Experience with Salvaged Vans?

[BeeGuy]

I've seen a couple of the Amazon delivery vans pop up with salvage titles after being in accidents. Has anyone had experience with this?

I'm a beekeeper, and one of those vans would be perfect for running around carrying all my hive boxes and equipment. Maybe 50 miles a day. I do go off road a fair bit. I'm in central Texas, and one big advantage would be running the AC without running the engine (had to replace my radiator last year due to this: full of bees!). It doesn't have to be pretty, this will be a functional-only priority.

I'm thinking maybe a $10k cost, drop $5k into patching it up. Sure beats the price of trucks any more. I over-produce with solar at my house, so the 'fuel' will be essentially free (but I'd drive it maybe 5-10k a year), so that helps. Get liability insurance only, save there too. Driving off-road, I do need to know that I can drive over mesquite shrubs and not tear up the batteries/etc underneath?

So my questions. Am I crazy for thinking this? (yes, I am crazy in other things too, like my africanized bees, but specifically about this van) I saw one van that had front-end damage, what key systems are up there that I need to look it over to avoid expensive repairs? I saw another van that went under a low bridge, what is above the windshield that would be an issue? Would this handle the offroad driving? What range do they have (miles)? And what does 3 hours of running just the AC take off that? (I jump in the AC for 5 minutes every 15 minutes to keep from overheating when it's 100F outside, the bee suit makes it feel 20F hotter!) Are parts available for these vans? Any general thoughts? I appreciate the guidance.

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[Nixapatfan]

Can't tell you much about the van but it does share some components with the R1. But since you are asking about parts availability just walk away from these thoughts now. Rivian isn't going to help you one bit including buying parts until the van is roadworthy and even then if you aren't using their network of repair shops you will not be getting any kind of support.

Basically do your research well, check out Rich rebuilds youtube channel for an idea of what it takes he did buy an Amazon van recently, but remember he has a lot more clout than the average joe to leverage.

 

[Rivan]

I've seen a couple of the Amazon delivery vans pop up with salvage titles after being in accidents. Has anyone had experience with this?

I'm a beekeeper, and one of those vans would be perfect for running around carrying all my hive boxes and equipment. Maybe 50 miles a day. I do go off road a fair bit. I'm in central Texas, and one big advantage would be running the AC without running the engine (had to replace my radiator last year due to this: full of bees!). It doesn't have to be pretty, this will be a functional-only priority.

I'm thinking maybe a $10k cost, drop $5k into patching it up. Sure beats the price of trucks any more. I over-produce with solar at my house, so the 'fuel' will be essentially free (but I'd drive it maybe 5-10k a year), so that helps. Get liability insurance only, save there too. Driving off-road, I do need to know that I can drive over mesquite shrubs and not tear up the batteries/etc underneath?

So my questions. Am I crazy for thinking this? (yes, I am crazy in other things too, like my africanized bees, but specifically about this van) I saw one van that had front-end damage, what key systems are up there that I need to look it over to avoid expensive repairs? I saw another van that went under a low bridge, what is above the windshield that would be an issue? Would this handle the offroad driving? What range do they have (miles)? And what does 3 hours of running just the AC take off that? (I jump in the AC for 5 minutes every 15 minutes to keep from overheating when it's 100F outside, the bee suit makes it feel 20F hotter!) Are parts available for these vans? Any general thoughts? I appreciate the guidance.

It sounds a really good idea for what you do regardless of buying new or Salvaged.
I usually buy salvaged titles from auction fix them up and use them. Financially makes total sense specially with Toyota and Lexus. My R1T was the only new car I ever bought and love it .And I had fair share of issues. The reliability is not there yet. add to it Salvage title. But if you have 10-15k that you can put them on fire and it won’t affect your business and life. It will be fun to try. I know it’s not a yes or no answer. But something to think about.

