# Our Van



## michaellinda (Dec 8, 2009)

Our van Fiat Ducato conversion built by me in 1 year. Hope you like it.


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## watchthis (Dec 8, 2009)

michaellinda said:


> Our van Fiat Ducato conversion built by me in 1 year. Hope you like it.


 
Hi 
That looks great any chance of some pictures of the inside and the spec?
Bye for Now
Freddie


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## guerdeval (Dec 8, 2009)

Looks lovely, any inside shots? , I am looking to buy a van conversion but 
i seem to be drifting towards a van plus separate conversion as I cann't get one exactly right, and if I could they're absolutely exorbitant, on ebay now is a Ducato same as this one but by timberland and it cost £55,000!!!, the seller still wants £45000 ,how can they justify that much money??,


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## Firefox (Dec 9, 2009)

guerdeval said:


> Looks lovely, any inside shots? , I am looking to buy a van conversion but
> i seem to be drifting towards a van plus separate conversion as I cann't get one exactly right, and if I could they're absolutely exorbitant, on ebay now is a Ducato same as this one but by timberland and it cost £55,000!!!, the seller still wants £45000 ,how can they justify that much money??,



Base vehicle (£15,000) + caravan parts (£15000) + labour (£7500) + converter&dealer profit (£7500 ) = £45,000+ depending on conversion

I was surprised at parts cost too. Eg Truma Combi alone is about £1400 retail, though no doubt the converters get them a bit cheaper. But once having forked out his 50K including the dealer margins, Joe Public is naturally reluctant to let too much of that slip away on the resale.


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## guerdeval (Dec 9, 2009)

I hear what you're saying firefox but first of all there's a v.a.t content which you shouldn't expect to recuperate on vans and cars, I think its accepted that you lose 25% on new cars but motorhome dealers still ask almost new price on a year old van, I think I'' start carpentry lessons at nightschool


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## Firefox (Dec 9, 2009)

You are right of course, depreciation seems next to nothing on these vehicles, but the high price is usually justified by saying it's very low mileage and excellently maintained. 

It works both ways of course. Once you have made your initial purchase, you can expect higher resale values. 

But, although I could afford to fork out 40k, I don't really want to tie up that much capital. That's why I would either buy a good van 5-10 years old when much of the initial purchase overhead has been forgotten. Or do what I am doing, which is but a fairly new base vehicle (3 years old), and do my own conversion.

The basic carcass carpentry can be fairly rough and ready as it's the finishings which will count, and you can always get a local kitchen fitter or somebody cut/fit the worktops, panels, and the tricky bits. In fact I'd say have a go and do whatever you feel confident doing, and get pros to do what you can't piecemeal. I still think you would save 10,000-20,000 on a new purchase as you are removing the dealers profits element and starting with a better value base vehicle.


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## michaellinda (Dec 9, 2009)

*Self build*

Hi I bought a new van and used all the best equiptment I could source including vohringer lightweight ply hard finished both sides gas tank full leather interior truma combi 4 awning etc for about 32k.


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## guerdeval (Dec 9, 2009)

well I think its high time you sold this one and built yourself another now you've got the hang of it


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