I am going to look at a 2008 Grand Caravan SE tomorrow. It had 180,000 miles on it. It is at a Ford dealership. I done a auto check and it came up that is was a fleet/rental vehicle. They say it is mostly hiway miles, so that makes sense. I think I can get it for $5000. Does this sound like a good deal with that many miles or should I run from it, lol. The body and interior look nice. Also, is there any engine/tranny problems with this year? Thanks for any help.

 

Any ideas would be much appriciated. I had a 2005 town and country and loved it until it got totaled.

 

how much do you drive a month? how long you plan to keep the van?

Well, I assume you have researched what else can you get for $5000, and came up with nothing better?
There really isn't any drive train problems with these van, common complaints are rattles and squeaks, and excessive brake wear.

Test drive it, and see if you like it. But If you buy it, catch up with the maintainence such as oil change, trans service, tires etc...

and at such mileage, something is bound to break in near future, so if you have another grand or two set aside, you really shouldn't worry about it.

Then again, $5000 hardly buy you anything these days. I've seen a lot of 2004 Caravan shoot for that price.

 

Have you looked at Carmax. I've bought 2 cars from there that were fleet vehicles and they are great cars. I've been told fleet vehicles are well maintained

 

No way in hell would I buy a high mileage 08. $5K brings in a nice 05-07 SXT loaded to the gills with far less mileage on the clock.

 

Where you live can make a difference. As far as fleet vehicles, I bought my daughter an 07 Fusion as a college graduation present in 09. It was an Enterprise rental with 45K miles. Besides a leaking water pump covered under warranty it's been a reliable, smooth running car. It has 98K on it now. I would buy another fleet vehicle again.

 

Uh... no... not always. It depends on the company, and it shows with a test drive.
Go check out the post office fleet Caravan, and report back.
I have no idea how we got so many issues including engine and trans on Post Office van with less than 30k miles.

But as for fleet companys such as Enterprise, they keep their cars running smooth w/ maintainence by the book, because they need them to.