Has the price of used big vans gone loopy?

[Calite]

As per title.

On the hunt for a jumbo/XLWB & just can't wrap my head around pricing at the moment, people are trying to shift 10 year old dailies and mk7 Transits for close to £10k with near enough all sub £5k examples I've seen being near enough at the end of their lifes, checked the usual suspects of eBay & Gumtree to no avail.

Is right now just a bad time to buy for one reason or another, or have I misjudged prices in the past? I vividly remember £5k buying you a fair whack of white steel all of 6 or 7 years ago when I was driving for a living.

[Venisonpie]

Yup, market for used is very strong at the moment. Lack of supply causing it.

[Richard-390a0]

Lots of private punters after them as well to convert into campers as trip abroad are currently off of the table.

[Googie]

plus strong demand in connection with growth of online sales-mentioned in weekend papers

[HarryW]

Richard-390a0 said:

Lots of private punters after them as well to convert into campers as trip abroad are currently off of the table.

This

[PurpleTurtle]

HarryW said:

Richard-390a0 said:

Lots of private punters after them as well to convert into campers as trip abroad are currently off of the table.

This

Yep, a friend of mine and her boyfriend have bought two Sprinters, one to do up as a camper, convert and flip, and another to do the same with and keep for themselves. Not entirely sure how much profit there is in doing that, but they seem convinced by it. There's a whole #vanlife community out there on social media.

[Calite]

Ah, that's a bummer, looks like I'll be dropping a wad then. Nice to know it wasn't just my imagination at least.

[HarryW]

PurpleTurtle said:

HarryW said:

Richard-390a0 said:

Lots of private punters after them as well to convert into campers as trip abroad are currently off of the table.

This

Yep, a friend of mine and her boyfriend have bought two Sprinters, one to do up as a camper, convert and flip, and another to do the same with and keep for themselves. Not entirely sure how much profit there is in doing that, but they seem convinced by it. There's a whole #vanlife community out there on social media.

Or one to practice on and flip and the other to include all of the improvements they forgot first time around and keep...

People have been doing it to VW vans for years, but now most realise they are really not much more than day vans. High topped Merc Sprinters and Fiat Ducatos are the most popular...
There are nearly 300k registered Motorhome’s and campers vans, most diy conversions are registered as vans with windows and there’s probably another 100k of those...

[Justin Case]

The local van dealers have a very nice low mileage 10 year old SWB Vivaro at what seems a strong price. The advert says 'ideal for stealth camper conversion' does that mean you can fit it out and covid restrictions allowing, park it along a cliff top road in Cornwall for your summer holiday? Note it also says 'suitable for dog cages' so probably not the height of luxury

[mike74]

All thanks to Rishis Great Money Spunking Spectacular again.

There has never been a time in history where the govt have been so reckless, profligate and irresponsible with the money supply.

All that free printed helicopter money has only just started to wash through the system, when it comes to asset price inflation we ain't seen nothin' yet.

[Calite]

mike74 said:

All thanks to Rishis Great Money Spunking Spectacular again.

There has never been a time in history where the govt have been so reckless, profligate and irresponsible with the money supply.

All that free printed helicopter money has only just started to wash through the system, when it comes to asset price inflation we ain't seen nothin' yet.

Family member I spoke too actually said the opposite.

Lot of folk in cust. service & other such industries getting their walking papers & picking up a van to go into courier work, he (manager for haulage firm) says he'd give it 6 months until they all chuck it & flood the market with battle scarred ex-inexperienced courier vans.

The whole lockdown dynamic has been odd, a lot of people doing quite well for themselves couped up WFH, or furloughed, buying campers & others getting chucked out on their arses.

Edited by Calite on Tuesday 10th November 16:40

[Nickyboy]

Lack of supply and almost every delivery company taking whatever self employed resources that are available

[m3jappa]

It does appear they have gone mad.

I have a couple of mitsubishi canters, one is 2008 which i paid (iirc) 6.5k plus vat for.

To my surprise i reckon its still worth that 5 years later with an extra 50k on!

Some of the used prices for these are insane, basically theres none for sale and the ones that are apart from a couple look fked!

even my newer one, which i paid 20.5k plus vat for in 2016 appears to be worth around 17k (at a dealer) and again theres maybe a couple for sale in the whole country.

I think ill be using my bounce back loan and buying a brand new one and selling the older one.

I can only think its because all the trades have been busy along with a lower supply of new ones of which people might not be so eager to buy due to the possibility of recession on the horizon and bigger firms not buying new stuff.

[dai1983]

On the lookout for a van to use as a daily, MTB and beach van but may also we myself out as an odd job man in my spare time. No interest in stting or cooking in a van so a camper conversion has no interest. Current favorite is an auto Vito w477 tourer but just need the right one to pop up.

Also on a few other brand groups including VW. The amout of people looking for a van to convert or selling a "fresh" conversion is nuts. Just buy one of the many campers already converted rolling on stupid 20s you plebs!

[Pizzaeatingking]

I was on the lookout for a cheap van to get me started as a sparky. Last year I could pick up plenty of tidy vans for £1000-£1500, top end got ones that were obviosuly a bit tatty but had decent history etc.

Roll on 12 months and all I could find were very tatty, rusty heaps for £2500 with no history. After much searching I found a grubby Vauxhall Combo for £1500, knocked them down to £1000 and spent out on a belt and service. A few hours with a bottle of bleach sorted out the inside.