License to print money?

[Elgraman]

Covid helped inflate the price of campers, people thinking "We can't go to Spain for our holidays now so we'll have to holiday in the UK, ahh let's campervan".

^ 100% this

But that's in the rear view mirror, and flying foreing holidays are as normal with literally no restrictions.....yet campers still sell for huge bucks.

 

[ChunkyDave]

If you've got a spare £10K, you could get a top spec VW T6 Transporter, sub 15K miles, sub 4 years old, full conversion with pop top/heater, fridge, rock and roll bed, upgraded alloys, 3 years free servicing, full 2 year warranty (inc wear and tear). You might actually get change out of 10 grand thinking about it.

That's as maybe, but you are downgrading to a VW Could be worse, could go for an Alphard

 

[Elgraman]

That's as maybe, but you are downgrading to a VW Could be worse, could go for an Alphard

I was only joking, that hypothetical VW would be north of 50K.

Are you getting a 'normal' Elgrand after selling your camper? Or just saying goodbye to them full stop?

 

[ChunkyDave]

^ 100% this

But that's in the rear view mirror, and flying foreing holidays are as normal with literally no restrictions.....yet campers still sell for huge bucks.

That's because people discovered staycations. And enjoy them.. 61years I've been on this earth and have been to places in this country I didn't even know existed

 

[Holdfast4130]

Fair play if you live the "van life". Personally, getting a nice bus and taking out the comfortable seats in place of a bench with 2" foam and some "nice" faux leather cover seems daft. Don't even get me started on pop tops. Let's cut a big fuck off hole in the roof of an immaculate vehicle, and charge 20 grand for the privilege.

The market will be flooded with campers in a few years when the bubble bursts. Which may be handy with the way living costs are rising(although fuelling one throughout the year is equivalent to having a mortgage)

 

[ChunkyDave]

I was only joking, that hypothetical VW would be north of 50K.

Are you getting a 'normal' Elgrand after selling your camper? Or just saying goodbye to them full stop?

Saying goodbye to Elgrands, but staying in the Nissan family as eying up a couple of new shape Quashqui

 

[Elgraman]

That's because people discovered staycations. And enjoy them.. 61years I've been on this earth and have been to places in this country I didn't even know existed

Yes, that's true. I think what I was trying to say is I thought there would be some substantial fall in demand/prices once the flying market opened up properly again, despite some people liking staycations. That don't seem to be the case.

 

[Elgraman]

Don't even get me started on pop tops. Let's cut a big fuck off hole in the roof of an immaculate vehicle, and charge 20 grand for the privilege.

That's quite funny actually

 

[Tim C]

If you've got a spare £10K, you could get a top spec VW T6 Transporter, sub 15K miles, sub 4 years old, full conversion with pop top/heater, fridge, rock and roll bed, upgraded alloys, 3 years free servicing, full 2 year warranty (inc wear and tear). You might actually get change out of 10 grand thinking about it.

I wouldn't buy a stupid overpriced vw, I'd get something like a Renault trafic, Peugeot boxer, vauxhall viraro etc. Loads of really good ones around at reasonable prices. Cheap to run and cheap to fix. Not as nice looking as an Elgrand admittedly, but much easier to get fixed if they break. I have had tyre places refuse to even fit tyres to mine as the nut torque requirements weren't on their poster on the wall!! Wasted 2 whole day's of a holiday in Cornwall one year trying to get someone to look at my brakes when a caliper seized. Hopefully everyone else has better luck than me anyway!!

 

[Elgraman]

I have had tyre places refuse to even fit tyres to mine as the nut torque requirements weren't on their poster on the wall!!

THat's mad.

 

[Tim C]

THat's mad.

I wish it wasn't true, but it is!!

 

[Lpgc]

Wasted 2 whole day's of a holiday in Cornwall one year trying to get someone to look at my brakes when a caliper seized. Hopefully everyone else has better luck than me anyway!!

If it was in the summer a lot of garages in Cornwall will have been busy fixing broken VW vans... and that's not even really kidding

They all converge on Cornwall in the summer, dig out their old vans like T2's that they normally don't use much, set off on the long drive to Cornwall and discover things like the valve job they did over the winter wasn't quite done properly. On a single camp site I go to most of the vehicles there are VWs and many of the older ones engine bays are open a lot with the owner working away on them, then maybe next day there'll be a few AA/RAC / local recovery firms coming to collect some of them either to carry them home / take them to local garages.

