Question about an ex-RoyalMail van that I saw...

the_syco

Hello all,

Was in Dublin the other day, and in front of me was a red van (was stopped at the traffic lights). The odd thing was, I could make out where it said "www.royalmail.co.uk" on the bottom right, and a good bit of the Royal Mail logo above it.

Except it was (badly) painted over. Also, it had an Irish reg on it. When I put it through cartel, it came back as a Vauxhall 1700 CDTI 04DR, which struck me as odd, as from the view I was looking at it, it looked like a small 3-door van, like this.

So I'm wondering: why would someone buy a RoyalMail van to drive in Ireland? The reg was 04-D-8**** (not putting all of the reg numbers in, as I see no point). I notice people importing from the UK, but this struck me as odd.

Cookie_Monster

ex northern Ireland perhaps.

cheap to buy surplus and cheap to import?

cython

the_syco wrote: »

Hello all,

Was in Dublin the other day, and in front of me was a red van (was stopped at the traffic lights). The odd thing was, I could make out where it said "www.royalmail.co.uk" on the bottom right, and a good bit of the Royal Mail logo above it.

Except it was (badly) painted over. Also, it had an Irish reg on it. When I put it through cartel, it came back as a Vauxhall 1700 CDTI 04DR, which struck me as odd, as from the view I was looking at it, it looked like a small 3-door van, like this.

If you actually google a Vauxhall 1700 CDTI, most results come back as Combos like the one you linked to, and the one you linked comes back as the similar "Vauxhall 1.7 DI 04DR". Maybe the back opening counts as an 3rd and 4th door with the 2 sections?

the_syco wrote: »

So I'm wondering: why would someone buy a RoyalMail van to drive in Ireland? The reg was 04-D-8**** (not putting all of the reg numbers in, as I see no point). I notice people importing from the UK, but this struck me as odd.

I'm gonna guess they just got a good price, and VRT might have been cheap? Might have also come from the North meaning VRT would be the only real expense, as opposed to transport from the UK.

L1011

you'd imagine it probably has galactic mileage so would have been a lot cheaper.

dgt

We have an ex Nothern Irish Water van here on MH plates. Much cheaper to buy up there and we were fortunate to have bought one that had been looked after. Generally we find with UK vehicles theyre much better rustproofed and better specced for the same money or less than private or company vans down here

the_syco

cython wrote: »

I'm gonna guess they just got a good price, and VRT might have been cheap? Might have also come from the North meaning VRT would be the only real expense, as opposed to transport from the UK.

The RoyalMail bit had me puzzled, but that makes more sense.

-Corkie-

the_syco wrote: »

The RoyalMail bit had me puzzled, but that makes more sense.

You will buy a 07 one for about 1200 pounds. Mileage will be over the 100k miles still a good buy though imo.

LordSutch

the_syco wrote: »

Hello all,

Was in Dublin the other day, and in front of me was a red van (was stopped at the traffic lights). The odd thing was, I could make out where it said "www.royalmail.co.uk" on the bottom right, and a good bit of the Royal Mail logo above it.

Talking of the Royal Mail, a couple of years ago I was talking to our postman and I mentioned how sturdy his bike was, looked like it was purpose built I thought? he then explained that An Post buy them from the Royal Mail.

His one was painted black, small wheel at the front with large mail basket sitting above, panniers all round with hub gearing too!

MidlandsM

-Corkie- wrote: »

You will buy a 07 one for about 1200 pounds. Mileage will be over the 100k miles still a good buy though imo.

yep, and they come with a full print out of all servicing....which most irish vans never have;)

colm_mcm

The paint under the vinyl signwriting stays fresh, the rest goes pink.
So you always see the royal mail writing years on.

They make great buys

-Corkie-

colm_mcm wrote: »

The paint under the vinyl signwriting stays fresh, the rest goes pink.
So you always see the royal mail writing years on.

They make great buys

Compound and a machine would not be long sorting that or give it to Seprate if you were lazy..:)

colm_mcm

Most buyers wouldn't be the detailing kind

Guy:Incognito

Cant see why its any more odd than buying any 2nd hand van One of the lads in my old job had one. Not a nice yoke at all imo. Hard seats, not nice to drive and the engine died in a big plume of smoke (the other combi in the company was on its last legs too) both 04 and not massive mileage either, less than 130k miles each.

Theres loads of ex An Post Kangoo's going around. The particular shade of green is a bit of a givaway.:)

the_syco

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Theres loads of ex An Post Kangoo's going around. The particular shade of green is a bit of a givaway.:)

Aye, seen a few of them floating about. The RoyalMail van with an Irish reg just struck me as odd, so I asked.

Cookie_Monster

colm_mcm wrote: »

The paint under the vinyl signwriting stays fresh, the rest goes pink.
So you always see the royal mail writing years on.

They make great buys

just like you see "an post" on faded green too

Guy:Incognito

the_syco wrote: »

Aye, seen a few of them floating about. The RoyalMail van with an Irish reg just struck me as odd, so I asked.

They get sold off in the same way the an post ones do. As with most makes of cars and vans, a certain percentage then get bought and imported here.

slimjimmc

dgt wrote: »

We have an ex Nothern Irish Water van here on MH plates. Much cheaper to buy up there and we were fortunate to have bought one that had been looked after. Generally we find with UK vehicles theyre much better rustproofed and better specced for the same money or less than private or company vans down here

Better rustproofed ? Is this an after-market treatment applied by the purchaser?

Most of the vehicles sold here are the same vehicles sold in the UK with only minor differences in trim/equipment for different markets. Quite a bit of Vauxhall's output carries an Opel logo. I would expect they would have the same factory-applied rustproof treatment.

Fishtits

For what it's worth, I've been knocking around this stuff for nearly 20 years. Anything that comes in from the UK will have corrosion issues.

LordSutch

Fishtits wrote: »

For what it's worth, I've been knocking around this stuff for nearly 20 years. Anything that comes in from the UK will have corrosion issues.

Wow, that's quite a generalisation.

All UK cars? I have a UK Vauxhall car, bought it in Belfast seven years ago, & it hasn't rusted yet!

bazz26

Borrowed a mate's red ex-Royal Mail Vauxhall Combo 1.3 ctdi van before Christmas, it was a 05 with "only 55k miles" on the clock. Was a bit battered but plenty of life in it. Had to top the coolant up every week or so as it had a leak somewhere but other than that it started every morning especially during the very cold temperatures we had. They can be bought dirt cheap in the UK especially from auctions. Some of them are only used for light work such as delivering regular mail in rural areas.

Solnskaya

Fishtits wrote: »

For what it's worth, I've been knocking around this stuff for nearly 20 years. Anything that comes in from the UK will have corrosion issues.

I agree a lot with this. Saw a Bmw 3 series, an 04 model import up on mates ramp yesterday with rampant corrosion on all of the brake lines, failed its nct on it. Any uk van(not so much from the north) I've ever brought in has had far more underside rust than an Irish model would have. Salting the roads eats cars.

waxon-waxoff

Fishtits wrote: »

For what it's worth, I've been knocking around this stuff for nearly 20 years. Anything that comes in from the UK will have corrosion issues.

Rust on imports is a bigger issue than people will admit. They are much more liberal with the salt over there. Ive owned a car and van that came from the UK and both had rust on the underside.

Theres not much savings to be made in buying an import van these days. I priced around before i bought a used van lately and got one from a lease company here with full service history for less than UK prices. Four year old Transit connects, Combos and Berlingos can be bought for 3k, great value me thinks.