would high mileage put you off a 3.5t box?

sam-b

sam-b

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By high I mean 270k! But is apparently well maintained and taxed and mot'd. Its a p reg Renault master
 
Its reasonably priced, my mechanic is going to look at it, but my dad was banging on at me that the pistons etc could be knackered with that sort of mileage
 
When I looked at a 3.5t box my mechanic told me not to touch a high mileage one, but was much more comfortable with higher mileage on a 7.5t?!
 
My husbands a mechanic and when I was looking I came across one with mileage that high but he said no way! I suppose it depends a bit on how much it is reflected in the price. I would hope a lot!
 
I wouldn't touch it with a barge-pole tbh! I bought an R reg Renault Master horsebox with 100,800 miles on the clock, a year later it failed it's mot & the garage said it would be better to put a new engine in (which we did) mega expense!! At the end of the day it's an old van, what would it's value be without it being a horsebox? You might be better investing in something younger...good luck!
 
sam-b said:
By high I mean 270k! But is apparently well maintained and taxed and mot'd. Its a p reg Renault master
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not realy on something that age at least you know its genuine !!! however its much better to judge it on how it goes and condition with older and high mileage, Im more worryed by things with about 100 k on them as most vans will run without problems to about 100 k then money needs to be spent on major parts, gearboxes and clutches etc so you might find the one you are looking at has had a few new bits , remember these little lorrys are built more like cars and no way as well made or strong the big 7.5 ton and bigger lorrys, 270k miles would be fairly low for one ... there is good chance its as good as one with half the mileage but make sure you have it vetted ....
 
Ours is a Movano (same as renault). Its 2004 plate with 187,000 on the clock.
Runs perfectly, emissions test was perfect at last MOT. Doesn't smoke etc.
All that said, prior to us it was one owner from new with full service history.
Given it probably wont clock up much more than 3,000 miles a year now I'm not worried about it.
 
PaddyMonty said:
Ours is a Movano (same as renault). Its 2004 plate with 187,000 on the clock.
Runs perfectly, emissions test was perfect at last MOT. Doesn't smoke etc.
All that said, prior to us it was one owner from new with full service history.
Given it probably wont clock up much more than 3,000 miles a year now I'm not worried about it.
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I found similar when I was looking for a 3.5 tonne chassis to convert. I started off thinking anything over 50-70k was high (this was for a 5 year old van) and soon realised anything under 150k was "low" when you start looking at commercials. In end I found one with 97k on the clock, and decided that was fine since it would be doing such low mileage with me once a horse box. That was after I'd found one with 60k on the clock, which when i did the AA check had been clocked to the tune of 70k miles (i.e. should have been 130k!).

Personally, between 100-150k i'd be happy with but more than that i'd be worried about. That's based on nothing at all really though, I'm pretty sure all engines are equally likely to blow up once over a certain mileage :0(
 
Mine is 2002 with 226k - it was an ocado delivery vehicle so extremely well serviced then converted to horsebox - doesn't bother me as I would rather have something that has high mileage and looked after than low mileage and left to stand around and not used.
 
On a chassis of that age I'd be worried about the bodywork! I have heard that older Masters are bad for rusting! And lots of bits are bound to be approaching the end of their useful life!

I've got an 05 Movano which has done nearly 200,000, I had a new engine in it when it started its new life as a horsebox but a few other bits and bobs have gone like the brake callipers and the clutch, so if you do buy be prepared to have to replace a lot of bits!
 
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