Surfing Waves

how much did you pay for it? was it already converted? what is the insurance like? running costs? do you have to run a second car? can you tell i have a plan? hehehehe

Best bit of advice when buying a van is find out which type you want and what research as to the likely pit falls with a second hand one and what to look out for then go to the van auctions.
http://www.british-car-auctions.co.uk/

You'll save yourself a fortune.

KS

i dont own a van but my dad does we got a t25 semi high top for 1700 pounds, it was realy cheap. it was fully converted and everything, if you want to get a camper its best to buy one at the end of summer begining of winter, thats when prices are lowest

First thing is to decide what you want/need.

You can pick up a decent panel van (ie unconverted) for not very much. Then there's semi-converted stuff (panel van with a bed and cooker in it), then theres properly kitted-out campers.

You can buy cheap campers, but its a risk, as they're notoriously unreliable. VWs (T25s that is, like mine) tend to come in three price ranges -

Absolute rubbish - 500 - 1500
Okay but tatty - 1500 - 3000
Reliable and in good nick - 3000 - 8000

They're fairly cheap to run day-to-day - petrol consumption isnt as bad as you'd imagine, and insurance is cheap if its a proper camper (cos then it cant be used as a works vehicle or a bus). The only problem is keeping 'em on the road which can get pricey

And people sell camper vans just before they go pop usually, so if you're looking at getting a veedub, then take someone who knows what they're looking for with you.

I bought my camper for £900 and an ounce of hash a couple of years ago

There was a receipt in all the paperworrk saying he'd bought it for £6000 a couple of years before that................bargain

Was the hash part of the deal ????

S Boy wrote:Was the hash part of the deal ????

No, it was his bartering technique - after an ounce of hash, selling the van for £900 seemed like a fine idea

That,s a great selling technique, should of hung out for pizza and haribo aswell, might have to try that when i'm selling my bike...

I had a lovely type 2 vw, semi converted but I did the rest. The older VWs are just so nice looking. Make sure that you have plenty of $$ for petrol money if you are taking a far off surf trip. Paid 1600 but a fair bit more to do it up.
Insurance was quite good (I worked for Norwich Union at the time so got a good deal). If you are thinking of buying an older van it might qualify for classic car insurance which is generally cheaper (though they do have mileaga limits)
You can't beat a van for a surf trip.

I brought a 71 Bay window in Manchester last year, got 19 miles down the motorway only to find the engine explode on me.....

Make sure you take someone with you who knows ALOT about campers and dont get mugged like me!!

drowningbitbybit wrote:

S Boy wrote:Was the hash part of the deal ????

No, it was his bartering technique - after an ounce of hash, selling the van for £900 seemed like a fine idea

Ha ha........I didnt think of that

Probably could have got it for £600.

I had a customer in my cab who said "D'ya wanna by a campervan?" as we pulled up outside his house, to which I replied "yes"

He wanted £1100 and I made my offer of £900 plus the Afghan (from another customer) which was duly accepted.

He'd been given the camper by his dad.........his dad had lost his licence and the bloke I was buying from hadnt passed his test yet and wanted to buy a guitar with the money from selling the van.

And Shredder............I had exactly the same thing when I bought a VW, but I managed to get from Sydney to Byron (about 600miles)

I'd be wary of the old style VW's cos they have been about a long time and they've been well used and abused!!!

Iv'e always fancied a black van with a red stripe down the side, cos on the A-team they had masive amount's of space inside quite like the tardis.

Hmm, a Tardis...Do you know where they can be purchased? Only the micra is starting to look a bit small when I look at the mountain of gear for our weeks camping...and we don't even own surfboards (yet!)

350 miles with my knees round my shoulders me thinks! Unless the owner of Tardis is up for sale/part-ex?

And of course the great thing about a tardis is you can go back in time to when the break you're at was unsurfed!

kitesurfer wrote:And of course the great thing about a tardis is you can go back in time to when the break you're at was unsurfed!

I wonder whos this van was?



And the Blue panel van one in the back ground


And there was an orange one too.

Whos is it????

Hmmm, i wonder indeed. I can always rely on you for a blast from the past XS!
Might take a while but i'm sure we can find a photo of the orange one somewhere!

KS

Shredder wrote:I brought a 71 Bay window in Manchester last year, got 19 miles down the motorway only to find the engine explode on me.....

I think thats standard, they all do that, sir

ITs so so so so so easy to custom the interor and put all you need in to travel etc. infact its the best thing you could ever do to a van as the resulting conversion keeps the vans value well above what it would normally be. and you can do it all for under 500 for an average converion.

Don't think jsut do it. cause you can just stick and air bed/matriss int he back and start using it stright away esp this time of year.

As has been said, decide which modle you want and take it from there. Oh yeah blatently go with a Derv van way way better fuel consumption, will pull what ever you load into the back and still drive the same, cheaper to maintain. milage isn't a factor with desils eather. Jsut be sure to change the cam belt, oil and oil filter if you don't have the service histroy. then regualr oil changes every 5k and a new oil filter every other change atleast and it will go on past 300k no problems

Oh yeah and when it comes to Air cooled dubs. (t1's and t2's) then unless you've got alot of time and money don't bother.

Did KS mention Orange.

Here it is then...