Edit - I mentioned this a few years ago on another thread... I like to have a look around the campsite I'm on and sometimes if feeling lazy I'll drive the one way system around the site to get to the toilets instead of walking (saves having to empty the caravan toilet more often), sometimes there are interesting things to see such as Unimogs converted to campers, 5th wheel setups, different types of kayaks, ride on beach boards that are towed by kites (I forgot what the proper name), just to check out who nabbed the pitch I most like to book, etc etc. A few years ago I'd been doing this, pulled up outside the toilet block, a bloke aproached me and said "That sounds lovely mate". I said "Oh thanks, it's a bit noisy for my liking". Then he said "Yeah we've heard it because you've been driving around the camp eh... well it sounds lovely, the only problem with those Elgrands is they're ugly eh!". So then it dawned on me that he was probably a VW owner who thought I'd been intentionaly 'showing off' by driving slowly around the site with my V6 exhaust note when they all had diesels, told him something like I didn't think any van looked as good as a Ferrari but some vans were better than others in most respects. Then he brought up fuel economy and I told him my V6 Elgrand cost less to run per mile than his diesel because I convert them to run on LPG, mentioned the 240bhp, front and rear aircon, full leather, I owned more than one Elgrand and both together would cost less than his van that probably used to be a builders van, Elgtrands were designed as a people carrier in the first place not as a van...

 

[malcolmyz85]

Just looking around on sales sites etc, it seems a standard Elgrand may sell for, let's say 6k, for example. Yet a 'camper' conversion of the exact same vehicle will sell for maybe 20k.

You can get a pop top fitted by a company on eBay for well under 2k, cabinets maybe 1k if you include hob/sink, maybe then add another 1k for leisure battery, inverter etc.

The rest can't all be labour

Seems overpriced to me

be interested in the pop tops u found under 2k fitted ??? i couldn’t find one anywhere near for my e50 and looking at ones for my boxer , price 2750 , got a quote to fit boxer out , 15k for very basic upto 25k for a nice spec fitted (no pop top) so if not fitting out yourself expect to pay for it, even if doing it yourself parts are very expensive

 

[Lpgc]

DIY conversion of medium/big vans can be done on the cheap DIY, e.g. buy a written off caravan and take all the parts out of it... Cooker, sink, fridge, water heater, cassette toilet, even windows and insulation, sometimes even furnishings like cushions and curtains, table, shower tray.

The problem even for the willing capable DIYer is that even bare builders vans are expensive... because people want them to convert to campers.

 

[LeStempy]

As we all know, Elgrands have particular issues that should be addressed before sale to the novice motorist. There are plenty of good dealers out there that prepare their vehicles in a responsible manner, but there are just as many who don't.

It's a case of caveat emptor. These vehicles are now 20+ years old and if not treated correctly can fail catastrophically. Imagine paying £20k+ for your campervan that has been imported at a low grade and converted on the cheap, not undersealed or decatted etc. Six months later you could be left with a campervan with a written off engine and no recourse as your 'warrantee' was for three months and didn't cover those components anyway. There are places out there that do this, and tell you you'll get 30mpg.

If you know your onions then you know what to look for and can justify the cost if it's what you want, but there are unscrupulous folk out there who are happy to profiteer on the back of any fad.

 

[Nevillerover]

My lad has bought a big pretty new VW (is it a grifter or grafter or something like that) van and is paying to have it converted and I’m sure he said it will cost £50K by time it is done. Unless that’s just the conversion!

 

[Lpgc]

This looks more like a £50k motorhome... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325962358657

I have converted dozens and dozens of RVs similar to this to run on LPG.

I understand motorhomes are always a compromise in terms of size for convenience of parking, even driving around, versus comfort when you're parked up. But can anything small enough to be parked in a normal parking bay give you £50k worth of comfort?

Edit - Worded the above a bit wrong. If the van (not camper converted) would be worth say £25k, and you could just chuck a mattress in the back to sleep in it, is the extra £25k for a camper conversion worth it considering if it's small enough to park in a normal parking bay it will never give you £25k worth of comfort when you're parked up because it is just too small and cramped to give you that much comfort?

 

[malcolmyz85]

My lad has bought a big pretty new VW (is it a grifter or grafter or something like that) van and is paying to have it converted and I’m sure he said it will cost £50K by time it is done. Unless that’s just the conversion!

must be a damn nice conversion for 50 k , maybe that includes the price of his crafter

 

[WhatsThisFor]

I think they are Crafters.

Fast things for big Vans, first choice for DPD drivers.

 

[Redmeg]

Fair play if you live the "van life". Personally, getting a nice bus and taking out the comfortable seats in place of a bench with 2" foam and some "nice" faux leather cover seems daft. Don't even get me started on pop tops. Let's cut a big fuck off hole in the roof of an immaculate vehicle, and charge 20 grand for the privilege.

The market will be flooded with campers in a few years when the bubble bursts. Which may be handy with the way living costs are rising(although fuelling one throughout the year is equivalent to having a mortgage)

I know, crazy … do all that and what do you end up with? A fabulous camper based on a super van, and it worth 4x as much … madness