OK, to offer my four-penneth.
90's fetch a premium.
People keep bandying the £2k figure about for the ones you are looking at, but frankly I'm surprised, some of them should know better;
Its generally accepted £2k is ENTRY price for a 90, and for that sort of money most offerings will be early, nineteen eighty something examples, maybe the more ropey early nineties varients with TDi engines.
£4-8K is the 'middle ground', and in that bracket you can just about squeek more ropey post 2000 TD5's, but they are pretty sought after as the later (last three years ish) puma engine model is a dog! You can easily pay over £10K for a late TD5 90, depending on spec.
So, having put things a bit into context, lets look at the merits and values of this one:
First up 300,000 miles is last legs miles. Might not be an 'old' Landy, and may not have seen heavy duty use, but its seen a HECK of a lot of it!
Average annual private car mileage is still around 12-15K miles a year, and the average domestic car is expected to last about ten years...... so at 300K basically THAT cars expected life has pretty much been used up already..... and some, maybe as much as twice over!
BUT.... these things get 'punted' round the trade, the 'providence' of where they come from gets passed on by word of mouth, and traders CLOCK CARS!
To a cunning trader that mileage would NOT much effect the value, as they would buy the thing, swap the clocks and sell it as 'mileage unwarranted' for closer to £5-6K.......
Ie the price is NOT extortionate, but you need to know what you are buying and where the value lies.
And essentially that is in the reletively 'young' number-plate and the Land-Rover 90 badge!
If it was me, and I wanted it as an off-road 'toy', come pose-mobile, which is what most of these things get bought as for private use, it wouldn't bother me THAT much..... Landies are dead easy to work on, and things like engines and gearboxes are easily enough sourced cheaply from rotten disco's, while hard off-road use would see out the suspension and stuff, which would probably get modded anyway, anyway!
for YOU, you are setting up a business...... the Land Rover badge is of little real 'Value', what you need is something cheap and dependable......
You make sandwhiches for a living, you dont fix cars........
Given the risks of 'setting up' a new venture, PERSONALLY, I would NOT be looking at an enthusiasts car, and I certainly wouldn't be looking at trying to convert a commercial 90 into a catering van!
For a start, IF I was going to vend from it, I'd be looking for a Long wheel-base 110 or 130 model. More room to work in! and they are cheaper.
But, right here right now, I'd NOT be looking to invest that much money in a 'custom' commercial, as its simply too much outlay 'at risk' for a venture that may not pay its own way, let alone a costly conversion on ANYTHING!
At some point, IF the business flourishes, yes, a 110 or 130 MIGHT be a good way to go for a self contained catering van, when you have a trailer and staff, and you want to drop off the trailer and its attendant at one location and take the waggon on to serve another.
Right now, I'd stick to a ready made vending trailer, that's cheap and easily sold on, and a tow car thats similarly equally easily shifted if it all goes pair shaped.
As I drive about, what do I see parked up infront of vending trailers in the lay-byes the length and breadth of the country?
Mistubishi PJ's and Toyota Hi-Lux.
Why?
They are cheap, they are dependable, and they do the job.
OK, they aint as good as a Landy on the rough stuff, but you aren't going to be dragging a bludy vending trailer down the chuffing strata florida in wales through twenty seven fords and rock scarps!
Worst you'd expect the thing to handle is a soggy field, which with decent tyres, frankly, a ruddy Volvo X-trail or Subaru Legacy could ruddy handle!
So, right here, right now, and ESPECIALLY as you mention taking out credit for start up, and with the way the banks are behaving, IF you want your venture to stand the best chance of success you can give it, spend as LITTLE as you can get away with to get making money.
Go buy a J or K plate Pejaru for maybe £1500, chuck some decent tyres on it for the soggy field syndrome, get the mechanicals checked over, keep the credit to a minimum, and spend your dosh on getting your pitches and stock!
If you want to go green-laning or do P&P's then go get an old series III or something as a week-end toy, and DONT risk your livelihood playing with the car you depend on for your living.
Any of this make sense?
When the business is showing profit, and justifying more investment, THEN you might want to think about a newer tow motor, or the LWB Vending van idea, but starting out, (and the rest of the time to be honest) simple secret of success is keep costs low, turn over high, and maximise profit.
Yes, a newer mota might, long term, prove to have lower running costs, but from a standing start, an old PJ will do the job, and you can buy two or three for the price of this Landy, which by the sounds of it, is probably MORE likely to give you mechanical gremlins.
In short, its not a 'Bad Buy', but for some-one else, not you.