When you’re in the market looking for a van, you need to take in to account the mileage, how long is left on the mot plus all round condition. You may start to look on websites such as Gumtree, Auto Trader or Shpock to find vans that may be suitable. You need to take in to account what size van you would need depending on the type off work you will be carrying out in it.

If you need to carry quite a bit of equipment which is easily accessible then you may wish to look for something like a Ford Transit Connect, the van has a side loading door which is ideal for easy loading and unloading plus you can easily put a roof rack on top for ladders. There should be enough room in the back for all of your materials and tools. You may wish to put an inverter in the back so you can run 230 volts in the van which will allow you to charge phones, batteries for tools and even run a kettle to make a brew.

 

If you have bought a cheaper car or van and then it breaks down on you and basically becomes worthless, there are ways you can try and make your money back. Scrap value for cars is not much at the moment so you will be lucky to get more than £70 but if you have the time and the patience you may be able to recoup some of your loss.

Many individual parts on a car are worth quite a bit more than the scrap value, so why not strip it down and sell them yourself. You might be able to get £50-£70 for one engine part in perfect working order meaning anything else you sell will be profit over the scrap value.

Even trims such as bumpers and decals can fetch between £10-£30, which very quickly adds up.

Make sure that if you are doing this then the car is off road or still taxed and insured. If you are keeping it off the road then you need to SORN the vehicle.

 

If you see an advert stating a car is sold as spares or repairs you may be shocked to find out that it doesn’t actually need that much work and can easily be repaired under the value of the car. Many people advertise cars in this way as that is the correct way to list a car that is not in a state that is legal to be driven on the road.

If it is sold as a normal used car then the seller could be taken to court over the sales of goods act, stating that everything has to be fit for purpose, if the car has major issues or is unsafe.

When buying a spares or repairs car you need to know a bit of mechanics to know how much work is going to need doing, taking a mechanic with you is the best way to do this. You may at first think that all you need is a bumper and wing, but upon closer inspection it may be that the radiator is also damaged and possibly the car is out of alignment. This will very quickly hike up the bill.

From time to time we either need or want to change our vehicle. It may be that you need to because you need a bigger car, you now require more back space and therefore require a van or that you cannot afford to run your current one. If this is the case then research is vital before making your next purchase. Make a quick list of points on a vehicle that are a must such as number of seats and then make another list of items that would be nice to have.

When arranging to view cars, go through both lists and ensure that the musts are all ticked and ideally a number of the nice to have’s too. One of the main factors that comes in to play when buying any vehicle is your budget as well. Make sure that you have an idea of a figure in mind before viewing any cars to avoid falling in love with one you simply cannot afford.

If you are thinking of buying a second hand car then you may look at sites such as Gum Tree, Auto Trader and Ebay to find what you are looking for.

Many of these sites list the technical information in a table format allowing you to quickly glance at it and find out the engine size, mileage, make and model etc but there is also an area for a personalised description. Always make sure that you read any description in detail and ideally a few times as it can be easy to scan over something that states the car needs work etc without really taking it in.

If when reading the description you find that there are problems listed but the owner has stated “very cheap to fix” then I would be very dubious. Often if it really is very cheap to fix, they would fix it making the car more saleable. Never buy a second hand car without seeing it and ideally driving it as only then will you start to get a true picture.