I've been lusting after a camper van for a few years now, there are lots of ways to travel and see the world but there is something about the campervan lifestyle that I find particularly appealing. I'm desperate to see more of the UK and have two young children who love being outdoors so what better time than now? We've been saving for a few years hoping to move house but the reality is that we can't really afford to so instead we've decided to use the money to fund a van - we decided we'd much rather make memories now than live in a house with a huge mortgage (we already have both of those 
). The budget is still quite tight (relatively) and I have been especially keen to convert one myself since being a parent doesn't allow me to have fun project cars anymore.
I'll admit that I did not do nearly enough research before jumping in, I under estimated the cost of vans and also got my fingers burnt (I still feel ashamed but you can read about here if you like I got scammed). I thought I could do it cheaper than buying something already converted but now I'm not so sure, at least we will have chosen the base van and converted it exactly as we want it.
I wanted a really good base van to start with, we're expecting to have the van for many years and I didn't want to start with something too old so based on my budget I was looking for a T6, I wanted a SWB Highline with DSG and decided a kombi seemed like a good option as I could replace my car immediately plus they normally had a few of the things I wanted like a tailgate, side windows and no bulk head to remove. They also all seem to be T30 and the extra 200kg payload is nice, most panel vans seem to be T28. This spec and price point must be the most sought after, I missed a few, deposits were being taken before I could even speak to dealers and after my "experience" I wasn't interested in a private sale.
For what felt like ages the same half a dozen or so vans appeared in my saved search on autotrader and one day I was playing with my search settings slightly, I think I upped the maximum price to see where I needed to get to before different vans showed up when a T6.1 appeared! I initially though it was going to be a scam, why would a T6.1 be priced right in the middle of all the T6's? Anyway I called the seller, he was very nice and the van seemed genuine, plus it was only 40 minutes away from me. The seller told me that the van had been sold but the buyer had to pull out (this was possibly just a sales tactic) but also knowing how quickly they go and that this was a T6.1 I decided to take a risk and paid a £200 deposit on the phone there and then.
Well it all turned out ok, I've never bought a van before, I've never owned a diesel before so it wasn't like I knew what I was looking at but it was a 3.5 year old van in the spec I was after and (just) in budget, so I bought it!
It's a 21 plate SWB kombi with DSG. It has 85k on the clock and a "FSH" - in quotes because this is an ex-lease van and was serviced in house. There was only one question mark which was if the DSG had ever been serviced, I was told yes but the paperwork only lists service dates and not the work carried out. I know some people would walk away from that but overall the van is in great condition so I was happy that it had been looked after.
I am honeslty ecstatic, it's a great looking van in really good condition and I love driving it. Every time we take it out I feel like we are starting an adventure and can't wait to have it converted so that we actually can. I would not have chosen silver given the choice but I did want a light colour so I can live with it. Also, I really did max out my budget as I had to pay the VAT so I'm hoping to do the converstion in stages over a year so that we can start using it as a camper next year.
Lots more to come.
). The budget is still quite tight (relatively) and I have been especially keen to convert one myself since being a parent doesn't allow me to have fun project cars anymore.I'll admit that I did not do nearly enough research before jumping in, I under estimated the cost of vans and also got my fingers burnt (I still feel ashamed but you can read about here if you like I got scammed). I thought I could do it cheaper than buying something already converted but now I'm not so sure, at least we will have chosen the base van and converted it exactly as we want it.
I wanted a really good base van to start with, we're expecting to have the van for many years and I didn't want to start with something too old so based on my budget I was looking for a T6, I wanted a SWB Highline with DSG and decided a kombi seemed like a good option as I could replace my car immediately plus they normally had a few of the things I wanted like a tailgate, side windows and no bulk head to remove. They also all seem to be T30 and the extra 200kg payload is nice, most panel vans seem to be T28. This spec and price point must be the most sought after, I missed a few, deposits were being taken before I could even speak to dealers and after my "experience" I wasn't interested in a private sale.
For what felt like ages the same half a dozen or so vans appeared in my saved search on autotrader and one day I was playing with my search settings slightly, I think I upped the maximum price to see where I needed to get to before different vans showed up when a T6.1 appeared! I initially though it was going to be a scam, why would a T6.1 be priced right in the middle of all the T6's? Anyway I called the seller, he was very nice and the van seemed genuine, plus it was only 40 minutes away from me. The seller told me that the van had been sold but the buyer had to pull out (this was possibly just a sales tactic) but also knowing how quickly they go and that this was a T6.1 I decided to take a risk and paid a £200 deposit on the phone there and then.
Well it all turned out ok, I've never bought a van before, I've never owned a diesel before so it wasn't like I knew what I was looking at but it was a 3.5 year old van in the spec I was after and (just) in budget, so I bought it!
It's a 21 plate SWB kombi with DSG. It has 85k on the clock and a "FSH" - in quotes because this is an ex-lease van and was serviced in house. There was only one question mark which was if the DSG had ever been serviced, I was told yes but the paperwork only lists service dates and not the work carried out. I know some people would walk away from that but overall the van is in great condition so I was happy that it had been looked after.
I am honeslty ecstatic, it's a great looking van in really good condition and I love driving it. Every time we take it out I feel like we are starting an adventure and can't wait to have it converted so that we actually can. I would not have chosen silver given the choice but I did want a light colour so I can live with it. Also, I really did max out my budget as I had to pay the VAT so I'm hoping to do the converstion in stages over a year so that we can start using it as a camper next year.
Lots more to come.
. If your wheel is shiney, it's filthy and after 85k mine needed a good deep clean. Using a leather brush and some Carpro inside I spent about 45 minutes scrubbing until it was as clean as I could make it and not sticky anymore. I've tried to do a little 50/50 to show the difference (left dirty, right clean):
