Help To Buy 1st Camper Please

[Clueless Camper]

Good evening, I am looking to buy a VW Camper which was converted in September 2019. The dealer selling the van cannot find out who professionally converted the van (not in paperwork). From my enquiries it seems that insurers want to know the conversion company name before giving a quote. Does any one know how I can find out who did a conversion. Thank you.

 

[Pauly]

That’s a tricky one, most established conversion companies will pit some form of sticker with their name or a model name on it, did you notice anything on the van ?
Failing that posting some pictures of the van may help and someone might recognise the conversion if it’s a set model layout from one of the established convertors

 

[Clueless Camper]

Thank you Pauly, I haven’t viewed the van yet but am taking a 8 hour round trip to take a test drive on Saturday. It is a van on Autotrader and the dealer isn’t a specialist camper dealer. Is there an common area where they may put a sticker?

 

[Clueless Camper]

Here is the ad.

 

[oldiebut goodie]

63 Pictures and I can't see a plate or sticker anywhere in any of them that helps!

 

[Pauly]

Same here, nothing noticeable on the inside or outside

 

[BognorMotors]

We’ve just taken a 17 plate 150 Highline VW-T 4-berth conversion in Mojave if you want a comparison. Details on our website tomorrow £37k

 

[St4n99]

It looks like it has the Sargent unit installed but can't see it posted in description , possible it's the ec155 judging by the control box , when I was looking at campers I noticed that most convertors that used this system didn't uses a battery to battery charger to charge the leisure battery as the Sargent unit has a split charge system already built in ,when I researched the charger it was pretty bad and then from this forum I learned that due to start stop system you need a bat to bat charger to charge your leisure battery to its full capacity enyway , so I would definitely make sure it has a battery to battery charger fitted as well as the Sargent system

 

[Clueless Camper]

Thank you everyone for your responses. It seems like the dealer hasn’t evlen done the basic research themselves. Oldiebut thank you for your Eagle eyes; Pauly thanks again; Bognormotors I will take a gander thank you and St4n99 I really appreciate you technical mastery. Doesn’t feel right so may look elsewhere for my first purchase.

 

[Pete C]

The supplier must know who they bought it from, and that previous owner should know. Explain your problem to the dealer and ask them to go back the previous owner.

Pete

 

[St4n99]

I don't have eny technical mastery am afraid , far from it if I'm honest lol, alot of what I have learned is reading posts on here, getting help from alot of members on here is priceless

 

[Pete C]

Thank you everyone for your responses. It seems like the dealer hasn’t evlen done the basic research themselves. Oldiebut thank you for your Eagle eyes; Pauly thanks again; Bognormotors I will take a gander thank you and St4n99 I really appreciate you technical mastery. Doesn’t feel right so may look elsewhere for my first purchase.

I think I would buy from a VW or general camper van specialist. This company seem to sell everything. The van doesn’t appear to have been used much either (look at the photos inside the fridge).

Pete

 

[Clueless Camper]

Thank you Pete C!! Apparently it was a conversion in September 2019 and I can see from GOV.UK it has been off-road since October.

 

[JasonW]

Try freedom conversions chorley, send him the registration number and ask him if it's one he's done.. It's right on his doorstep so could well be... Barring that get the garage to do more digging...

Also, do plenty of research as previous poster mentions. Is it fit for your purpose. Do you need solar, is it b2b charging, do you need a bench seat - they're not comfy on long trips.. Does it have the things you need... you could end up spending £1000's on top afterwards changing things...

I must of spent 6 months researching what to get and what to avoid before committing.. Don't let the impulse cloud your judgement... And good luck..

 

[Clueless Camper]

Great advice Jason thank you so much.

 

[Clueless Camper]

Jason thank you for letting moe know about Freedom Conversions