Welcome. I did about ten years or reading, killed two cars on looking at stuff. I then read on a forum to look for a local converter. So discussed my options with a couple of places here in Kent. One of whom didn’t come to anything.
However my break through was when I hired one from Big Blue Campers in Maidstone Kent. I took it away for a week. The owner Nick, told me where some of his vans came from, so I went down to the place in Ashford. So forty miles at most from home after all the travelling, and bought my van.
The Dub Hut in Ashford are talking on their website, or Instagram about doing a hire before you buy with them arrangement. So explore that to define what you want.
Hiring first, I worked out what I could live with, and what I couldn’t. My wife and I drew up a list of what we needed in a van, and what we could tolerate until we had more money. So air con was a must, as was a diesel heater. But we accepted a double front seat rather than a single captains chair for the queen.
Anyway that’s my tenpence worth. It worked for me, and broke my deadlock on getting a van. Although I accept I had been saving for twenty years to do it.
Hope this helps you out, and anyone else who stumbles on this.