street

Yesterday I went to go look at a 2004 Chevy Express 3500 van that had just been listed on craigslist. The van has 152,502 miles on the clock and and was owned as a commercial fleet vehicle by General Electric, it was previously on a 10 year lease with the company. The man selling it says he is affiliated with the company and was given then van to sell for the company, he had the van listed in CL for $3,940. I test drove the van up and down the seller's street, he said not to go on the main street because he said he didn't have insurance on the van, also the reason why I couldn't take it to a shop to have it inspected. The van drove and braked fine. The tires looked new. The AC and heat worked. There is no rust on the body. The front bumper had a dent in it but no other damage besides a few dings here and there on the body.

Here is is my dilemma, the ad listed the mileage as "T.M.U" BUT the seller said the company put the wrong mileage on the disclosure document (put 174,000 miles on the document instead of 152k) which resulted in the TMU being listed on the title because the seller didn't want to have to through the hassle of making the correction, he had all the documentation showing the clerical error. So I pulled a carfax and the van checked out ok, said one owner as a commercial vehicle for 10 years at an average of 14,400 miles a year. The seller said it was stored for 8 months at the end. The carfax showed no reported accidents, showed regular servicing records and passed emissions. The carax report was excellent.

The seller pointed out there was a small drop of oil (very small) in the garage where it was sitting for 8 months, he sad he pointed it out to a hose and said it could easily be corrected.

Should I get this van without it being checked by mechanic before purchasing? I was able to get him down to $3600 and he said he would write a $1k on the title so I can pay less taxes. Is this a good deal?

I will only be using the van to haul my motorcycles around inside of it on a rare occasion and for hauling other stuff when I need it, it will not be used as a work van or heavy towing.

canucklehead

If that is your price range, then a high mileage vehicle is all you are going to get. If the body and drivetrain are in good shape, then it might make any repairs you need to do to the engine or tranny worth it in the long run. But I would expect to have to do some work to it over the next few years.....I don't know what tmu means.

street

tmu- true mileage unknown

Yeah I expect to make some repairs but I doubt I will put 1k miles on it in a year so I think it will be worth it. For $3600, there is nothing on the market as good as this deal. Most of those miles are highway miles, looking at the service records it shows different states. One thing that's good about commercial vehicles is regular servicing is done religiously.

canucklehead

I have a 2002 express passenger, and it does not have a spec of rust anywhere on the body. Just the cheap papaer thin bumpers are a bit rusty....thats it. So the way I look at it, is that if the van is going to last me for another 10 or so years body wise, then its worth the effort and ivestment to fix up the mechanics.....but if its going to rust out then no......Yours sounds pretty solid, and if well looked after may not cause you much grief. I would deff want to have the tranny serviced and have it checked for codes.....
Can you purchase a 1 day permit for it to drive it to a shop?

street

How would I get a 1 day permit? if it's a lot of expense to fix I can just put it back on the market, I'm sure someone that is a mechanic would buy it fast for the same price I paid, I'm sure I wouldn't lose any money if I were to resell it, The carfax is clean with one owner and zero accidents and loaded with service records. I'll take a chance, I'll let you all know what the mechanic says when I get checked.

goyakpacking

If you have insurance your insurance should cover you on driving another vehicle. Call your insurance agent. If need be have them draft something in writing to give to the owner that doesn't have the van insured. That might be an option?

street

Too late, I just bought it. Hopefully, everything checks out. I'm taking it to my mechanic Wednesday for a full look over and get all the fluids changed.

greenfire

The "affiliated with the company" deal sounds a little fishy to me. Possibly the guy bought it from the company as a quick flip or doesn't want it now, and never signed over the title.


Either way, looks like a good van.. Let us know how it goes.

canucklehead

Nice. Let us know how the checkup turns out....
Here, you can get a one day insurance permit for 35 bucks a day. Its handy for driving a car that is being worked on from one shop to another to avoid towing charges...etc.
I was thinking you could get the seller to insure the van for a day so you could get it looked at, but that is moot now....lol.

street

I drove it home and it rides nice, motor is smooth. I'll let you all know how it checks out. The previous owner probably made a nice little flip, but I will tell you there was nothing on the market like this van for $3600. All the vans I've seen in this price range were beat up crap rust buckets with 200k+ miles. The carfax on this van is A1 with no accidents. Although carfax had an error, only showed 1 owner but the guy I bought it from had it titled in his name after he acquired it from the company that was leasing the van. The carfax should have showed 2 owners.