What van to buy.

[Elsa TLC]

Way overpriced for what they are.

In fairness they hold value secondhand, but does anybody want to predict the future holding up the same? The market is changing rapidly.

Thats the conflict in my mind.

 

[Murdochcat]

Way overpriced for what they are.

In fairness they hold value secondhand, but does anybody want to predict the future holding up the same? The market is changing rapidly.

The total cost of ownership will nearly always be far lower with a transporter

 

[carmanmemoranda]

The total cost of ownership will nearly always be far lower with a transporter

2 different points of view then.

I still maintain they are vastly overpriced, at new and second hand level.

 

[Murdochcat]

2 different points of view then.

I still maintain they are vastly overpriced, at new and second hand level.

Desirable I think is the word you are looking for

I bought mine for £31k and sold it 7.5 years later for £24k

 

[carmanmemoranda]

Desirable I think is the word you are looking for

I bought mine for £31k and sold it 7.5 years later for £24k

They have their followers, I'm not 1 of them.

Are you confident the market will be the same in 5 years or so? It is changing rapidly, that's the point I'm really making. They might not be so desirable then, and then become very expensive if the 2nd hand value collapses.

 

[Mottie]

With new petrol engined vehicles being phased out, they might become more desirable…

 

[Elsa TLC]

Desirable I think is the word you are looking for

I bought mine for £31k and sold it 7.5 years later for £24k

They do hold their price and last longer than the average van. However in 10 years a near perfect low mileage VW could be just scrape value.
Or maybe not.

 

[Elsa TLC]

With new petrol engined vehicles being phased out, they might become more desirable…

This has bean one of my confused thoughts.

 

[carmanmemoranda]

With new petrol engined vehicles being phased out, they might become more desirable…

I doubt if diesels will be the same .

 

[HERTS P&D]

You are buying a van to be a work horse to earn you money, forget the resale valve, to me it doesn't come into it.

You want a work horse that is reliable.

Andy

 

[Elsa TLC]

You are buying a van to be a work horse to earn you money, forget the resale valve, to me it doesn't come into it.

You want a work horse that is reliable.

Andy

True true. But it's to replace my car for the time being and be a back up to my van.

Thats still going well. I will keep it until it retires.

 

[carmanmemoranda]

You are buying a van to be a work horse to earn you money, forget the resale valve, to me it doesn't come into it.

You want a work horse that is reliable.

Andy

Very fair point if you use it enough, and can afford to write off that value. But your accounts should do that anyway.

 

[Murdochcat]

You would be mad to buy a petrol or EV van at the moment over a diesel IMHO

 

[carmanmemoranda]

You would be mad to buy a petrol or EV van at the moment over a diesel IMHO

Really ?

Unless you are doing regular high or considerable mileage, diesel would be very bottom choice.

Local and low mileage, I'd strongly avoid Diesel.

 

[cdbe]

As always, the make and model of the car or van is irrelevant - it's the specific year, engine, gearbox and specification that makes it worth buying.

Many vehicles have fundamental flaws - in engines, gearboxes and electrical systems that are well documented when a few years old - eg ford wet belts, any number of VW diesels, anything with electronic gearboxes etc. Plus the VED for some combinations can be punative.

I can't advise on Vans, but with cars I never buy newer than 5 years old - easy to identify the lemons - even if you have bad luck with what is a generally reliable model and the engine goes bang, the scrapyards will be piled high with cheap replacements.

Currently have a 15 year old VW 1.9Tdi owned for 6 years and engine runs like new - owes us nothing if it blew up tomorrow.

Other car is an Infinity - a bastardised Merc A class - which does have some minor documented faults eg heated seats fail (ours has but I don't really care), fancy led headlights on some models - cost up to £1,000 to fix (ours had £3.99 halogen bulbs - but you still need to take the wheel off to replace) etc.
The engine is a Renault 1.5 diesel as fitted to Dacia dustbins, Nissan Quashqai etc - fairly bulletproof proof for a modern diesel but £400 quid for a replacement from a scrappy if not.

There's a myth around transporters - people run them as a hobby and (fortunately) love spending money on them.