 

[ribuck97]

Rich Rebuilds (I think it was him) had a part 1 about him acquiring one of the vans. Should go watch

 

[BeeGuy]

Actually the "Rich Rebuilds" is where I saw this idea. The guy's sarcasm really cracks me up. Yup, I got the message that help is sparse. Heck, one of these vans is up in his end of the country, I wonder if he's fix it up & I'd buy it from him! That one got hit above the windshield, so it should be 98% cosmetic (which I care 0.00001% about, if anything I'll get a bee wrap on the whole thing & have some fun with the damage!). It doesn't have a key, is Rivian helpful enough if I said VIN # xyz and ask for a new key, will they at least sell that to me? (and are their keys $1000+?)

Hey, I could swap him for some Texas BBQ & a bunch of super-fantastic honey?

Does anyone know how good their undercarriage armor is? If I'm driving over 3 ft mesquite bushes with their 1.5" thorns (yes, I do upgrade all tires), will that tear it up & play the halt-and-catch-fire game?

 

[VandalSibs]

Actually the "Rich Rebuilds" is where I saw this idea. The guy's sarcasm really cracks me up. Yup, I got the message that help is sparse. Heck, one of these vans is up in his end of the country, I wonder if he's fix it up & I'd buy it from him! That one got hit above the windshield, so it should be 98% cosmetic (which I care 0.00001% about, if anything I'll get a bee wrap on the whole thing & have some fun with the damage!). It doesn't have a key, is Rivian helpful enough if I said VIN # xyz and ask for a new key, will they at least sell that to me? (and are their keys $1000+?)

Hey, I could swap him for some Texas BBQ & a bunch of super-fantastic honey?

Does anyone know how good their undercarriage armor is? If I'm driving over 3 ft mesquite bushes with their 1.5" thorns (yes, I do upgrade all tires), will that tear it up & play the halt-and-catch-fire game?

The only thought I have is where you mentioned going off-road a bit.... the vans are single motor (to my knowledge), and the tires are not all-terrains. If your meaning of 'off road' is just 'dirt road', you should be okay, but it's something to keep in mind.

 

[BeeGuy]

The only thought I have is where you mentioned going off-road a bit.... the vans are single motor (to my knowledge), and the tires are not all-terrains. If your meaning of 'off road' is just 'dirt road', you should be okay, but it's something to keep in mind.

Ok, I"m not an electric car guy, so I need a little clarification. Does 'single motor' mean a single wheel, or does that mean both (I assume back) wheels? And does it have the ability to lock vs free-spin. I have locking differentials in my pickup, 2 wheel drive, and it has gotten me out of the mud enough times.

And by 'off road', I mean 500 ft on grass away from pavement/gravel. I try to avoid driving on 'mud', but my beekeeper (the guy in the mirror) is sometimes an idiot and doesn't check. Fun story, one time I was about 400 ft off the road and the wheels sunk into the mud. Tried calling 5 tow trucks, none were interested in helping. It didn't help that I had 200,000 angry bees in the air buzzing around. I ended up using a wide strap and securing it to a T-post. Wenched it tight (truck in neutral), set the parking brake, adjust the strap, put in neutral & repeat. Took about 5 cycles to pull out of the holes. And once the truck started rolling, I never stopped until I was on pavement. Good times!

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Ok, I"m not an electric car guy, so I need a little clarification. Does 'single motor' mean a single wheel,

Single motor, at the front axle, powering both front wheels through an integrated reduction gearbox (essentially open differential) with traction managed via ABS and software—like conventional FWD car possessing traction control and ABS. Google or Munro Associates' teardown or deep dive video(s) on YouTube of a R1.

And by 'off road', I mean 500 ft on grass away from pavement/gravel.

Depends on how wet that grass is, how saturated the soil is and condition of tires. If you're worried about being stuck, carry some traction boards and recovery gear.

 

[WoodChips]

It's an interesting thought. At worse you might need to buy two vans so you can use parts of one to fix the other.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Regarding armor… if it’s the same HV pack as R1, there is a carbon composite shield that is standard part of the pack. The van is said to share 70% of parts with R1. The biggest challenge would be getting support from Rivian, since you are not original owner. And I don’t know how support for the van is available through their subscription based third party service/parts portal.

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