Would you buy a new campervan?

[Jet Cash]

I've been watching a lot of videos by people who own campervans that are younger than 3 years, and they seem to have a lot of expensive problems. These often result in bills of several £thousands, and the loss of the van for sometimes weeks. I bought a 15 year old van for well under £1,000, and it has been extremely reliable. I had to replace the clutch (transmission for you American guys), and I rebuilt the rear brakes. but everything else has been pretty low cost normal servicing. It doesn't have all the fancy modern enhancements, so I can do the work myself, and most of it can be done in a field if I have to. There is a bit of body rust, and I will sort that this summer. I can also customise it in a purpose built van suitable for a digital nomad.
So, would you spend an extra £20,000+ doe a more modern vehicle that appears to be less reliable, and more expensive to maintain?

[1715171342]

1715171342

[1715171342]

1715171342

[Mbitr]

I seriously looked at buying one 4 summers back, but decided against in the end. It appears that similar to buying a car you also have the added potential problems of the camper part. Obviously the chances of car problems are significantly  reduced when buying something new compared to a used model , but after hiring a camper an for a weekend, I discovered the camper part interior can be quite flimsy !! With teenage kids and a dog a few things ‘broke’ just from wear and tear and I was very surprised at the cost for these repairs.
Sorry doesn’t quite answer your question , but it was valuable experience for me before forking out a small/ large sum of money.

[BADecker]

I think I would buy a used on, or one that is not set up as a camper, and then convert it.

But why are the new ones so expensive and yet break down as much as they do? Two major reasons:
1. Expensive, because you make more money when you target your sales in the direction of the rich;
2. Break down, because many of the builders and sellers don't know what they are doing when they build. They have $$$ signs in their eyes. The wealthy can afford to take a loss if they aren't smart enough to do due diligence. And the poor might not be able to afford a lawyer.

[Jet Cash]

Well this thread isn't getting much interest, so I guess that there aren't many offgridders here

[Ucy]

I'll probably do thesame thing you did as long as the van can be easily maintained,  the parts are readily available (& cheap), the van can serve me for more than 2 years without easily breaking down, the van should be strong enough or in good condition, etc.
Besides I would avoid capervans that are too attractive/fancy to avoid attracting too much attention. I also don't really it to look like campervan. It should be like normal van.

[jrrsparkles]

Building our own is better than buying a new expensive van not only because of cost effective but it can become a greatest hobby of all time once we started working on it, I am kind of DIY person even though I may not use the product much but the happiness we get while making things is different which cannot be the same as when we are buying the same thing.

[Mauser]

So, would you spend an extra £20,000+ doe a more modern vehicle that appears to be less reliable, and more expensive to maintain?

Honestly, this is just too expensive in my opinion. I have been on a vacation with a CamperVan maybe 3-4 times in my life, while the idea is quite nice that you are moving your home around, it just too expensive if you only use it once per year for 1-2 weeks. Good friends of mine had a Campervan in the past and used it to travel around in Africa but once it broke down, they didn't buy a new one. For them if it just cheaper to rent one. One benefit of renting a camper is that you can just fly to the country you want to travel in and then rent it locally. This could save you 1-2 days to get there and come back. Also driving long distances with a camper is not the most fun experience.

[Jet Cash]

I bought an ex-RAF LDV Convoy crew bus, with fewer than 100,000 miles on the clock. It has a 2-4 litre diesel engine as fitted to the Ford Transit, so parts are easy to find. Although it is a 2005 model, it has and ODB2 analyser socket. I bought it for £700 with MOT certificate etc. It's rated at 3.5 tonnes, so I can add wood fittings inside, and not bother about the weight, and I've bought a new wood burner for the winter.

I hope to kit it out for solar powered mining using a Raspberry pi with USB sticks. That is more for education than revenue, as I expect it will not be profitable. I want to move into the van, and continue to get rid of properties that are millstones at the moment. I'll post some more info and pictures when the van looks a bit better.

[sandymandy]

I personally own a caravan thats 15yrs old and with little money you can make it look 10yrs newer, some paint , new drawers and ramaking the pillows. If you have the money to spend why not get a newer one? i would but i like mine and when its time comes i would buy a newer one and repeat