High mileage?

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dwi

dwi

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Would you buy a 3.5 ton van with almost 200,000 miles on the clock? Looks good in every other way and will obviously get it checked by a mechanic but don't want to waste several hundred pounds on a mechanic if its definitely a bad idea.
 
Commercial vehicles are built to do high mileages, so that is not a problem in itself. Factors like how well it has been maintained, lots of short journeys, or been kept near the sea (salt air) are more important that total mileage.
 
I would but D has expensive tastes and won't travel in trailers
grin.gif
 
ummm... no i dont think i would. How old is the chassis??? How recently was the cam belt changed? do they have service history? What is the chassis?

to be honest there are lots out there that dont have such a high milage...
 
No service history, chassis is an N reg LDV.

The thing is that the last one I looked at had only 56,000 miles but turned out to be fit only for scrap. This one is in much better nick, no obvious rust and the horsebox area is almost new with a nice new floor. Ideally it would be the condition of this one with the mileage of the last one but its never that straightforward is it?
 
no, it really isnt straightforward, a bit of a hassle really! Do you know what it was before a horsebox? as if they are just motorway miles you might be ok. hmm i dont know, its a bit of a risk tbh. If you plan to sell it on at any point it will be very hard. The thing is, too low a milage are a bit suspect, but you dont want too high either!
 
I have a LDV (P reg) will need to check miliage but think its done about 170,000 miles (will need to check). Mine was a delivery van running up and down the motorway before conversion. It runs like a dream and start 1st time (mechanically apparently its fine). So might be O.K.
 
my trusty mechanic say's boxes can do around 300,000 miles before being made redundant. so although the box your looking at has done under this i'd consider factors like are you going to sell it in the future or run it into the ground- if you plan to sell it will anyone buy it with higher mileage / will you get what you paid for it? also as people have already said is it mechanically sound, what was it used as before etc.
 
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