Panel Van prices compared to MH

[sospan]

We have a couple of aging heavy duty Transits. Nothing wrong with them apart from being 9 years old they do lack some of the safety features like , lane departure control, emergency braking etc. However, looking around the usual suspects Ford, Peugeot/Citroen and VW, the prices are eye watering for anything above a standard size basic spec. A L3/L4 van H2 with sat nav and parking sensors is coming out around the price of a new F-type Jaguar in the £55,000 to £60,000 mark.

Yet looking at some of the MH's (e.g. auto-sleepers) derived from these, the initial price even when adding in the special packs don't seem that high for what you get for your money in comparison to the current van prices.

Guess we will be holding on to our vans for another year to see how the market changes in terms of price but also the move towards electric. However, the way I feel about "ad-blue" it may be a newer vehicle that goes first!

 

[poppycamper]

We have a couple of aging heavy duty Transits. Nothing wrong with them apart from being 9 years old they do lack some of the safety features like , lane departure control, emergency braking etc. However, looking around the usual suspects Ford, Peugeot/Citroen and VW, the prices are eye watering for anything above a standard size basic spec. A L3/L4 van H2 with sat nav and parking sensors is coming out around the price of a new F-type Jaguar in the £55,000 to £60,000 mark.

Yet looking at some of the MH's (e.g. auto-sleepers) derived from these, the initial price even when adding in the special packs don't seem that high for what you get for your money in comparison to the current van prices.

Guess we will be holding on to our vans for another year to see how the market changes in terms of price but also the move towards electric. However, the way I feel about "ad-blue" it may be a newer vehicle that goes first!

We bought a 2 Yr old ex demonstrator Movano (,yep I know not a favourite van for conversion. 8000mls H3 L4 twin rear wheel air con, rev sensors camera, sat nav cruise for £12000
Had it converted to our specs total price including van
£32000.
So what is not to like. Don't buy from ready made dealers who will sell you what they give and what they think you want..
Go independent and get what YOU want.
No brained..

 

[sospan]

Its great if you have the time to sift through the ads for some good deals. With a business, it is just too much time and effort chasing the stock around the dealers and then when you look into them many aren't that great a deal. When I was on our local Ford dealers site their only Transit a basic spec 2018 L2H2 model as 17,000 with 60,000 miles popped up. For me there isn't much benefit swapping a 9 year old for a 4 /5 year old with an unknown history.

I have seen some finance deals £20,000 + plus deposit , then 36 x £650 with a £20,000 residual with a huge 6,000 mile per annum mileage. If a firm is going to put that amount down, they may as well stretch to the full amount and have a simpler life - which would be so nice as would getting away from Ad-blue

 

[Cal54]

sospan - some of the small converters will source the base vehicle for you. A friend has recently picked up lovely conversion from Shoreline, near Beverley and the base vehicle is a 2018 Boxer with low mileage. Total cost of the whole thing was approx £41k

 

[DT]

I watched a van conversion review recently which cost £60k and to me it looked like a conversion with knock on door edge trims etc. it was a new start up company using a boxer as the base vehicle and it definitely lacked a few must haves. It seems that manufacturers are of the opinion that type of vehicle is what customers want or there is more profit in each unit. My choice would still be a coach built MH under 7m which is very manageable and can cost the same £ or less.

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[Hettie's Crew]

At Peterborough show we were looking at a company doing Ford Custom van conversions. Although we weren’t interested in buying we thought they’d been done very well. We thought they were a bit costly at around £55-65k depending on spec. Then we worked out, not openly advertised, that they were based on up to 4/5 year old vans with 15-30k miles on them. Low mileage for their age but still not a new van.

 

[sospan]

As you say at a lot has changed in base vans over the last few years. When one of ours was off the road we hired in a 19 plate Transit and then a 21 plate. The difference between the two was massive, even more so afterwards when we got into the 9 year old !

 

[uzsnowdrop]

sospan - some of the small converters will source the base vehicle for you. A friend has recently picked up lovely conversion from Shoreline, near Beverley and the base vehicle is a 2018 Boxer with low mileage. Total cost of the whole thing was approx £41k

I’ve watched Shoreline building a van when I was having work done on mine. Amazing quality and attention to detail.
The finished vans look great , your mate is lucky.

 

[Shoreline Campers]

At Peterborough show we were looking at a company doing Ford Custom van conversions. Although we weren’t interested in buying we thought they’d been done very well. We thought they were a bit costly at around £55-65k depending on spec. Then we worked out, not openly advertised, that they were based on up to 4/5 year old vans with 15-30k miles on them. Low mileage for their age but still not a new van.

