This is an account of buying a campervan, part of my Travel Stories series.
In this article
The Background
Our Thinking
We used to own a motorhome. We had always planned to buy another one – something smaller and more manageable. In fact, not a motorhome at all. We would have a campervan. We would use it to explore more of the UK and mainland Europe.
We had thought we would do this in about five years’ time – 2025 or so. We had planned to spend the years between now and then completing our ’60 to 60 Challenge’, 60 countries in 60 months between Mark turning 60 and me reaching the same significant age. We envisaged that we’d be spending our summers working in the Far East and our winters travelling in Africa, Asia, and South America. We were not planning on spending much time at all in the UK or Europe during those five years!
The Reality
Our hopes, like those of the rest of the population, were unexpectedly dashed by the advent of a global pandemic. The whole world was turned upside down. All of our carefully laid plans went out of the window!
Initially, we were stuck in Tobago. After three extra months in the Caribbean, we managed to get on a repatriation flight.
So it was that early in the morning of 4th June 2020, we found ourselves unexpectedly back at Heathrow Airport. It was at least a year earlier than we had planned to be there. Having sold our vehicle before we left the UK the previous October, we had no transport. We hired a car for four weeks to give ourselves time to figure out what we were going to do. We still thought we might be able to go to south-east Asia if restrictions were lifted fairly soon.
Back at home, we set about doing all the renovations on our home that we’d never had the time to do. As the days passed and the time to return the hire car drew nearer, it became clear that Thailand certainly wasn’t going to happen in 2020. Indeed, any air travel looked increasingly unlikely.
A New Plan
We thought about returning the car and living here without any transport. It’s certainly doable. We have all the shops we need within walking distance, a good bus service to link up with trains going all over the country, an amazing cinema on the doorstep (when it’s allowed to open) … and yet, the thought of being stuck here, not travelling anywhere (even locally when restrictions were lifted) was too depressing to really consider.
So, we needed a vehicle. But what should we get? We could spend a couple of thousand pounds on a runabout car and then let it go when we next go off on a long trip – whenever that will be. Or … we could bring forward our plans for buying a campervan. We could get one now. Then we could go wherever the easing of restrictions allowed us to. It seemed like a plan!
Buying a Campervan
The Search
What did we want?
The first thing to decide was what we were looking for. We knew we wanted a campervan rather than a motorhome. In an ideal world, we would convert a van ourselves and get exactly what we wanted. However, we had to be practical. We didn’t have the time or the money for such a project. We would have to look for something ready done – something we could just drive away.
We thought about what we needed on our van.
Most importantly, our van must be small so that we wouldn’t be restricted as to where we could take it. We set ourselves a limit of 5 metres long.
At first, I was sure we wanted a fixed bed. I guess I was taken in by those Instagram posts you see where the rear doors of a campervan have been flung open to reveal a stunning beach or mountain view which can be enjoyed from bed! However, as we started looking, we realised that this wasn’t practical. In a small van, a fixed bed takes up all the space. More important to us was having decent cooking facilities and somewhere comfortable to sit and work.
After lots of discussion and a few visits to local dealers, we realised that our essential requirements were few:
- maximum 5m long
- a toilet
- a fridge
- a cooker
- a comfortable workspace
- buy local
We set our budget at £15,000.
Where did we look?
We began our search online, but there is no substitute for seeing a van ‘in the flesh’ so to speak. To comply with lockdown restrictions, we made a list of all the dealers in our local area and set about visiting them all. We started with those we had looked at when we bought our motorhome a few years ago. It soon became clear that our choices would be limited. Everyone we spoke to told us the same thing – demand had gone through the roof due to the pandemic. With all the uncertainty around the future of international travel, people were buying campervans so they could get away as soon as restrictions were lifted. They all had similar budgets to us – they didn’t want to spend too much in case they decided they didn’t like the camping lifestyle!
It was quite depressing for a while there!
Then we found Dragonville Leisure through an advert on Gumtree. The company is very local to us, but we never knew it was there! Darren, the owner, seemed to have a good selection of campervans within our budget so we made an appointment to go and have a look.
Finding ‘The One’
On our first visit to Dragonville, we spent a couple of hours looking over Darren’s stock. We saw a few that we liked, but none that we loved! The joys of buying a campervan! Darren told us that he had three more vans arriving over the next few days so we left with him promising to call us when they came in.
Back at home, we talked over what we’d seen and realised that Darren had a few vehicles which we could probably make work for us. We phoned him and made an arranged to go back for a second look.
A few days later, we revisited all the campervans we’d looked at before. One by one, we ruled them out. Eventually, we ended up back at the very first one we’d looked at! Isn’t it always the way?
I had liked this one on our first visit, but Mark thought it was a bit old and scruffy. I agreed but thought we could do it up. After a second look, Mark agreed!
So, we paid a deposit on our £12,000 campervan – a 2003 high top Ford Transit converted by JC Leisure. We christened her Bertha – it just seemed to suit her!
Welcoming Bertha into Our Family
Darren promised a full check of Bertha’s interior, a valet service, a new MOT, some work on tidying up the paintwork, and a table to replace the one that was missing, so it was an agonising two-week wait before we took delivery of her. By the time we got her on July 7th, restrictions in the UK had been lifted a little and campsites had been allowed to open. We were itching to get going, but we decided to be sensible and give ourselves a couple of weeks to make some improvements and sort out any teething problems.
It’s a good job we did! Within 24 hours. Mark found that the heating and water systems weren’t working properly. We were really disappointed, but Darren put us in touch with someone who would do the repairs for us at his expense so we couldn’t complain.
Once everything was working, we spent several days cleaning and titivating. I made and fitted new curtains throughout. We fixed a blackout blind to the roof window. Mark fixed up a TV. We bought an awning and awning carpet. Mark put up hooks and shelves to help with storage. Gradually, Bertha became ours. She looked better and she drove like a dream.
There were still jobs to do, but we were eager to get on the road. We set off on 24th July for our first trip away in Bertha to celebrate Mark’s 60th birthday … but that’s a story for another day!
A Video Walk-Through of Bertha
If you like what you’ve read, PIN IT!!
If you’re travelling soon, please use these links!
Are you travelling soon? Use these links when making your bookings. These are the companies we use. It won’t cost you any extra, but we will earn a few pennies to help keep Happy Days Travel Blog going. Thank you!!
- Book your travel insurance with World Nomads. If you are a digital nomad or long-term traveller, try the specialist provider SafetyWing. (Never leave home without protecting yourself, your trip and your belongings!)
- Book your flight with Skyscanner
- Book your accommodation with Booking.com
- Book a tour with Tour Radar
- Book city tours and activities with Viator or Get Your Guide
- Check out our Resource Page for more companies we recommend.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click through for more information, or to make a purchase, it may result in a small commission coming my way. Please note that there is no extra cost to you associated with this. Thank you so much for supporting my site.
Join our mailing list
Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter. Keep up with what we're doing and be the first to receive special offers and insider tips.
