d sell it. To my suprise, similar vans were going for 4-6k on eBay. Why?

Bad time to try and buy a decent £4k van – a Transit will need welding, French stuff won’t need welding but will need gearbox/injectors, MB stuff will have a million miles and worn out.

Unless you absolutely 100% know your way round the oily bits of cars/vans just buy a big MPV instead – Galaxy/Sharan etc and a decent tent.

This +1

I bought my Berlingo Oct 2020 at the height of the lockdown boredom build a microcamper bubble, for £625, and in all honesty I suspect the previous owner had traded it to the guy I bought it off expecting it to be scrapped.

Replacing it now, with 20,000 more work miles on it, and its actually quite a good spec (AC, sunroof, towbar, tinted rear windows, stereo) so everything is a downgrade would be £1600-£2000. It's not worth £1600-£2000, it just isn't. But people are prepared to pay that much because people cant get a hold of a new van, and that's having knock on effects all the way through the market to my knackered 17yr old shitbox.

I currently use it as you describe with the seats taken out (admiral are fine, other insurers may vary).

Unless you have some big trips planned imminently and the current premium is worth it for those trips (or you're going to sell it on before the prices subside) then I'd get a people carrier and pop-up tent. I did for years, just pull into car parks, throw the tent over a wall to be discreet, camp for the night and be gone at first light.

Another vote for the Ford Galaxy. Mine's an 08 plate with 160k on it. Bulletproof Peugeot diesel engine. Fold flat seats means it can be made into a van. I've slept in the back no problem and I'm 6'4".

The above two options are what I'm trying to decide between at the moment. Berlingo is cheaper in most ways, better mpg, lower tax, insurance and purchase cost. Galaxy is bigger, possibly comfier? and probably better at EU motorway speeds. I'm currently on a 2009 Mondeo with 190,000 miles. Main requirements are good bike transport, half decent mpg, cruise control and must be automatic. A half decent Berlingo looks to be about £6k whereas Galaxy's are more like £9k. Everything at £4k seems to have done a million miles or look knackered.

I didn't originally gel with it coming from a (rusted to death) LWB Transit but I love it now.

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yep they are – my 2004 Peugeot Partner / Berlingo is remarkably rust free underneath.
IIRC all Sanev vans are galvanized (Citreon/Peugeot/Ducato/Berlingo etc)

I can 2nd this, mine came up from Cornwall and judging by the state of the axle and wheels spent a lot of it's life parked by the sea. But the body is spotless.

dont forget that as a commerical vehicle your tax is going to be 300 quid a year!

I didn’t think anything wasn’t galvanised these days?

Many vans are bought by fleet buyers who only care about the bottom line cost, run the vans into the ground by drivers who dont care about them and will have quarter of a million miles on them in a year or two. They dont get chance to rust, so i guess they reckon its better to save the cost of the galvanising.

I agree though, i would be looking for something galvanised, and a bit older with lower mileage rather than younger with higher miles.

SWB Low top Boxer/Ducato woud be my aim i think, Super boxy inside as has been mentioned before, and drive like a van, but cheap to run and the square interor will make it lovely and easy to insulate, ply line and build in.