While this isn't 100% necessary, it is where we went wrong with our first van. We had around 9 months MOT still on the van and the MOT history was good with no real problems and only one fail which was almost four years ago. Our problem was AA wouldn't do the time we had off around work and we wanted to be there during the inspection. Turns out we had to pay another £700 to replaced suspension and get new breaks. Pretty sure we got scammed by the mechanic. This is why we highly recommend using the AA especially if you have no understanding of mechanics. The AA will provide a vehicle inspection for about £200 it will drop by ~£20 if you're a member. The test involves the following:
up to 156-point check for vans up to 15 years old
full inspection of body, mechanical and visible parts
checks for previous accident damage
up to 5-mile road test (depending on time, traffic and road conditions)
*Price will change based on vehicle, type of vehicle and location of the inspection*
For more information and pricing follow this link:
One of the best tools to use before you even go and look at a van is to look at the MOT history. All you need is the licence plate number and you can go to https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/ from here it will give you a break down of previous MOT tests that the vehicle has either failed or passed. You can also see things that have been marked down with a potential future problem.
**BE CAREFUL** just because the car has passed MOT doesn't mean everything has been check successfully. We brought a Van that had recently passed MOT (2-3 months earlier). However, there was no way it would have passed when we brought it and a lot of the problems weren't caused by short-term wear and tear.
What you want to do is go over the history and look at any reoccurring problems. If the driver side suspension has failed every two or three MOT's then its likely that they have just taken it to another mechanic. Because it's cheaper to pay another £55 and hope the next mechanic doesn't have a good look. Compared to paying for it to be replaced. You can also use this site to check if the vehicle has been recalled for any problems. Just to save yourself from the hassle of buying a van that will randomly catch on fire.
**Checking MOT history online has a database that only goes back to 2005 - anything before that won't be visible**
Buy this point you have picked out what style of van you want to buy (If not we recommend reading Van Conversion Part 1 - Seven things to consider before buying a Campervan). Your next step from here should be making sure you pick something out this is not only going have minimal mechanical or structural problems.
To help you do this I recommend following these next three steps. Each should provide a bit more information about the van and whether you're up to the challenge of either paying for repairs or doing them yourself.
The next lot of steps can be done alongside the first three, but its just as easy to wait to you have an AA report telling you what you're in for. It's likely these steps won't change your mind about buying any particular van, but they will let you know what other hidden costs are lying around the corner.
Insurance
Vehicle Tax
Vehicle Emissions (Driving in Greater London)
If you're from the UK then it's likely you will know what these are and won't need to worry about it. However, if you haven't held a UK drivers licence for more than two years then it's best to know what you're in for ahead of time.
MOT is the equivalent of rego in Australia. Unlike Australia, a vehicle can go any length of time in the UK without an MOT and there is no penalty or extra charge undergoing MOT again. It can cost up to £55 to get your campervan's MOT; it's primarily concerned with safety. I've outlined the testing areas below.
Lighting and signalling equipment
Steering (including suspension)
Brakes
Tyres and wheels
Seatbelts
Body, structure and general items. Includes body and components such as spoilers, bumpers and mirror housings.
Exhaust, fuel and emissions (unless electric)
Driver's view of the road
The majority of these things should be fine or easy enough to fix yourself for a reasonably low cost. For instead its possible to fail or faulty head or brake lights. The main ones that may require a mechanic to replace/repair would be breaks or steering (suspension), that's if you have no mechanical skills. Things like body/structure and driver's view you should look over before buying the vehicle and see if there is anything that may be a major issue.
Lastly, the longer the MOT already on the Vehicle the better, either its a lemon and you realise with enough MOT left to sell it on or you get enough time to get your money's worth before its times up.
We are using this blog to try and keep track of home much money we have spent on the Bob-Lee's (our van) upgrades and repairs. Hopefully this will help anyone out that is looking into how much it cost to do similar road trips.
For our 2017 European summer road trip we bought a 2005 Ford Transit that came with MOT until February 2018, holds a 240-volt externally powered set-up, two rear seats that fold into a double bed, removable table, an internal sink with 12-volt water pump, roof racks, bike racks and a roof vent. Unfortunately, neither of us know much about cars and there's a chance we would have thought again before buying this one if we did. But all seemed well on the test drive and the assessment of the clutch and oil so we managed to talk the seller down about £300 to £2,700.
Our first problem arose when trying to purchase insurance for the van. As panel van insurance can be very expensive, one online company quoted almost £2,000! After searching the web and reading other blog posts, Zoe found Down Under Insurance, for £659.51 we got third party with theft and fire insurance. Still expensive compared to Australian standards ($1127 AUD) although it was the best we could find.
Fold out double bed and 240-volt shore power system (Right-hand side)
We decided to do some modifications before heading out on our trip. We were lucky to be working at a high-school during this time so we had a a great range of tools and engineering teachers to assist. Special mention to the engineering tech Harry, if you have someone this talented to help out then half your battle is won!
Rear detachable curtain for extra space / privacy
Our primary concerns were adding privacy to the rear cab by adding in some curtains, making the storage compartments under the bed more accessible and adding in a 12-volt leisure battery system. I've linked in a video below of the leisure battery system and split charge relay.
For our first 'test run' we head to Manchester for the weekend to camp out the front of a friends apartment. After some hard rain during the night we noticed several leaks throughout the false roof in the van, the main one appearing to come from the roof vent. Following this, we removed the roof vent, cleaned it up and resealed it. All appeared good until there was a large down-poor which again lead to a lot of 'leaking' inside the cab (all over the new leisure battery system). To try and spot this continuing leak, Harry jumped on top of the van with a hose and put the roof vent to test. After about 5 minutes of continuous water, we failed to see any leaks inside the van. After thinking about it for a while we came to the conclusion that it was likely condensation during the cold weather leading to water building up above the false roof. To combat this we used an adhesive spray to stick some blue foam interlocking gym mats to the roof to act as the new insulation (pictured below).
The biggest thing to consider was it worth buying this van?
Accommodation
During our road trip we were away for 54 nights, we payed for three nights at a camping grounds ~£80, one night in a hotel ~£35 (£115 AUD) and spent 13 nights house sitting. Which means we spent a total of 37 nights in the van. if we had to pay for campsites for each of these nights it would roughly come to £25/night = £925 [$1573 AUD]).
Transport
The road trip lasted ~7,000 miles (11,200km), so to offset this I compared it against Busabout which quoted £318/person totaling to £636 ($1,081 AUD) for the same length of time. I also used an online fuel calculator to figure out how much diesel we used, it came to ~£630 for fuel cost ($1,071 AUD).
Calculations
So in total we spent around £5623.13 ($9559.32 AUD) on the van and for travel expense (not including food). Then I've taken away the money we have saved by road tripping in the van, in total this means that it cost £4,062.13 ($6,905 AUD). Which is a saving of £1561 ($2,653.70 AUD).
