Vans was returned as Member of Parliament for Wigtownshire at the 1710 general election but was unseated on petition on 3 March 1711. He was on half-pay by 1714 and became a Burgess of Glasgow and Ayr in 1714. He married Barbara McDowall daughter of Patrick McDowall of Freugh, Wigtown as his second wife at the age of 60 on 28 February 1715.
