Acquisition
At long last! Finally some purchasing! You’ll be relieved to know we finally own a van! *does a little dance*
It Started With Two…
Let’s go back to the past week… We took a couple of days off the van hunting and did some fun things, like going to the cinema and chilling out at home. This month is quite hefty in the run up to Christmas for our business. After all the recent let-downs we wanted to have some fun where we could.
We finally went back to our van search but were coming up empty with anything local that was suitable. It seemed that if we were willing to travel up the country we would have more options. We contacted one dealer who’s van met the requirements and arranged for a mechanic from Click Mechanic to go and have a look at the vehicle on our behalf. They are very good and send a full report, with photos and a follow up call to discuss any questions you have. Given that the van was at minimum 4 hours away and we couldn’t just leave our business we eagerly waited to hear back.
During earlier conversations with the dealer we queried a stain on the floor of the cargo area and were told it was just from their cleaning, which we thought odd but gave the benefit of the doubt. We left a note for the mechanic and asked him to check it out. Later that day the report came in… not great. Shortly after the mechanic called, he was not at all impressed with the van or the dealership, citing several problems that they had failed to mention in the glossy advert.
- Blue and white smoke from the exhaust
- Diesel fumes present in the ventilation system
- Fuel injectors were leaking
- Engine oil level was over maximum
- Diesel and oil leaks present
- Chassis showed signs of corrosion
- Vehicle temperature gauge was at 60c
- Play in the steering
- Brake pedal was soft
The mechanic advised us against purchasing the van and was quite shocked that the dealer was willing to sell it in that state. He also confirmed that the stain to the rear was a large damp stain and not from cleaning.
I hear your sighs as the saga continues……
Then There Was One…
A few days later whilst casually browsing Gumtree and seeing all the same stuff we happened to see a new advert… A nice looking van….. A 2009….. 80k miles…. just about in budget….. So we thought why not, we got on the phone asked if we could send a mechanic. Ben had quite a long chat with the older guy who owned the business, he seemed nice and was honest in stating that the break pads needed changing, and the handbrake needed some adjustment. We were told that the MOT had been booked and that he would be replacing the pads and fixing the handbrake beforehand. Happy with that, the Mechanic was agreed.
The Report Came In…
We took a deep breath and opened the email….. Lots of green ticks indicating all was good, we were alerted to the brake pad and handbrake issue. The Mechanic called us and said he was really pleased with the van, he noted the two issues again and had also been assured that they were to be fixed by the owner who had the part ready, having ordered it in several days ago.
We called back… We wanted the van…..
We arranged to go to view the van ourselves a few days later, the MOT was going to be done during this time and we had our business to attend to. We waited nervously to hear back, the guy called to let us know the van had passed with no advisories and that he was looking forward to meeting us in person!
So, we are finally getting a van!