Help/Advice needed, van needs £1000 welding done

[HarryMann]

"You should speak to people who specialise in welding t25s - not Rolls Royces tbh ....."

Exactly... and you need good facilities to make a good job of a sill job if it's going to need one.
A proper workshop IMHO...

Its not the step or seat belt anchor that's a big prob they all need them at some point.

If sills and fr/rear jacking points quite bad then as said maybe best to get it tefunded if thats possible. If its just the odd bad patch then get it done...but well.

[TobyGilden]

I have just taken a couple of snaps of the offending areas.

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[TobyGilden]

Here are a few more;

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[TobyGilden]

And a few more;

Screen Shot 2015-03-16 at 13.01.43.png

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[TobyGilden]

and the last ones;

Screen Shot 2015-03-16 at 13.01.54.png

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Cheers for all of your help, I am learning a lot from this forum and really appreciate it.

Toby

[TobyGilden]

Sorry there are no annotations with the pictures, I don't really know what to say in a technical sense.

[keith]

if it was me I would be working at handing it back and walking away with my £6k

[Ralf85]

Rot free/rust free my a***. If that's what you can see then you can bet your bottom dollar there is more. Get a proper report get it copied and present a copy to the dealer who sold this van to you. Ask for your money back and then use the cash to buy a van in much better condition. Also, next time check the buying guide in the wiki and ask for someone on here living nearby who knows these vans to come with you to view. What a con!

[MGP]

When was that van presented for the mot if it was in the last 3 months im sure that vosa would have something to say theres not much holding the trailing arm on.

[TobyGilden]

If I got in touch with VOSA do you think it would help my case if I go back to the seller for a refund?

Cheers

Toby

[boatbuilder]

I'd definitely take it back for a refund, don't even think about keeping it and paying for repairs.
Especially after spending 6k on it.
Outer sill is totally gone there around that jacking point.
Also looks like a very badly "welded" patch on an inner sill?
And that's only the visible stuff! I'd run a mile. Seller doesn't have a leg to stand on if he advertised that as rust free.
If you started tearing into that you'd have massive rust holes there - needs a full resto in my opinion and it would be a very expensive bus at the end of it all.

I took the liberty of copying and pasting the untruthful bits of the advert..... it says rust free or rot free THREE times!

1. she is really rot free
2. rebuild inside and out
3. its rust free
4. fully restored inside and out
5. rust free

[MattBW]

As someone who decided to tackle the welding on his, I can say that my £1000 didnt take long to turn into £2000 so I agree with many comments. Once you start looking the list can grow. Mine looked probably better than that but was also bodged with some well hidden rust. For 6k you should get a very good van indeed.

if the front is like that the rear arches are worth checking carefully, at least my from my experience. I paid a little over £2500 for my van in similar condition to that and I felt I paid over te odds because it cost me another 4k to get it really solid and sound with a new paint job. Even now I can't describe it as rust free, and its not perfect, so rust free would be a lie. Rust lite perhaps

If its a private sale you may struggle but if its a garage you have plenty of rights. Just get back to him asap.

[TobyGilden]

I just rang the seller again, he said he won't offer me a refund, but he will take the van in and carry out all of the required work, I told him (as recommended) that any work he carries out on the van will be inspected by an AA engineer, and that I want him to have a new MOT on the van - which he has agreed to.

Thank you for all of the comments as I felt very equipped to make the call.

Do you think this is wise? I like to think this guy had just made a mistake and is willing to right a wrong, but I don't want to be taken for a fool, and this time next year when the MOT is due find myself facing another high bill with no where to turn

[boatbuilder]

Hmm I wouldn't be happy with that personally. Some people have a lot of cheek. He sold you a van that he said three times in the add was rust free and fully restored inside and out. What you got was a restoration project.

If you're going down that route, you'd really really need to get someone who has already restored T25s to come and look at it to pinpoint all of the bad areas. Then do up a list in writing of the work that needs done and to what standard (i.e. is he going to grit blast any surface rust that he finds before using weld through primer and then putting on new metal? Or is he just gonna slap on the new metal on top of the rust?)

Also have you seen any of this garage's repair work? Would the repairs be proper repairs or just bodges? Some people's idea of a good repair is not good. Would they be willing to take photos of the repairs as they go along, showing the welded repairs before putting on paint/filler etc on top of it to cover it up? I would worry that you are underestimating the work required and that the garage will do just enough to pass an MOT and still leave you with a pretty rusty van with bodged repairs. Sorry to be so blunt but as I said my van was advertised as just needing paint and it turned into a total full restoration project. The fella said he would fix some of the visible rusty holes, but when I really examined it properly over the months after buying it, I kept uncovering more and more areas. Only my van cost me 1K and not 6K.

[Ralf85]

Get a proper report done and then go back to the seller. Then you have the evidence to cancel out his selling twaddle. Then ask for your money back. A con artist is unlikely to carry out the work to a 'rot free' and 'rust free' condition but merely try to cover it up. Your have several thousand pounds worth of expenditure there to put it right.
Have a word with the CAB about the miss selling of this rust bucket. They may be able to advise regarding options including the small claims court (cheap option - if applicable).