I watched a van conversion review recently which cost £60k and to me it looked like a conversion with knock on door edge trims etc. it was a new start up company using a boxer as the base vehicle and it definitely lacked a few must haves. It seems that manufacturers are of the opinion that type of vehicle is what customers want or there is more profit in each unit. My choice would still be a coach built MH under 7m which is very manageable and can cost the same £ or less.

 

[Shoreline Campers]

I used to hate knock on edging and always used edge banding (the same method the coach built MH manufacturers use) that was until a customer caught the edge and damaged the panel, it cost him nearly £500 to have the panel removed and re banded. Its the same if you did it in a coach built other than I wouldn't think it would be £500 you could probably add another zero! I decided that all high traffic areas should be changed to knock on edging. I totally agree it doesn't look as good but is so much more forgiving.

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[Otter Spotter]

Its great if you have the time to sift through the ads for some good deals. With a business, it is just too much time and effort chasing the stock around the dealers and then when you look into them many aren't that great a deal. When I was on our local Ford dealers site their only Transit a basic spec 2018 L2H2 model as 17,000 with 60,000 miles popped up. For me there isn't much benefit swapping a 9 year old for a 4 /5 year old with an unknown history.

I have seen some finance deals £20,000 + plus deposit , then 36 x £650 with a £20,000 residual with a huge 6,000 mile per annum mileage. If a firm is going to put that amount down, they may as well stretch to the full amount and have a simpler life - which would be so nice as would getting away from Ad-blue

Carwow and a few other motor search engines let you set up your ideal vehicle and when one comes up as for sale they will notify you, that’s how I got a brand new Citroen Relay 6m fully specced high top for £14300 should have been £27000.

 

[EuroTrotters]

We bought a 2 Yr old ex demonstrator Movano (,yep I know not a favourite van for conversion. 8000mls H3 L4 twin rear wheel air con, rev sensors camera, sat nav cruise for £12000
Had it converted to our specs total price including van
£32000.
So what is not to like. Don't buy from ready made dealers who will sell you what they give and what they think you want..
Go independent and get what YOU want.
No brained..

What converter did you use ?.

I have yet to find a converter that will do anything decent with a SWB Sprinter (L1H2)

 

[dhall26]

Although new van prices are eyewatering, I bought a new Ducato for conversion just a year ago and the list price was was £50k and I paid £32k and that was a small discount compared to what the big companies get
The big cost with van conversions is that everything has to go into the van through the doors, which is so much more time consuming than a coachbuilt , where the floor is put on the chassis and then all the furniture, pluming, wiring and gas is installed before the big white box is built round the outside

 

[minesapint]

Although new van prices are eyewatering, I bought a new Ducato for conversion just a year ago and the list price was was £50k and I paid £32k and that was a small discount compared to what the big companies get
The big cost with van conversions is that everything has to go into the van through the doors, which is so much more time consuming than a coachbuilt , where the floor is put on the chassis and then all the furniture, pluming, wiring and gas is installed before the big white box is built round the outside

But the big white box is what gives you the living space, and toilet, and shower, and large bed that does not need to be made up every night.
It seems you get a lot more for your money with a coach built van.

 

[Crazylegs]

At Peterborough show we were looking at a company doing Ford Custom van conversions. Although we weren’t interested in buying we thought they’d been done very well. We thought they were a bit costly at around £55-65k depending on spec. Then we worked out, not openly advertised, that they were based on up to 4/5 year old vans with 15-30k miles on them. Low mileage for their age but still not a new van.

So true, you usually don’t know what you are buying when you buy a secondhand van. One of our self employed technicians thought that buying used was cheaper than new, so he purchased a low mileage transit that has been nothing but trouble. He now believes it was previously an airport shuttle van, so low miles but almost constant use, so lots of parts were already tired and that is presumably why the previous owners sold it. He now has a new Transit van on order but nine months in, still no build date.

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[Terry]

We bought a 2 Yr old ex demonstrator Movano (,yep I know not a favourite van for conversion. 8000mls H3 L4 twin rear wheel air con, rev sensors camera, sat nav cruise for £12000
Had it converted to our specs total price including van
£32000.
So what is not to like. Don't buy from ready made dealers who will sell you what they give and what they think you want..
Go independent and get what YOU want.
No brained..

