Question Purchasing Used Ford Transit

[fatberg]

Before anything else, I’d like to thank everyone who has been supporting me and answering my questions as I launch my life on wheels.

I’ve decided to jump on purchasing a van to upgrade from my SUV, and have found a deal online that seems trustworthy. May I ask for a second pair of eyes to look over the car’s history? I am attaching the CarFax doc sent to me by the seller.

The original listing states that the van has cosmetic damage (they all look pretty minor and superficial) and the seller is very open to having the car looked at by an inspector of my choice. The van is listed at $20k, but they seem willing to negotiate.

Lastly, the seller is located in Williamsburg, of Brooklyn, NY. If you happen to know someone who could take a look at the vehicle for me, please send me their info (as a paid gig, of course).

 

[Matt Derrick]

29k is a ridiculously low amount of mileage for a 7 year old vehicle, but 20k is also a lot of money

 

[marymemarryme]

Here's the thing: Matt is right, 20k is a lot of money, and 29k miles is insanely low. You basically have to think about whether you'd want a cheaper vehicle with more miles, but will probably need work sooner than later, or a newer vehicle with low miles that will probably need work later than sooner. I can't say whether or not the car is fine, but did you look into what that recall is about?

 

[CaliVagabonder]

As a camper van vagabond enthusiast, I’d say you can do way better for 20K

 

[fatberg]

Ok, yall have convinced me to wait for a better deal. I started to panic because my car started to collect so much condensation that my mattress started harboring black mold. I've thrown away the mattress since (it was a free one I got from FB Marketplace) and have switched to a camp sleeping pad instead. I'm gonna look into rigging up an air circulation system in my car for the time being.

 

[TheDesertMouse]

Good call looking for a better deal, 8 years and only 29k miles is a solid car, but yeah 20k? naw I’ve seen cars in similar shape go for 16k sold, so keep looking.

One thing that popped out to me in the carfax is the first reported oil change was at 22k. Thats BAD. Thats not how to treat a car. Now the owner could have been doing his own oil changes, but thats something I would ask about and try to get reciepts for if you can. Thats like the number 1 way to reduce the life of your engine, not changing the oil. Little things like that can also be indicative of an irresponsible owner. Remember most people dont know shit about vehicle maintainance. They will literally run their cars till it breaks down, sometimes catastrophically. ignoring months of indications that there was an issue. An issue that initially was probably a cheap solution, which turned into a multi thousand dollar solution. That could be your multi thousand dollar bill. Things like that are good to watch out for.

Also, and I can’t emphasize this enough.

ALWAYS. GET. USED CARS. INSPECTED.

Unless you are knowledgable about vehicle maintainance, you really need to spend the hundred something dollars to have a mechanic look the car over. They will find any obvious(and sometimes not obvious if their a good tech) problems that will fuck you in short order after purchase. And they can give you ammunition for negotiation! Got some suspension parts with worn out rubber that need to be replaced asap? Well thats 600$ off the asking price of coarse! I literally dodged two shit heaps when I got my first traveling car doing this, cars that I felt really good about. And I have yet to see a traveling friend buy a car without having it looked over without getting fucked in the first year.