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).
Want somewhere to stay in New York for free over Christmas and New Years Eve? How about a penthouse apartment in Portugal for the weekend? Or maybe a historic farm house in the UK is more you?
We were lucky enough to come across Trusted House Sitters before heading to Europe and from this site, we have had close to three months worth of free accommodation. We were also lucky enough to spend time in some amazing homes during our summer road trip in Portugal, Spain and Switzerland.
Pros of Being a Trusted House Sitter
While house sitting may take you away from the van life, there are several pros that make it worth your time. Also, if you're like us and your van has a really simple design, then the following pros make it well worth joining Trusted House Sitters.
1. Access to a washing machine and dryer (or clothes line)
Before we got our first house sit in Lisbon, we had spent almost 2 weeks on the road. Due to some of the locations we were going to, and some wet weather, we couldn't hand wash our clothes so we had to keep paying to use laundry mats. The first was just a local town near Bordeaux. It was reasonably cheap but we had to spend a few hours watching The Walking Dead on Netflix while we waited. The second was at a caravan park just south of Porto, this was pretty expensive and cost us almost €14. What made it worst was we packed up and headed a further 30 minutes south before we released we left all our washing back at the caravan park.
After this we were lucky enough to time our washing days with our house sits so we didn't have to hang in laundry mats or pay any outrageous charges.
2. Access to a full kitchen
This may not be a great benefit if you're a creative cook and have a cooking set-up inside your van. We caught up with some friends for a couple of nights at Verdon Gorge in France where they had spent almost a month on the road and managed to cook every meal on their portable gas cooker. Us on the other hand are not as innovative with our cooking skills so having a full kitchen was of great help.
If your not a very creative cook then it may be worth investing your time YouTube cooking channels or cooking blogs, especially if your vans kitchen set-up is limited. As we spent most of our dinners munging out on a BBQ chicken or ham sandwich because we didn't really have the space to set up the gas cooker inside our van. So whenever we did get access to a full kitchen we made the most of the oven, toaster, microwave and grill.
3. Bathroom
The benefits of this are pretty self-explanatory. We spent a lot of our time throughout Portugal and Spain using the ocean and beach showers which were fine, however when we started heading further north where there are no beaches then you have to find a swimming complex and pay to use their facilities. The cheapest we found was €3/person in Italy, but you were put on a 3-minute timer and you could only pause the shower once!
4. A chance to empty out and clean your van
It's surprising how often we held onto unnecessary things during our road trip. We took the opportunity when we could to get the majority of our things out of the van and re-organize things. Having a short term home base came in handy when we returned to the UK and decided to do another lot of major renovations. The home owner was also kind enough to lend us a bunch of tools and his work shed to save us buying our own, cheers Peter!
5. Exotic extras
We came across a few of these in our time, because people don't like to put up all the details of their house to strangers there are a few things you only find out when you get there. For example, as I'm writing this we are staying at a UK farmhouse that was built in the 16-hundreds, the exotic extra? The owners have added in a 15-meter indoor heated swimming pool. Others worth mentioning would be the rooftop terrace overlooking the beach, surrounded by acres of beauty and the furry friends that keep you company, many of which we get sad to leave! So I'm sure you can find some of these during your travels.
How Does It Work?
To become a house sitter you need to pay a 12-month membership fee and then create a profile, from memory this is around $130 AUD but drops down closer to $100 AUD if you use our discount link. You can then search and apply for house sits all around the world, there are added filters to help make the search process easier, i.e. dates, locations, types of animals you want or want to avoid etc. Once you successfully complete a house sit you are able to provide feedback about your experience on the homeowner's page and then they are able to give feedback about you. This feedback stays on your profile and you gather an accumulative star rating as you complete more house sits. The more stars and reviews, the more inclined a homeowner may be to select you if you have applied.
Now while there are several perks of house sitting you still have to look after the animals and other house cleaning and duties. This may require you to take the dogs for a walk twice a day or look after a variety of animals, so make sure you read the sitter request properly along with any reviews in case it is not something that may interest you. Our tip is to find a house sit with only one cat, this way your duties are typically less and your free to leave the house during the day.
Several other 'bloggers' or 'YouTubers' have identified the freedom of buying a van and hitting the open roads of Europe. There are several things however to consider before you do.
1. Converted or Not
Do you buy a van that's already converted or an ex-work van that you can renovate yourself? In most cases, the van that's already converted will cost you more so buying the ex-work van may be the cheaper option. However, there are all the hidden costs of converting it yourself. The main benefit of converting it yourself is you get exactly what you want and where you want it. For example, do you have a bed going longways so you can sleep without being cramped then loose room space? Or do you have it running perpendicular to the van to increase room within the van and sleep with your knees bent a little?
