Dept of Transport and Pop Top roof

Spike

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Has anyone converted a van into a campervan with a Pop Top Roof recently?

Is the DoT only accepting High Roof vans

Cheers

Spike
 
molly 2 said:
Why have they done this Confused . Com
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The official reason is so the emergency services can identify vehicles better.

That explanation makes no sense at all. I would not be surprised if the real reason is the amount of people playing the system and getting vans reclassified as Motor Caravans without actually doing anything to them by submitting internal photos of other already converted campers with their request (conversions on a year by year basis were going up 2 or 3 fold times I saw when I got the Request and Accepted volumes for Motor Caravan reclassification requests via a FOIR)
If you look at the VW Forums and see the number od people boasting about doing just that kind of thing you would understand (and I bet there are plenty of other forums where people with Transits, Renaults, Ducatos, etc, etc are doing just the same).

Reap what you sow....
 
wildebus said:
The official reason is so the emergency services can identify vehicles better.

That explanation makes no sense at all. I would not be surprised if the real reason is the amount of people playing the system and getting vans reclassified as Motor Caravans without actually doing anything to them by submitting internal photos of other already converted campers with their request (conversions on a year by year basis were going up 2 or 3 fold times I saw when I got the Request and Accepted volumes for Motor Caravan reclassification requests via a FOIR)
If you look at the VW Forums and see the number od people boasting about doing just that kind of thing you would understand (and I bet there are plenty of other forums where people with Transits, Renaults, Ducatos, etc, etc are doing just the same).

Reap what you sow....
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I would have thought the only way to get away with that was putting your number plates on an @lready converted van because when I did one of my vans you had to send pics looking in through the windscreen with plates visible and looking in through one back door open the one with plate on closed so they could see it in the picture then the various internal pics of fixed table, bed, sink and cupboards.
 
What is the advantage of falsely reclassifiying a panel, van to a motorhome ??
 
trevskoda said:
Insurance is much less, ie £200 for camper & £700 for com van, so some one wants a van just to take a bike to the hills or the odd dump run etc, see what im getting at.
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A commercial vehicle would normally have expensive business cover , cant a ex commercial vehicle be insured just for social domestic and pleasure
 
molly 2 said:
A commercial vehicle would normally have expensive business cover , cant a ex commercial vehicle be insured just for social domestic and pleasure
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Not in N Ireland, or at least thats what ins co told me years back when i tried, maybe changed now but not sure.
 
molly 2 said:
A commercial vehicle would normally have expensive business cover , cant a ex commercial vehicle be insured just for social domestic and pleasure
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The rules are different in Northern Ireland - there I think a Commercial must be insured as a commercial vehicle whereas in Great Britain you can insure for just private use - but having said that, a Motor Caravan is still much cheaper to install anyway in GB. Plus you can transfer NCD to a Camper which you can't to a van.
 
campervanannie said:
I would have thought the only way to get away with that was putting your number plates on an @lready converted van because when I did one of my vans you had to send pics looking in through the windscreen with plates visible and looking in through one back door open the one with plate on closed so they could see it in the picture then the various internal pics of fixed table, bed, sink and cupboards.
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I don't recall having to take photos that showed both external AND internal in the same shot on my conversions.
People would also thow a duvet on a load of boxes ("The Bed") and stuff like that. Conversions never get inspected by DVSA any more so the chance of getting caught was zero. And if inspection requested (never heard of it happening) I suppose the owner wouldn't bother arranging it (consequence? none - just no reclassification)
 
wildebus said:
I don't recall having to take photos that showed both external AND internal in the same shot on my conversions.
People would also thow a duvet on a load of boxes ("The Bed") and stuff like that. Conversions never get inspected by DVSA any more so the chance of getting caught was zero. And if inspection requested (never heard of it happening) I suppose the owner wouldn't bother arranging it (consequence? none - just no reclassification)
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Well I got the instructions from a gov website and they were very specific about showing the reg plate with an internal view and the only thing I cheated on was the fixed table as I didn’t want one I had to do a fine balancing act for the pic this was a few years back so maybe things have changed.
 
The fixed table is the usual thing that people who make a genuine camper have an issue with out of the rules (which are perfectly reasonable IMO).
on my first camper, I didn't have a table as such, but I had a worktop that slid open to reveal the stove top, and that worktop went over the seat - so I placed a plate, cup and cutlery on the worktop when open and that satisfied the DVLA :)
On the last one I did fit the classic centre pole with a tabletop to meet the requirements. The silly thing is my Motorhome does not have a fixed table at all, like many don't, and just a free-standing one, but that appears to be ok on coach-builts for some reason? (Although I will actually be fitting a fixed one shortly as it happens!)


PS. Like all things motoring in the UK, there are different guidelines to requirements depending on when you look. You will see some people that insist you need water storage and a minimum of two cooking rings because they read info that is actually designed for a different conversion audience. Neither of which were required to satisfy a Motor Caravan reclassification.
 
wildebus said:
The rules are different in Northern Ireland - there I think a Commercial must be insured as a commercial vehicle whereas in Great Britain you can insure for just private use - but having said that, a Motor Caravan is still much cheaper to install anyway in GB. Plus you can transfer NCD to a Camper which you can't to a van.
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I've never been allowed to transfer NCD to a motorhome/camper.

Can I ask who you are insured with?
 
Robmac said:
I've never been allowed to transfer NCD to a motorhome/camper.

Can I ask who you are insured with?
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I've transferred NCB between cars, commercial vans, and motorhomes. It all comes down to the insurer, although the transfer from car to commercial van and back again was many years ago, the last transfer from car to motorhome was 10 years ago.
 
Mine is still registered as van but insured as MH, can't remember what the price difference was, all insurance is top whack with my post code. Was once given a quote of over £5000 for a van. :ROFLMAO: Luckily don't pay anywhere near that.

Re, fixed table. Pretty sure it's only table mount that has to be fixed/permanent, not the table itself.
 
Re. insuring vans for private use:
I had a Citroen Dispatch bought new in 2001 that I sold on last year. I initially bought it for business use but needed social, domestic and pleasure use (SDP) after I retired, which was a few years before state retirement age. Up until three years ago (when I reached state retirement age), I couldn't get non-business insurance for that van via any of the usual comparison sites or three brokers that I've used at some point. Three years ago, I found several underwriters who offered SDP cover. Perhaps it was coincidence that I managed to get SDP cover only after I'd reached state retirement age?

Re. transfer of NCD:
I've transferred NCD from a car to the Citroen Dispatch back in 2001. When I bought the moho, I transferred the NCD from the Dispatch to the moho (and paid the increased insurance for the panel van) as the money I saved on the moho insurance was more than the extra I had to pay on the panel van. Each time, I needed to shop round for an insurer who would accept transfer of NCD between vehicle types. However, it's only for the first year as you keep the NCD with that vehicle subsequently.

The biggest 'gotcha'?:
For me, the biggest 'gotcha' is that insurance companies didn't seem to like 'part conversions'. I bought the Citroen Dispatch to use as a mobile office as I needed somewhere to set up a computer and write draft documentation for machinery and plant while on site. So I insulated and carpet-lined the back, fitted a table and installed a 12v 'leisure battery' system. Over two thirds of insurers would not quote for that van because it had 'unacceptable modifications'. So I considered going the whole hog and converting it to a camper. However, I found difficulty getting insurers to offer business use on a camper conversion and, as a full conversion would have merely been expediency to get around recalcitrant insurers, I never bothered!

HTH, Geoff
 
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