Used Ford Transit for sale: everything you need to know

You might remember adverts calling the Ford Transit the ‘backbone of Britain’, and when you consider just how many you see on an average day, carrying everything from food to building materials to tradespeople. In fact, it’s not unusual for the Ford Transit to top the UK sales charts some months - ahead of regular passenger cars.

All that is to say the Ford Transit is an ubiquitous sight on the roads, and one of the most popular used vans for sale too. With dozens of variants on offer, Ford can cover almost everything you might need a van for - and that’s before you even consider other Transit-badged models, like the Transit Courier, Transit Connect, and Transit Custom.

It’s a busy market, with rivals for Ford’s favourite including the Volkswagen Transporter, Renault Trafic, Vauxhall Vivaro, Mercedes-Benz Vito, and the Citroen Dispatch, Peugeot Expert, Toyota Proace and Fiat Scudo quartet. Read on to find out more about buying a Ford Transit below.

Should you buy a Ford Transit? 

Tens of thousands of individuals and businesses buy a Ford Transit every year, and many more thousands pick up a used Transit too - so there must be something that makes the van as popular as it is.

Brand recognition plays a part of it; ‘Transit’ is as synonymous with panel vans as Hoover is with vacuum cleaners and Biro is with ball-point pens. A large dealer network helps too; at the time of writing, Ford has close to 400 dealers around the UK, making both sales and servicing easy to find.

But little of that would matter if the Transit itself wasn’t suited to the task, and Ford offers a huge variety of configurations to ensure there’s a chassis, body style, engine, and options package to suit pretty much every customer. Even if you exclude other Transit-badged models like the Courier, Connect, and Custom, the Transit is available in three wheelbase lengths, three roof heights, front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, panel vans and double-cabs, several engines, manual and automatic gearboxes, chassis cabs, chiller and freezer vans, welfare vehicles… the list goes on. And yes, you can still buy them in white, too.

The Transit also drives well, with strong engines, positive steering, and more refinement than most of its rivals, even if the ride quality can sometimes feel a little firm - though this isn’t completely unique to the transit, particularly when a van is unloaded or only lightly loaded.

The interior is quite car-like too, with similar technology to that found in Ford’s passenger cars, while in terms of running costs, the latest Ecoblue engines are surprisingly fuel-efficient, though the older 2.2-litre diesels you may find for sale aren’t bad here either. And if low running costs and low emissions are a priority, then Ford also offers a hybrid, and even a fully electric E-Transit.

All of that makes the Transit pretty easy to recommend, though rivals such as the Volkswagen Crafter offer slightly higher load capacity, while you might find the allure of a Mercedes Sprinter difficult to resist if you’re trying to project an upmarket image for your business.

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What’s the best used Ford Transit model to buy?

Choosing which used Ford Transit is best to buy is not an easy question. More so than almost any passenger car, it’ll depend very much on your needs as an individual or business, and across the hundreds of permutations of body style, load space, engine, and even colour, some models may be better suited than others.

In specification terms, trim levels from the Trend upwards are possibly most desirable, as the entry-level Leader lacks some comfort and convenient features such as automatic air conditioning and a 12-inch infotainment display (apart from the E-Transit) and Ford’s useful heated windscreen. The Trend offers all these, as well as safety features like lane departure warning, as well as front and rear parking sensors to help keep your Transit in the shape Ford designed it.

Trail and Limited models offer useful but not essential features, though the Trail is worth a look if your work takes you onto unpaved surfaces, with a limited-slip differential on front-wheel drive variants, and the option of all-wheel drive.

Used Ford Transit fuel economy and performance

• Ford Transit Ecoblue 105PS: Ford doesn’t list performance figures for the Transit, and the sheer breadth of models available prevent us from listing every economy figure for every model, but for the most basic version of Ford’s 2.0-litre Ecoblue diesel in a standard wheelbase and roof configuration and with front-wheel drive, Ford quotes economy of up to 43.5mpg.
• Ford Transit Ecoblue 130PS: There’s no on-paper economy penalty for opting for the 130PS version of the Ecoblue diesel, with the same 43.5mpg as the 105PS variant, like-for-like. Automatic versions drop by around 1mpg. Economy remains the same in rear-wheel drive, but drops to 29.7mpg with all-wheel drive.
• Ford Transit Ecoblue 170PS: Once again, Ford quotes the same figures for the 170PS van as the 130 and 105PS models, with the same caveats (or lack thereof) for the automatic, rear- and all-wheel drive variants.
• Ford Transit Ecoblue Hybrid: In mild hybrid-assisted form the Ecoblue diesel is slightly more efficient, with 47.1mpg economy in both 130PS and 170PS formats. It’s actually slightly higher for rear-wheel drive, at 48.7mpg, but there is no all-wheel drive hybrid.
• Ford E-Transit: Ford quotes a range of up to 196 miles from the electric E-Transit, though just as the diesel models will be less efficient when loaded, range will decrease quickly as payload increases.

What used Ford Transit trim levels are available?

The Transit range is broadly split into four trim lines, from the basic Transit Leader up to the better-equipped Transit Limited. Ford has offered other trim lines in the past so you may find examples of those on the used market, though most of the vans you find for sale on Heycar will be fairly recent models conforming to one of these specification grades.

The majority here are offered with most of the body and engine options, though the electric E-Transit is not available in Trail or Limited specification.

• The Ford Transit Leader is the Transit at its most basic, covering the bare essentials needed for a useful work van, but missing out on the features offered further up. The E-Transit does get a few more features than the diesel versions, however.
• The Ford Transit Trend is where more modern features begin to creep in, with a heated windscreen, automatic air conditioning, a 12-inch multifunction display, cruise control, and several extra safety and convenience features.
• The Ford Transit Trail is aimed at those who may work away from paved roads. Front-wheel drive models get a limited-slip differential for increased traction, while all-wheel drive is also available. The large FORD-branded grille evokes Ford’s pick-up trucks.
• The Ford Transit Limited is about as upmarket as a Transit gets - it even has chrome trim. It gets heated folding door mirrors, a leather gearknob, and alloy wheels.

Used Ford Transit dimensions and boot size

The Ford Transit’s dimensions are:

• Length: 5531-6704mm
• Width: 2059mm (without mirrors), 2474mm (with mirrors)
• Height: 2413mm-2778mm
• Ground clearance: N/A

The Ford Transit’s load capacity is:

• 9.5-15.1 cubic metres

Used Ford Transit road tax

VED or ‘road tax’ rates for vans are less complex than those applied to cars. That means there’s basically a flat VED rate for any model of Ford Transit, apart from the E-Transit. For the 2023/2024 tax year there’s a six-monthly rate of £176, £320 for twelve months, with a small surcharge for paying monthly by Direct Debit. The rate on the E-Transit is currently zero, at least until the 1st April, 2025.

How much is it to insure a Ford Transit?

Ford doesn’t list insurance group ratings for the Transit so you should investigate any potential purchase with a brochure or on a comparison site. The figure will likely vary quite significantly depending on your business and the type of Transit you’re looking at.

Read our full Ford Transit review