£900 Berlingo Van - Work shed
Discussion
Over the last couple of years I have had the "pleasure" of owning a few different vehicles solely for work, each one has given me nothing but grief. The last one was a Skoda Octavia which was plagued with electrical and DPF issues. I got fed up of it and sold it to another dog handler for £900 and went back to borrowing a company vehicle for a little while. The problem with that, I cant take it home and have to haul the dogs to work in the family car... which was not working great.
I knew that I wanted something basic, as basic as I could get. Something that was so simple it wouldnt really go wrong and if it did, It would be easy to fix myself. I also knew that the £900 I sold the Skoda for, Was my budget.
One night I was browsing Facebook while bored at work and up pops a listing from a friend.
2005 Citroen Berlingo 1.9D.
MOT until April 2026.
160,000 miles.
Recently purchased but not getting used.
Make me an offer.
So I offered £750. Nope. £800. Nope £900 cash.
Deal. I got it and put it straight to work.
A week or two into owning it, my stepson wanted to take part in the local christmas tractor run. So we did.
Im partial to some extra lights but this is a bit ridiculous so itll need to be sorted.....
It has a decent amber strobe light bar made by Response Vehicle Lighting which will stay fitted as itll be needed for work. The bragan chrome bar on the roof will likely stay too. The rear bumper is getting replaced to get rid of the silly marker lights and the light bar will be wired in properly (its a s
t show currently).
It drives as you would expect a 1.9D berlingo to drive. SLOW. but so far it hasnt failed to start and runs all night almost every night without issue. Theres no turbo, DPF, Adblue system or any of that ste to go wrong. Its exactly what I wanted 
I plan to maintain it and do all of the repairs myself and will keep it for as long as it financially makes sense.
I knew that I wanted something basic, as basic as I could get. Something that was so simple it wouldnt really go wrong and if it did, It would be easy to fix myself. I also knew that the £900 I sold the Skoda for, Was my budget.
One night I was browsing Facebook while bored at work and up pops a listing from a friend.
2005 Citroen Berlingo 1.9D.
MOT until April 2026.
160,000 miles.
Recently purchased but not getting used.
Make me an offer.
So I offered £750. Nope. £800. Nope £900 cash.
Deal. I got it and put it straight to work.
A week or two into owning it, my stepson wanted to take part in the local christmas tractor run. So we did.
Im partial to some extra lights but this is a bit ridiculous so itll need to be sorted.....
It has a decent amber strobe light bar made by Response Vehicle Lighting which will stay fitted as itll be needed for work. The bragan chrome bar on the roof will likely stay too. The rear bumper is getting replaced to get rid of the silly marker lights and the light bar will be wired in properly (its a s
t show currently).It drives as you would expect a 1.9D berlingo to drive. SLOW. but so far it hasnt failed to start and runs all night almost every night without issue. Theres no turbo, DPF, Adblue system or any of that s
te to go wrong. Its exactly what I wanted I plan to maintain it and do all of the repairs myself and will keep it for as long as it financially makes sense.
Edited by BigHeavy10 on Saturday 3rd January 19:07
Some small bits done this morning while loading it up for a tip run.
Moved the "ladder bulkhead" from the drivers side to the passenger side, giving me more room for seat adjustment and somewhere to bungee strap my first aid bag + dog leads etc too.
Removed the cheap seat covers. The fit was very poor and the drivers one was winding me up. The passenger one covers the "table" area on the back of the seat which is handy when the seat is folded. Seats are grubby but I'm confident a couple of passes with the spot clean will get them good enough.
Had a look at the bulky phone/tablet mount. It's wood screwed in to the trim panel so I'll need to source one of those on my next trip to the scrapyard.
The van came with a cheap carplay unit bodged onto the rear view mirror mount. It didn't work properly so I buggered it off. I bodged a magnetic wireless car charger onto it instead.
Moved the "ladder bulkhead" from the drivers side to the passenger side, giving me more room for seat adjustment and somewhere to bungee strap my first aid bag + dog leads etc too.
Removed the cheap seat covers. The fit was very poor and the drivers one was winding me up. The passenger one covers the "table" area on the back of the seat which is handy when the seat is folded. Seats are grubby but I'm confident a couple of passes with the spot clean will get them good enough.
Had a look at the bulky phone/tablet mount. It's wood screwed in to the trim panel
so I'll need to source one of those on my next trip to the scrapyard.The van came with a cheap carplay unit bodged onto the rear view mirror mount. It didn't work properly so I buggered it off. I bodged a magnetic wireless car charger onto it instead.
crofty1984 said:
I had two Berlingos. Both cheap and gave me a handful of problems, but nothing too major.
I'd love another one but I don't have the room or money ??
I had a 1.9D multispace about ten years ago, It was a funny thing. When it went wrong it was always something stupid but easy and cheap to sort. They seem to be getting a bit thin on the ground now and the micro camper mob have put the prices through the roof I'd love another one but I don't have the room or money ??
