Used Vans in Knowsley

Knowsley is about the closest borough to us that is not the one we sit in. Our forecourt is at Haydock Cross in Haydock, St Helens, and Prescot is roughly ten minutes away up the A58 — near enough that plenty of our Knowsley customers come over on a lunch break, look at two vans and come back the following morning to buy one. A good many of our customers come from Knowsley postcodes, and most of that is down to how short the drive is.

How close Knowsley actually is

We are on Haydock Cross Industrial Estate, off Kilbuck Lane, WA11 9UX. From Prescot and Whiston the A58 runs north-east through Rainhill and Sutton and drops you into Haydock without a motorway junction anywhere in it. From Huyton it is the same road, picked up a couple of miles earlier, or the M57 south to the M62 and east if the A58 is busy at school time. Neither is a journey you would need to set a morning aside for.

Halewood and Tarbock do better to join the M62 at junction 6 and run east to junction 9; Roby and Page Moss usually cut across to Prescot first. Whichever way you come, the estate has room to park, room to walk a van and room to take one out on the road without a queue building up behind you. That sounds like a small thing. It is the difference between looking at a van and actually inspecting one.

Kirkby and the north of the borough

Kirkby is the one journey in the borough that is not simply a run up the A58, and it is the easiest of the lot. The town sits on the A580 East Lancashire Road, and that road heads east almost to our gate: no motorway, no junctions to negotiate, about twenty minutes. If the East Lancs is crawling, drop south on the M57 to the M62 at junction 6, run east to junction 9 and take one junction north on the M6.

A good number of the vans that come to us from L32 and L33 have been working out of the distribution units around Kirkby, so we see that sort of vehicle regularly and know what to look at on one. More on that below.

What we keep on the forecourt

Medium panel vans make up most of what we hold, because that is what the Knowsley trades run: sparks, plumbers, joiners, tilers and mobile fitters. Around them sit small vans for courier and service work and long-wheelbase and Luton bodies for anybody shifting bulk. We buy for the customers we already have rather than to fill a page, so the same badges recur.

The live stock list is the honest answer to what is on the forecourt at any given hour. If you already know the badge, the list will narrow to it — the Vauxhall Vivaros, the Ford Transit Customs, the full-size Ford Transits and the Peugeot Partners each have a view of their own. When the right one is not in, send us a van request and we will go looking rather than sell you the nearest thing to hand.

Industrial-park work, and what it does to a van

Knowsley Industrial Park is one of the largest estates of its kind in the North West, and between it and the Kirkby units a lot of local vans spend their lives on short, heavily laden runs — full in the morning, empty by mid-afternoon, rarely more than a few miles at a stretch. That is a specific kind of wear and it shows in specific places.

Look at the load floor and the loading lip first, then the rear door hinges and whether the doors still shut square without a shove. Then look underneath at the rear springs and the shock absorbers, because a van carried heavy and driven over kerbs sits down on its back end long before the engine gives you any trouble. Finally check the clutch bite point and ask whether the particulate filter light has ever been on: short runs never get the exhaust hot enough to clean itself properly. If any of that is unfamiliar, what the words on a van advert actually mean is a good half-hour.

Payload, and the mistake that costs money later

The commonest error we see is not buying the wrong badge, it is buying too little capacity and finding out on a Tuesday afternoon with a full load and a nervous glance at the back springs. Payload is what the van may legally carry once you, your crew, your fuel and your racking are in it, and it is nearly always less than people assume. The government’s guide to vehicle weights sets out how the limits are defined, and short, medium or long wheelbase translates it into which van to actually buy. If you carry a crew as well as tools, crew cab vans is the one to read before you choose.

Part-exchange, and selling a van outright

You will almost certainly arrive in something, and we will price it against whatever you are buying. Start with the valuation form and you will have a figure in hand before you leave home, which takes the guesswork out of the visit. Cars are as welcome as vans.

If you only want to sell, we buy outright with nothing bought in return — the sell your van page explains how. And if there is finance still running on your current vehicle, that is ordinary rather than awkward; part-exchanging a van on finance sets out exactly how the settlement is handled.

VAT, tax and paying for the vehicle

A commercial vehicle is normally advertised plus VAT, and a registered business can usually reclaim it, so the real cost of the vehicle to you may be a good deal lower than the advertised figure. Say at the outset whether you are registered, because it changes every calculation that follows. HMRC’s guidance on charging and reclaiming VAT is the authority, and no-VAT vans explained covers the ones that come without it at all.

You can settle up outright or we can introduce you to finance. Applying for van finance lists what a lender will want to see, which is worth knowing before you fill anything in rather than after.

Coming in, and what happens on the day

Everything we sell is inspected, MOT’d with real time left on it, serviced where one is due and put right where our own inspection finds something — before it is advertised, not after somebody rings up. Check the record yourself on the DVLA MOT history service; we would far rather you did.

Bring a driving licence if you want to drive one, and the V5C plus any service history if you are part-exchanging. On the day we hand over the vehicle, the keys and the paperwork, and we tell the DVLA about the change of keeper ourselves. The warranty runs from that day forward.