LFGSS Camper Van owners?

How reasonable is it to expect to raise the value of a van through conversion? I'm weighing up options for getting a van for a series of trips in the new year.

One option is to buy a van ready to go and expect to make a bit of a loss by adding mileage, but my ideal would be to get a base van and spend some time converting it and make money selling it at the end.

I have no idea if this is a reasonable prospect, and what would be a good base as a starting point for doing so.

it depends on the quality of your conversion. A poorly thought out or executed conversion will mean that you lose more money than you would if you did a decent job. I doubt you'll recover costs of converting as there are loads of hidden costs if you want to do a decent job, even if you price your labour at £0. it'll take you time researching and doing the conversion, plus even the best plans have a habit of running over budget. On the other hand, you'll get exactly what you want, which is important particularly if your keeping it (less so if you wanna sell it sooner). I've had my OTP campervan for 7 years and am still fiddling with it, adding stuff and changing things around. I don't want to consider the extra ££ I've spent on modifications..

When you say OTP do you mean brand new?

The point about keeping it is a pretty crucial one. I don't think I'm at the stage of wanting a van long term atm, so the plan would be to buy and sell six months later.

I'm happy to price labour at nothing and it's more a case of hopefully adding value to a van by converting, but I guess you're right that there are so many different configurations that making something saleable is not easy.

Another option is buying something ready to go in Germany or elsewhere in Europe where prices are lower.

When you say OTP do you mean brand new?

Yup, I've got a VW California

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What do you want to use a camper for? Summer months or year round? Occasional use or multi week / months? What's your budget? Hard to give you advice without this info. Maybe one possible solution is to get a van with windows and that's been internally clad, or better still a caravelle) and add a RIB or rock and roll bed and a slidepod
http://slidepods.co.uk

If your budget won't stretch to that and you're looking for best value I'd be looking at a low mileage t4 that's been already converted.
Example: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192292010417

#vanporn

If your budget won't stretch to that and you're looking for best value I'd be looking at a low mileage t4 that's been already converted.

I want something like this. But I've no idea how to tell a pup from a gem. What should I look out for?

The base vehicle will just be like buying any second hand car, with all the usual pitfalls that brings. Though campers tend to have lower mileage for their age. As for the camper part, if you're going for a T4 there are lots out there so narrow down your search by listing what you want, 2 or 4 berth, fridge, stove, grill, sink, under slung or internal water, heater?
Look for one that's been converted by a reputable company. You'll pay a bit more but it could be worth it.
The season is coming to an end now but get yourself to a VW show, and see what's available.
http://www.busfest.org/tickets/day-visitors/

@freddo very nice van, is that Blackberry? We nearly bought that colour.
Went for this instead.

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Dark wood - it's a kind of pearlescent aubergine colour 🍆
Sitting on 18" sportline wheels, lowered 55mm
Who did your conversion? Any advantages over the Cali other than the LH passenger door?

@Howard are you still in London? I don't think a t4 will pass the LEZ tests

Some of the last ones were ok. Later TDi models. The lez online checker is good if you've got the number plate. I had to sell my beloved T4, those were sad times.

Nice.
We bought it ready built from Hillside Leisure in Derby. They had built for a Travel agent to display on their stand at The NEC campervan show.
We saw and bought it the day before it was shipped to the show.
It's a very similar layout to the Cali, I think the only major thing that is an advantage is it has a proper fridge. Other than that it's little details that just come down to personal choice. Though they Cali has exceptional build quality and some nice toys. Does yours have the electric roof?

Bit of a show stopper that...Thanks.

LEZ only affects Diesels right?

So 3.5L V6 Nissan Elgrand is free to enter the LEZ?

Yep.

Another plus for the Elgrand then.

Friends of mine on the IoW have had a very nice conversion done on a Toyota Alphard by http://www.northstarconversions.co.uk.

Hey guys.
I'm after some advice on bike racks.
I'm looking for a tow bar mounted rack that holds 4 bikes (2 adult and 2 kids at the moment). What's good? Or what should I avoid?
Basically what's the best way to carry four bikes on the back of a van?
Is there an option that will still let me get into the back door with the rack on?
Thanks

depends on the van. Thule do several models (927/929) which'll hold up to 4 bikes and tilt out of the way if you have a tailgate to open. Not cheap though. Atera Strada is also supposed to be pretty good. There are other towball mounted racks but I don't know about them, I have a VW tailgate mounted rack. I think Fiamma also do a tailgate mounted rack which is pretty good but these get more vehicle specific. If you have a VW T5 this is very good value

We've had a few problems with our van leisure battery and such and I'm finally getting round to trying to fix it as we'll be selling the van in 6 weeks or so...

Current situation:
The leisure battery is probably dead (previous owners had bought a refurb and it's since been left flat all winter after having a whole bunch of mechanical/rust issues that needed fixing), so we're probably going to have to replace that. The wiring is currently set up as so:

We also have one of these little cooler things that runs off a 12v cig lighter socket thing.

I figure I can hook up a 12v socket (similar to to this) straight off the leisure battery terminals to power the cooler while the leisure battery is disconnected without any problems (we also have a 12 to 240v inverter thing which I'll wire in for the next people but doubt we'll ever actually use).

My questions:
Would the 12v socket-on-leisure-battery work and the leisure battery charge while the batteries are connected and the engine is running, or am I better off bodging something to run the cooler off the cig lighter on the dashboard while the batteries are connected and the engine's running and then switching over to the leisure battery when disconnected?

If that's a terrible idea and anyone can suggest a better way of doing it both cheaply (jaycar would probably be the source of components) and in relatively simple terms that'd be great :)

@Emyr you know about batteries and stuff...

Glad I found this thread. My plan in the near future is to sell my car, raise more funds and buy a Sprinter or Crafter to convert it into a dayvan / stealth camper.

Also check out this https://www.instagram.com/vansoflondon/

I'm in a quandary...I've got a lovely 1979 bay window that I never use, and my main transport is a little kangoo, with spaceship miles, but it never lets me down (touch wood etc....!).
As much as it pains me, I'm thinking of selling bus, giving the kangoo to a family member, and getting a vw caddy.
This way, I can have a smart, fast little van, that doubles up as bike transporter when needed, part time crash pad, and there would only be one lot of MOT/tax/insurance...
I'm thinking that I would like to end up with something like this...

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vansofberlin has a few gems now and again

Don’t sell the bus. You’ll only be sad when you see how much the price rises after it’s gone.

Let the family member use/service/insure the bus and get rid of the Kangoo.