I hope all is well. I have found myself at the vehicle buying process again and I am not sure who else to reach out to. I need a reliable enough work van and I am looking at a super low mileage 2008 Dodge C/V tradesman mini cargo van. It has 37k and some change for miles, it was an ex-postal van and the asking price for it is $5888. The carfax has 10 service history records and 20 detailed records one reported accident in 2012. It drives and shifts smoothly, it will need new tires, but I feel it will do what I need it to do. I looked under the vehicle and noticed a wet spot where there was a little oil leak on what I believe to be the oil pan.
I am looking to haul musical gear and I know if I was able to leave it in the vehicle overnight then it would save me a great deal of time:)
Any info you can send along to me about this vehicle?
Lemme know what you think.
Thank you and I look forward to your reply,
Pete
Your only real option is to have a good and trusted mechanic check it out. It has to be hooked up to a good scan tool. That's the only way to find out it it's true condition. My friend was looking at a 2006 jeep commander with 80,000 According to car fax it had a perfect maintenance history with every single service performed at recommended milage. It was in amazing condition, drove and sounded great. It only had a very very minor vibration in drive that wasn't that noticable. I used my scan tool and I found 26 faults. 4 of the faults were concerning.
Well personally I would never buy a used postal van cuz it postal service doesn't maintain their vehicles very well and they beat the crap out of them. If it was a private owner that would be another story. But if you can find a mechanic to check the thing out a good one like me who can spend an hour or so analyzing that he could tell you what shape it's in and if it is worth buying or not
It's very likely the post office is getting rid of it because it is worn out. You would need a good mechanic to check it over very carefully to see if it has any life left in it.
Just a weird tip - I had a friend who had problems with people breaking into his van and stealing video equipment and lights, etc. But then he bought a used van that had exterminator signage on it. Nobody touched that van, so he left it that way.