The Movano is a Renault Master and would be my second choice to convert after the Seville vans. It is the second widest at 5ft 10 ins which is good compared to others.Not sure what engine's are used now/new but they had Soffin engine's which were bullet proof

 

[CazPaul]

The Movano is a Renault Master and would be my second choice to convert after the Seville vans. It is the second widest at 5ft 10 ins which is good compared to others.Not sure what engine's are used now/new but they had Soffin engine's which were bullet proof

Do you not like the Merc Sprinters, I would love a 5,9 metre MWB.

 

[dhall26]

But the big white box is what gives you the living space, and toilet, and shower, and large bed that does not need to be made up every night.
It seems you get a lot more for your money with a coach built van.

Whilst a lot of that is true, a lot is down to design.
I often think that the 'professional' designers have never actually lived in the vans they design.
Our latest conversion is on a Ducato L4H2 and has 2 single beds that double as seating, so the only 'making up' is to remove the backrest cushions . There is a comfortably sized toilet / shower , far more storage space than any professional conversion as well as a large fridge , cooker, microwave and kitchen sink.
We have so much more living space than our friends with their new (very expensive) Rapido van which is positively claustrophobic.

 

[dhall26]

Do you not like the Merc Sprinters, I would love a 5,9 metre MWB.

The trouble with Sprinters and most others is that they are 3 or 4 inches narrower than the Sevel vans and particularly in MWB conversions where a transverse bed works well that can mean the difference between a 6'2" bed and a 5' 10" bed

 

[Terry]

Do you not like the Merc Sprinters, I would love a 5,9 metre MWB.

Yes I like both Sprinters and Crafter's along with Iveco ( personal soft spot) but you have to have longitudinal beds so really need Lwb. If you can manage with a small shower/loo along with5ft 8ins bed at around 42ins wide and a camping type pod kitchen then a swb is good

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[CazPaul]

The trouble with Sprinters and most others is that they are 3 or 4 inches narrower than the Sevel vans and particularly in MWB conversions where a transverse bed works well that can mean the difference between a 6'2" bed and a 5' 10" bed

Yes but a lot of conversion have the longitudinal sofas which turn into beds when you want them.

 

[Terry]

The trouble with Sprinters and most others is that they are 3 or 4 inches narrower than the Sevel vans and particularly in MWB conversions where a transverse bed works well that can mean the difference between a 6'2" bed and a 5' 10" bed

Nearer 6 ins narrower

 

[Margsmit]

sospan - some of the small converters will source the base vehicle for you. A friend has recently picked up lovely conversion from Shoreline, near Beverley and the base vehicle is a 2018 Boxer with low mileage. Total cost of the whole thing was approx £41k

Leisuredrive conversions are good and they will source a vehicle or convert your own purchase.

 

[EML]

Nearer 6 ins narrower

When I checked about 4 yrs ago Sprinters were only about 2", I think, narrower than Mk8 Transits, but it was enought to rule them out. Besides, they're stupidly expensive with no obvious upside.

 

[Terry]

When I checked about 4 yrs ago Sprinters were only about 2", I think, narrower than Mk8 Transits, but it was enought to rule them out. Besides, they're stupidly expensive with no obvious upside.

When I last checked Seville vans are 74 ins wide(useable inside) Master's 70 ins followed by VW/Merc's and transits 68 ins but transits are only just over 5ft/ 60 ins at the roof .
Of course you can gain a little by using between the inner ribs but that is not very practical for self builder

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[Terry]

When I checked about 4 yrs ago Sprinters were only about 2", I think, narrower than Mk8 Transits, but it was enought to rule them out. Besides, they're stupidly expensive with no obvious upside.

But they look good

 

[CazPaul]

When I checked about 4 yrs ago Sprinters were only about 2", I think, narrower than Mk8 Transits, but it was enought to rule them out. Besides, they're stupidly expensive with no obvious upside.

Timing chains not belts is one obvious upside.

 

[mitzimad]

I used to hate knock on edging and always used edge banding (the same method the coach built MH manufacturers use) that was until a customer caught the edge and damaged the panel, it cost him nearly £500 to have the panel removed and re banded. Its the same if you did it in a coach built other than I wouldn't think it would be £500 you could probably add another zero! I decided that all high traffic areas should be changed to knock on edging. I totally agree it doesn't look as good but is so much more forgiving.

i agree knock in edging takes the most vunerable part or the build and adds protection ive seen lots of edge band peeling and chipped on second hand vans depends if your more interested in style or function

 

[poppycamper]

Timing chains not belts is one obvious upside.

Also chains on Movano/Master

 

[Terry]

Also chains on Movano/Master

I was reading on here somewhere that new Fiat's have now gone to the 2.2 pug / Citroen / transit engine ? That has chain not belts