IC

We went into the market hoping to find a 159" wheelbase, high roof Promaster for ~$20k. The wheelbase and height were very important for us as it was already going to be a tight fit squeezing in everything we wanted.

After some trial and error, we developed a pattern for finding vehicles in our market:

1. Compile a list of used car listing sites and apps (recommend including the AutoList app)
2. Search for the model vehicle across each site (often listing sites will not specify the wheelbase or roof height so this can be tedious)
3. Put promising listings and notes in a document to review later
4. Contact promising listings for a test drive
5. If test drive and visual inspection go well, run the VIN through CarFax or equivalent to check for maintenance records or previous damage.

It took us over a month and four dealerships before deciding on a vehicle. It turns out that it is difficult to buy a gently used utility vehicle. And even harder when you have strict model AND budget requirements.

Dealer #1

The first dealership seemed a little too good to be true. And of course it was. Our model was listed for around $18k with under 40k miles. We arrived to a narrow parking lot outside a warehouse. To my surprise, there was already a man looking at the car when we got there. I overheard that he was also planning to do a conversion. Small world. It was evident as he was leaving that he planned to come back for the vehicle the next day. No pressure.

We soon learned that the car had been mislisted and had a diesel engine. I was not as interested in a diesel model. They do get better gas mileage...but the Promaster diesel engines had been discontinued. This means parts will be more difficult to source and also limits the mechanics that can work on it. Also, diesels are not as stable in colder weather. That said, I was open to taking a test drive. Then the car wouldn't start. Pass.

The seller quickly claimed he had another vehicle we could try and went to another lot to grab it. Nearly half an hour later, he arrives back at the parking lot on foot. Apparently the vehicle was in such a bad shape he didn't want us to see it until it was cleaned up, but wouldn't we come back in a few days to take another look? Hard pass.

This dealer was flipping cars found at auction with minimal attention to the vehicle history. The prices reflected this; I hope my kindred buyer didn't get ripped off.

Dealer #2

We crossed state lines for the remaining dealers as there weren't many Promasters in our area. The next dealership seemed slightly more promising, in that at least there was an office on site. The listing was $24k for just under 50k miles. It was more than we were hoping to pay, but we thought we could negotiate the price down. And we found plenty of things to pick at.

The car drifted noticeably left and hopefully just needed an alignment. There was no cruise control; I'm surprised that option wasn't opted for on a work vehicle. The spare tire was nowhere to be found. There were several small dents on the sides. And most concerning was a large dent in the column above the windshield, probably the result of a collision with a parking garage deck. The aesthetics didn't concern me, but anytime there is structural damage or chips in the paint there is a possibility of rust.

The dealer wasn't willing to budge on the price, so we moved on.

Dealer #3

At this point we were pretty wary of the smaller shops and dealers. We visited a national dealer with a listing posted in the last week for $23k and 32k miles. The listing did not have a picture, so I suppose we weren't surprised to see some scraping collision damage on the side of the car. Inside there was a botched electrical wiring job and DIY installed shelving that creaked at 50+db with every bump in the road. The driver side door must have been involved in an accident and had the interior hinge caulked over with god-knows-what. The door did seem to open and shut without an issue.

The dealership experience was a mixed bag. It was a more pleasant experience to sit in a roomy office space and the salesman was far more personable than our previous few. Which was good as we were stuck there for hours going through paperwork at an inappropriately leisurely pace. We knocked the price down about $1k. They were willing to let us take the car to a mechanic to get it checked out before buying. However, the car had just come in and they hadn't done a state inspection yet. We wouldn't be able to test drive until it was inspected. They required a deposit if we wanted to guarantee the car would be available for us that weekend.

A note about deposits: I would recommend against it unless you are very confident that this is the car to buy. And then to only put down an amount that you would be comfortable losing. And make sure it's on a credit card if you need to dispute the charge later. We saw the Promasters going very quickly online. Listings would pop up and be gone within a week. So we put a $1k deposit down thinking, 'better to reserve now and cancel if the test drive goes poorly.' In retrospect, I would have put down $100 or just gambled with others taking it out from under us.

The salesman got back to us that weekend saying the car was ready. We started towards a mechanic for a pre-purchase inspection. It was driving well, much better than the previous test drive. A couple miles down the road half the lights on the dashboard lit up. The mechanic was very helpful in identifying some things we could visually inspect in the future, e.g. check all lights, check how the tires line up to identify crash damage, identify leaks under the vehicle, use an OBD scanner to check diagnostic codes. Of course, flashing dashboard lights are an obvious problem.

We listed our concerns about a leak the mechanic identified and the lights on the dash. The salesman said he would look into it. And then...radio silence for several days. At this point, we had time to think about it and decided against going ahead with the purchase. We called the salesman and let him know. He tried several times to talk me out of it. Eventually I had to start repeating a script along the lines of "Yes, we are sure we do not want to make a purchase, please let us know when we can expect our deposit back." The store manager finally called me and promised to look into it. He called back the next day. It turned out that the car had not been inspected before our test drive, hence the dashboard lights, wouldn't you be willing to reconsider now that it is inspected? I was turned off by the whole experience and wanted to move on. I got a thorough guilting by the store manager, but after enough firm script reads I finally got a gruff "alright."

Getting the deposit back took another week or two of repeated phone calls. I felt fortunate at the end of it all to get the deposit back without filing a dispute. Lesson learned.

Dealer #4

After dealer #3 and a better grasp on the market, we decided that we were willing to consider a higher price in order to get a newer vehicle. These are work vehicles and are treated roughly and the used market reflects that. It was rare to find a vehicle in great condition with regular maintenance records. We found a 2019 model at 23k miles going for 26k. It was still under warranty, had cruise control and a back up camera, and had all its maintenance documentation. The only problem was that it hadn't arrived at the dealer yet and there were several people in line to see it when it did.

H ended up driving out to the dealership and working from their lobby all day until the car arrived, just to make sure that she had eyes on it first. It looked great, there was a small leak that was covered by the warranty. And she negotiated the price down by $1k. Even better, they said they would hold the car for us without a deposit.

Enter a nerve wracking week of wondering when the car repairs would be finished and when it would be available for a test drive and purchase. We fully expected that they would sell the car to the highest bidder, especially as we had knocked our price down. But either the other buyers didn't exist, or the dealers were very honest, as we did get first dibs.

Because the car was under factory warranty, had the maintenance records, and drove well, we felt comfortable skipping a pre-maintenance inspection and bought it day of. After seeing all the damage and problems with the other vehicles we looked at, this car felt like a blank canvas. It had been an Enterprise delivery vehicle, apparently they sell their stock after two years. That is a good scenario for these types of vehicles - they will have higher mileage for their age as company vehicles, but all the maintenance is done on time and they are sold after only a short period of use.

Time and final cost

All told, it took a little over a month of frenzied searching to find the right vehicle. We found a 2019 Promaster, high roof, 159 inch wheelbase with 23k miles for 25k. With tax, it worked out to just under 26k. I'm sure better deals can be had, but we felt we got pretty lucky with the market near us. To get a better deal we would have needed more time to spend waiting for vehicles to pop up or travelling around the country for vehicles far outside our area. A new, base model starts at ~$40k, so lightly used, if you can find it, is a great deal.

In the next post I detail how we chose a layout and show some pics of the final floor plan.