Commercial vehicles work hard for a living. Unlike cars, used vans regularly carry heavy payloads, navigate rutted building sites, and endure relentless stop-start city driving. When buying a second-hand commercial vehicle in the UK, carrying out a methodical, hands-on assessment protects your livelihood and saves thousands in surprise repair bills. Follow our practical inspection checklist before handing over a deposit.
1. Essential Paperwork and History Checks
Never inspect a van without scrutinising its documentation first. Walk away if the seller cannot produce genuine paperwork.
- V5C Logbook: Check that the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) stamped on the chassis and dashboard matches the V5C. Ensure the current registered keeper details match the seller's premises or identity.
- MOT History: Look up the van’s MOT record via the Gov.uk database. Check for consistent mileage progression and read previous advisories regarding corrosion, brake line degradation, or suspension play.
- Service History: Vans with documented fleet or main-dealer servicing every 10,000 to 15,000 miles last significantly longer. Verify when the cambelt and water pump were last replaced, as snapping a belt writes off modern turbo-diesel engines.
- HPI Check: Confirm the vehicle is free of outstanding finance, has not been written off (Cat S, N, C, or D), and is not registered as stolen.
2. Exterior and Bodywork
Always inspect the vehicle outside in dry daylight; rain easily conceals scratches, dents, and poor paintwork.
- Rust and Corrosion: Inspect wheel arches, door sills, front wings, and windscreen surrounds. Probe the chassis rails underneath with a torch. Heavy structural corrosion is an MOT failure and notoriously expensive to weld.
- Panel Alignment: Check the shut lines between doors, bonnet, and wings. Uneven panel gaps or overspray on rubber seals often indicate sub-standard accident repairs rather than routine wear and tear.
- Roof Inspection: Check the roof panel, especially if heavy-duty ladder racks or pipe tubes are fitted. Look for deformation, drilling holes that allow water ingress, or stress cracks.
3. Load Area and Bulkhead
The cargo bay reveals exactly how the vehicle was treated by its previous operators.
- Under the Ply Lining: Lift floor mats or plywood if possible. A severely dented, bowed, or rusted corrugated floor indicates regular overloading.
- Door Operation: Test the side loading door tracks. Rollers wear quickly on multi-drop delivery vans; doors should slide effortlessly without sticking. Check that rear barn doors latch tightly and stay open at 90 and 180 degrees.
- Bulkhead Security: Ensure the factory bulkhead is intact, firmly bolted, and uncompromised. Damaged bulkheads pose severe safety hazards under heavy braking.
4. Engine and Under-Bonnet Checks
Ensure the engine is completely cold before inspecting. Touch the bonnet or block to confirm the seller hasn't warmed it up to mask poor starting or smoke.
- Fluids: Remove the oil cap to check for white or creamy sludge (“mayonnaise”), which suggests head gasket failure. Check the coolant expansion tank for dirty brown water or oil residue.
- Cold Start: Turn the key. The van should fire quickly without long cranking. Blue smoke indicates burning oil; excessive white smoke suggests coolant ingress or unburnt diesel; black smoke points to injector or turbo faults.
- Belts and Leaks: Look down the front of the block for oil weeping from the rocker cover, turbo pipes, or power steering lines.
5. Underside, Suspension, and Tyres
Crawl underneath with a torch to inspect running gear that bears the commercial weight.
- Leaf Springs and Dampers: Look for cracked or sagging leaf springs on the rear axle. Dampers with oily residue are blown and require replacement in pairs.
- Tyre Specifications: Van tyres must carry a commercial load rating (marked with a ‘C’, such as 215/65 R16C). Car-rated tyres fitted to commercial vans are illegal and invalidate your insurance. Uneven tread wear denotes alignment issues or worn wishbone bushes.
6. The Test Drive
Never buy a van without a 20-minute test drive covering urban streets and dual carriageways.
- Clutch and Dual-Mass Flywheel: Feel for clutch pedal judder at the biting point. A loud metallic rattling on idle that disappears when pressing the clutch pedal indicates a failing dual-mass flywheel.
- Gearbox: Shift through all gears. Manual boxes should not crunch on downshifts (notably second and third gear). Automatics should change smoothly without hesitation or violent kicks.
- DPF and Warning Lights: Ensure all warning lights illuminate with the ignition and extinguish once running. Push the van up to 60–70 mph to verify the turbo pulls smoothly without triggering limp mode or a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) warning.