2. Summer or Winter Travel Plans
If you are planning to road trip during both winter and summer, then proper insulation will be key to controlling the climate of your van. We have had several problems with condensation in our van - the first time lead to us unnecessarily removing the roof vent and resealing it. Another thing to consider is that the cold will influence your batteries 'current capacity'. For every 1°C drop below 25°C, you will lose 1% in amp - hour (Ah) capacity. So at 15°C a 110 Ah battery will drop to ~100 Ah and at 5°C it will drop to ~90 Ah.
For summer road trips alone you can get by with minimal insulation if you have a well ventilated van i.e roof vent, fans and the height of your van will all assist with this.
3. Tall or Short Van
Both tall and short vans have their advantages and disadvantages. Taller vans will allow you to stand inside the van making general day to day things easier. It will also make your van feel like less of a 'hot box' during summer nights.
Shorter vans have a huge benefit when it comes to parking as a lot of parking complexes have height restrictions from 1.9 - 2.3 meters, making it impossible for taller vans. In the smaller van however, you will likely have to forgo having things like roof racks or the storage pod on top. The negative of the shorter van is that because the roof is closer to your bed, you will get a good feel of the outside heat if the van isn't insulated properly.
4. Leisure power or Alternator
It is possible to road trip only using the standard 12-volt port in the car. You will just need to buy a USB adapter and possibly a some kind of inverter if you need to power something above 12-volts. Although, if you have the cash to spend, there are a few options for adding additional electricity so you're not likely to run your battery dead.
The first option is connecting a leisure battery to the alternator via a split charge relay. It charges the battery whenever you drive and stores the power so you can use it later when the engine is off. Depending on the size of the battery, it is likely you can get at least a days worth of power without turning the engine on. A great use when you decide to go off-grid! This what we used and the only time it would go completely flat was if we tried to run the electric esky for 24-hours. Below is a video of our set-up.
The second option is to use 'shore power'. This involves installing an outlet on the exterior of your van so that you can plug into an external outlet (primarily at camp sites) and store that power in the leisure battery. We have something similar, but ours connects to a 240-volt system instead of the leisure battery. That way if there is an external power source we can charge our electronics without running out the battery. We can also use the inverter to power this system so we have more 240-volt outlets. Again, below I have attached a video of our set-up.
The last option is to attach solar panels to the roof of the van. This can be used to trickle charge the leisure battery during the day. Because we don't have solar panels on our van yet, I can't really comment on whether it is worth the money or not. Make sure you keep in mind about the desired height of your van if you are considering installing solar panels.
5. Fridge or 'Esky' (Cool box)
Unless you're willing to buy fresh meat or milk everyday, you will need to consider getting a fridge or esky for your van. In most cases this decision will be made for you if you don't have the appropriate leisure power set-up to run a fridge/freezer. For those who already have the power capacity, having a fridge or an electric esky will surely save you from throwing away food every couple of days.
6. Indoor or Outdoor Cooking
Again this may be controlled strongly by weather conditions. Obviously its easier to cook outdoors on warm sunny days, so if your planning on doing a summer road trip in Southern Europe, then an outdoor option works well. If you're planning to go further North or during the winter, an indoor option may be more favorable.
For cooking, you can decide to use electrical devices such as a stove top, microwave and oven or you can select from a variety of portable or fixed gas stoves. If you have a good solar set-up backed up with a strong battery bank then you could use a microwave or an oven. But for most vans who don't have that kind of set-up, a gas system may be the best option. You will need to consider however whether to use propane or butane gas. While butane will produce a greater energy yield per cubic meter, I have also heard that it is less efficient during low temperatures so it is likely less favorable for outdoor cooking or as a fuel source during winter road trips. For these reasons we selected a portable propane stove. Portable was the best choice for us because we have a short van and little bench space. But when you get views like this its not so bad.
A post shared by YOUR DISCOUNT TRAVEL GUIDE (@cheap_travel_project) on
7. Water Storage and Waste
The easiest storage and waste set-up would be to buy a large water tank (we paid £5.87 for ours) and use bushes or drains to get rid of the waste. If this is the path you choose then you may need to look ahead at how easy it is to fill up your tank. I know from experience that there are plenty of places in France that are easy to get free water. There are some other countries however where you may need to pay for bottled water to top up. You can see in the photo above our water tank fitted under the bed and would slide just outside of the car. This way could easily fill up large containers.
Another method is to set up a 12-volt water pump and micro-switch tap so you can easily store the water tank in a cabinet somewhere. This way you can run a tap or hose outside the van in case you need to fill up large containers or want to have a shower.
