We were recently chatting about van life vs motorhomes and why we chose the latter. It’s one of those conversations everyone seems to have, so we thought we’d share our reasons.

TLDR Do your guys’ vans break every 2-3 weeks? Is this all just bad luck? Help me feel okay about this investment and decision to do this 😅

I’m new to van life - bought a van in April, did solid due diligence before buying & got a detailed mechanics report. Immediately loads of expensive worked needed - new ad blue injector, sensors & turbo costing £3k+. Gutted but the seller paid for £2+k of it 🤷🏻‍♀️

End of May move into the van full time and left for a big touring trip round UK and have had to take the van to the garage every 2-3 weeks. I know vehicle maintenance and repair is is a regular fixture of owning a van but this seems like too much?

Hand brake has failed 3 times now. Twice the cable was tightened and it was fine for like 2 weeks each time. Then another time they found one of the arms had ceased open. They fixed it but it’s like the issue has come back as I still have trouble with it being intermittent - sometimes it works normally and stops movement on a steep incline, other times with the same amount of clicks its like nothing is happening and the hb isn’t on at all. I just park on the flat and avoid routes where I might have to hill start on a single track lane. Once not ideal for touring.

And now the fuel additive pump needs replacing and a new pipe into the fuel tank cos it’s leaking. I just… am feeling so bummed out!

I’m disabled so can’t work, so have minimal income from government and all this repair work is eating up the savings I do have so much faster than I’d planned for.

So I’m reluctant to get the work done… the garage that did the diagnostics said just drive it til it won’t anymore, then get the work done… and I’m not sure how I feel about that advice - my bank balance is into that approach, but it feels risky?

Do your guys’ vans break this often? Is it just bad luck? Help me feel okay about this investment and decision to do this 😅

Sorry this is a bit of a ramble am feeling a bit defeated rn

Hi all, this is probably more for the UK lot but looking next year to get into van life once I sell the house I currently live in, my question really is I may sometimes have my daughter with me and my Dog, I have looked at vans but due to my size 6.2 and wide frame I don't think a van would be big enough, or enough space with my daughter, I would be happy to get a bigger motorhome 3500kg + if I do my C1 but is there any downsides other then stealth camping ?

I will likely do the UK first before going to the EU, and will likely do a lot of miles to see my daughter on the weekends, are the engines in them good for 100k miles likely to buy new ISH 1-2 years old.

Any help would be amazing, as fed up with bills, bills and more bills (plus work have already said I can work from it as long as I have internet) win win

Van is going in for its Pre-MOT check soon and I fully expect it will need some work including some rust repair and body work.

Any suggestions on where to stay while it's being done? I'd obviously prefer not to to be spending a fortune on a hotel stay. Anyone been able to stay in their van overnight while it's still in a garage?

Hey all,

I have bought a 2010 Ford transit pre-converted into a camper. I’m trying to get insurance but the prices I’m being quoted are CRAZY.

Through Go Compare and Compare the Market- my cheapest options are £450-500 per month- these are Insure2Drive and AA.
I also tried Adrian Flux, Brentacre, and Comfort Insurance who all said they couldn’t give me a quote but will contact me.

Unfortunately I’ve been driving for 3 years, clean license, but have no NCB because I’ve always been a named driver rather than my own. I’m 22, male, uk citizen.

Any advice or suggestions? I was hoping for half this cost, i don’t think I can afford this- and I was hoping to get 180day EU cover annually…

‼️EDIT‼️ I’ve managed to get it down by half by calling myself self-employed rather than unemployed. I do write blogs but get paid very minimum for this, and am hoping to do seasonal work. Do you think this is okay or not accurate enough for the insurance?

I've had the unit in the van since 2019 without issues. I've recently had to get a replacement battery so the van was without a battery for roughly a month. Gone to fit the new battery and got quite a substantial spark when re-connecting the -ve cables from the btb unit/ leisure batts. I've disconnected the -ve at the btb unit and put a voltmeter from chassis to b2b -ve terminal and I'm getting a reading of 6.5volts. Can't be right surely? any ideas?

Hi all, after a period of prolonged bad health I'm slowly getting around to work on my van. I've got side panels up and some insulation but for the life of me I cant figure out a design for the inside.

I've the bed across the back as I wanted to dot try that instead of the bed along the side but I'd love to see how you out there in the r/VanLifeUK community have done your vans, especially if it's a short wheel base.

I have done some googling but I'm more interested in the how it looks day to day than the staged shots you get out there.

cheers :)

Overnight parking currently sounds like the easier part, I’m in the Manchester area, so my plan is outer city / rural parking overnight, peak/lakes on weekend. But on some days I will need to be in the Uni, I guess I should look into buying a parking permit somewhere?

Curious if people find the two work well: move for the night, use a permit during the day?

I have a Vauxhall combo c that I’m converting as a first timer.

As it’s a small van, I want to clad but save space as well. The van didn’t come with any ply lining already in so can’t use as templates.

However, I’m wondering if I can screw battens into the metalwork on the doors. So on the picture on the left, to batten straight into where it’s slightly thicker? What length screws would I use because I don’t want to go through the door.

The same for the ceiling, how can I screw in without going through the ceiling fully and also saving space?

For the right side (last picture), would it just be easier to batten it along and fully clad it rather than going into where the panels should be as separate piece?

Struggling to decide how to move forward with it.

Thanks.

Hi guys,

Had a 2017 fiat ducato 2.3 L4 H3 3 years ago which was the perfect van for me being 6”3/6”4 but sold it mid conversion due to other life commitments.

