I noticed most who recommended to get surplus are actually in the market (not for 4 wheelers, which I am) but for 10 wheelers, ie . Isuzu Giga, Forward, etc... In cases like that, one has no other choice but to get surplus units. If I'm not mistaken, the only brand new units around are Chinese brands.

How about surplus 4 wheelers? Anyone with good experience with these?

Also I noticed surplus vans come with very high cargo cab. This is a problem since the highway system here charges based on vehicle height. Anything over 7ft in height, are classified as CLASS B, which is double the cost of CLASS A. We do lots of highway trips so this affects our cost.

Probably still go with brand new since these units will be used for the long term. I'm wary of recommending to the company on getting surplus then if it keeps on breaking down my reputation might be on the line. We still have 20+ year old L300s at 298,xxx Kms and still going.

OTEP is also right about the flooded units from Japan as well as the radiation fallout. With the amount of reconditioning these sellers do, its just about possible to cover things up like nothing happened. These two issues just compounds the number of things would be buyers have to watch out for.