Its Just Adz said:
I had one of these when I needed something cheap to run to work. As you say, slow but pretty bombproof.
We get loads of these in at work for scrap so if you need anything, give me a shout.
Appreciate that offer, may have to send you a message at some point if the local breaker doesnt have what I need. We get loads of these in at work for scrap so if you need anything, give me a shout.
Just ordered the supplies to sort this mess out. Thats the wiring for the Bragan roof bar with LED markers, the RVL amber strobe bar and the lights in the rear bumper, all twisted and electrical taped together and left hanging loose
Im surprised that it hasnt burnt the van down yet. Its all the wrong gauge wire for each item and the joins are shockingly bad.
Theres four marker lights in the grill the wiring for which has been ran through the door shut
four red LED button lights in the overhead storage shelf and all of that is currently powered off a 12v plug that goes into one of the 12v sockets
Ive ordered a healthy amount of twin core cable, some soldering wire and some inline fuses. On my day off this week I should be able to rip it alll out and rewire the RVL strobe bar and the Bragan bar in properly and safely. The rest will get binned. While Im at it, Ill run a length of wire ready for the roof vent to get fitted when it warms up.
Someone in the past has looked after this van, It has a stack of paperwork including a belt change 10,000 miles ago. It just appears that the person I bought it from is a complete idiot
Im surprised that it hasnt burnt the van down yet. Its all the wrong gauge wire for each item and the joins are shockingly bad.
Theres four marker lights in the grill the wiring for which has been ran through the door shut
four red LED button lights in the overhead storage shelf and all of that is currently powered off a 12v plug that goes into one of the 12v sockets Ive ordered a healthy amount of twin core cable, some soldering wire and some inline fuses. On my day off this week I should be able to rip it alll out and rewire the RVL strobe bar and the Bragan bar in properly and safely. The rest will get binned. While Im at it, Ill run a length of wire ready for the roof vent to get fitted when it warms up.
Someone in the past has looked after this van, It has a stack of paperwork including a belt change 10,000 miles ago. It just appears that the person I bought it from is a complete idiot
Edited by BigHeavy10 on Monday 5th January 07:29
We are now on 161,300 miles. It has been doing well as my mobile office...
The folding passenger seat is quite handy and serves as a nice armrest on the motorway too.
The oil level dropped slightly while at work, a quick look under the bonnet and I saw a slight seep of oil coming from the oil filter area. The oil filter was a little loose so tightened it up as much as I could by hand.
While I was there I checked a few other things, the air filter was filthy. I suspect it hasnt been changed in a long time.
The fuel filter housing is dirtier than it should be, suggesting that hasnt been changed either.
The oil filter appears to have been done recently so I think that "servicing" has just consisted of oil and filter changes
The belts have been changed as per the invoices, so thats something i guess, but a big service is going to have to be done soon for some peace of mind.
The passenger seatbelt doesnt always release first push of the button, you have to push the seatbelt back in sometimes then press the button again. eBay to the rescue, Won a whole pre tensioner for £8 delivered.
Plenty to be cracking on with when I get a few days off.
The folding passenger seat is quite handy and serves as a nice armrest on the motorway too.
The oil level dropped slightly while at work, a quick look under the bonnet and I saw a slight seep of oil coming from the oil filter area. The oil filter was a little loose so tightened it up as much as I could by hand.
While I was there I checked a few other things, the air filter was filthy. I suspect it hasnt been changed in a long time.
The fuel filter housing is dirtier than it should be, suggesting that hasnt been changed either.
The oil filter appears to have been done recently so I think that "servicing" has just consisted of oil and filter changes
The belts have been changed as per the invoices, so thats something i guess, but a big service is going to have to be done soon for some peace of mind.
The passenger seatbelt doesnt always release first push of the button, you have to push the seatbelt back in sometimes then press the button again. eBay to the rescue, Won a whole pre tensioner for £8 delivered.
Plenty to be cracking on with when I get a few days off.
Obligatory tip run picture 
It's been proving itself to be quite a handy tool...
Ditched the Bragan bar and the amber light bar for this....
Full length and width roof rack for £40 off marketplace. I've been eyeing them up for a little bit and they're usually £100-£150 so I'm quite happy with that price. Van handled the 2 hour round trip for it, in pouring rain with ease. It'll make tip runs and other shenanigans a little more interesting
It's been proving itself to be quite a handy tool...
Ditched the Bragan bar and the amber light bar for this....
Full length and width roof rack for £40 off marketplace. I've been eyeing them up for a little bit and they're usually £100-£150 so I'm quite happy with that price. Van handled the 2 hour round trip for it, in pouring rain with ease. It'll make tip runs and other shenanigans a little more interesting
Edited by BigHeavy10 on Thursday 15th January 16:05
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