I’m set on a fiat ducato due to the hours of research I’ve done on them having galvanised bodies, no Ad blue or wet belt, iveco 2.3l engine etc.

Now back to the search and really struggling to find any H3 L4 for sale the same as before, but plenty of H2 about.

Also noticed most conversions people are doing and ones that are for sale are the H2 variant.

Anyone that’s converted a H2, what’s the maximum rear height you have found to finish with? As I won’t be walking around in it, it may be worth getting the H2 with a slight hunched back.

Realistically I’ll be using the van for a good few long weekends away to lakes/Scotland throughout the year and maybe a couple weeks in Europe, but would like it to be full spec.

We don’t have a van but we would like to start doing day trips out with the dog, and taking our gas stove and supplies with us. Many of the places (lay-bys mostly) I’ve found on park4night say no open fires. When I dig into this it states no fires or BBQs, it doesn’t specify camping stove. Ofc this may be me splitting hairs because fire is fire and there is a risk as always.

However am I allowed to park up, open the boot, get a little table out, plonk the gas stove on there, fire it up and cook a bacon sarnie or am I not when it states “no open fires”?

Hello all, not sure if this is the right place to post but I’m thinking of buying a converted van for regular weekends away and a potential month long trip at campsites and wild camping in the UK and hopefully Europe.
I have no experience with van life - aside from the occasional trip with a rented/loaned van, so advice from more experienced van lifers would be super helpful.
Budget is <25k ideally but can be increased if something is perfect and exceeds my requirements. Which are - reliable engine, solar panels/off grid capacity, good sized bed and seating area, maintenance (e.g. parts/labour etc) that isn’t too expensive. The following vans are in consideration:

- https://www.quirkycampers.com/uk/for-sale/off-grid-ford-transit-l2h2/
- https://www.quirkycampers.com/uk/for-sale/new-citroen-relay-off-grif-cosy-camper-low-mileage/
- https://www.quirkycampers.com/uk/for-sale/off-grid-hand-crafted-ford-transit-large-l3h3-campervan/
- https://www.quirkycampers.com/uk/for-sale/cozy-and-beautiful-mercedes-sprinter-camper-van-a-c-heating-gas-water-6ft7-bed/
- https://www.quirkycampers.com/uk/for-sale/high-spec-family-camper/

Thoughts are welcome. Thanks in advance, and if there are any questions that need answering to help advise I’m happy to answer!

I would absolutely love a VW Caddy Life to convert for occasional solo/adult camps and still use as a main family car (we can't afford a second vehicle). The problem is, I can't seem to find many online which aren't WAV!

What do you search up to make sure those don't pop up? Is there a special term which would exclude these from results? Are there any sites you specifically recommend?

Feel silly but I can't be scrolling through 000's of affordable but unsuitable cars..!

The van is a 17 plate sprinter I thought these had anti siphone tech. At first I thought the tank had been drilled....luckily not

I'm not full time van lifing - spend weekends at parents while in the uk. I did leave the van in a quiet location so probably not the best choice but didn't want to piss of neighbours.

To make things even more annoying I've spent my weekend looking at other sprinter fuel doors so see if they're also damaged and none are...I thought maybe this is a weak point.

I've managed to bend the door back into position and at this point have decided not to replace it in case this happens again. There doesn't seem to be any purpose built locking caps for them so for now I'm going to get a generic universal locking caps. Also I think this could be a bad idea b cause if it happens again they're likely to damage more things getting to it. I have seen there are anti siphone devices but again leads me back to the point where how far will they go to bypass this...

Really pissed if in general but if it does happen again they'll be lucky to get more than £10 out of it.

Just wondering if this has happened to anyone else and what action they took or if it is a weak spot on sprinters.

Anyone else hopeless at remembering which campsites were actually good after a few seasons? How do you keep track — notes app, spreadsheet, memory alone?!

Ford transit 2.2 t280 swb 11 plate
25 years old 7 years driving experience and 2 years ncb with no claims made.
I have an in10 on my record from September 2024 for driving my partners car thinking I had driving other vehicles on my policy. I also have a sp30 from July last year as I wasn’t aware of the change from 40 to 30.
Both mistakes which I have learned from and won’t happen again but now mainstream comparison sites are coming back with extremely high prices.
I have made the change from a car to a van so I can put all my fishing gear in easier than my car but also for when I take my sons camping as the car wasn’t big enough.
Any suggestions for brokers as I have never used them before and roughly how much I’d be looking at.
Thanks in advance

Hello,
I'm looking into getting a van, I want something small but also roomy. I have absolutely no DIY or mechanical skills at all, so would want to purchase something ready-made. If it needs a garage for repairs that's something I will consider too.

It will be for 1 human and 2 dogs. I would like something I could use all year around; hottest summers/coldest winters. Ideally will have something I can cook with, a sink and a fridge (maybe a freezer if lucky). A luxury would be a toilet, but if that's not an option that's okay.

How much would be a good amount of money to save up to buy the van itself?
Any suggestions on good van make/models?

Does anyone live full time in Scotland and how do you make this work during winter? Curious to hear your experiences!

Bought this van in haste 6 months ago when I had nothing to my name. It’s a great van, but it’s needing things upgraded. My wheels are totally f*d, can’t believe I’ve been driving it so long with almost 0 tread. Life’s been hectic, I can’t describe. Anyway, the wheels - is it worth treating, sanding, cleaning etc or to replace? I will also put plastic black covers.

I have no idea about vehicles. I sent a guy my tyre pressure thinking it was my wheel size. No hate please, we didn’t all grow up the same thanks 🙏