Jameshow
Veteran
I come to realise that those garages with many cars on the forecourt after hours are to be avoided..
Those are the cars they cannot fix and yours will be next.
Converted van - repair costs and selling query.
- Thread starter Time Waster
- Start date
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I come to realise that those garages with many cars on the forecourt after hours are to be avoided..
Those are the cars they cannot fix and yours will be next.
lol - never thought about it that way!
Time Waster
Veteran
No tools for a van and no interest in fixing engines at all. My view is not knowing what I'm doing means several times longer to fix than the garage, chances of messing up high and risk of buying the wrong parts through lack of knowledge.
Even my dad and my father in law wouldn't do this job and my FiL was a mechanic until retrained as a fitter in oil and gas sector with periods on marine engines too. Basically big engines! My dad used to do a lot with our cars when I was a kid. That soon stopped when engines got more complex and difficult to work on. He had his own ramps and the hand tools to do the work back then.
I also have a local garage with a good local rep that we've been using for 3 years so far without issues. That's who is doing the work, soon I hope. He's trustworthy according to locals I've spoken to about garages round here, locals tend to go there unless they've got new cars on payment terms and need main dealers. It's just things seem so much more than the old £300-400 that most things seemed to cost when needed. Guess turbo, pump and access issues account for that but it's still a big jump and shock!
Even my dad and my father in law wouldn't do this job and my FiL was a mechanic until retrained as a fitter in oil and gas sector with periods on marine engines too. Basically big engines! My dad used to do a lot with our cars when I was a kid. That soon stopped when engines got more complex and difficult to work on. He had his own ramps and the hand tools to do the work back then.
I also have a local garage with a good local rep that we've been using for 3 years so far without issues. That's who is doing the work, soon I hope. He's trustworthy according to locals I've spoken to about garages round here, locals tend to go there unless they've got new cars on payment terms and need main dealers. It's just things seem so much more than the old £300-400 that most things seemed to cost when needed. Guess turbo, pump and access issues account for that but it's still a big jump and shock!
Time Waster
Veteran
Oh SHOOT! Now we have been told whole engine needs replacing. Due to oil pump failure, turbo failure and now engine failure as it locks up, new turbo and oil pump on but due to oil starvation the engine now needs replacing. Extra £1700 or so!
The question is considering it's a professional part conversion campervan with a new engine, oil pump and turbo, once repaired. Should we keep it or sell it in case it's going to get worse? Trouble is, it's nice having the van but we're simply not using it as a van. So the thought is sell or not.
As a plain van current prices indicates about 11grand. Anyone know how part conversion done by a pro converter would affect that list price?
The other question is, if we got 11 grand, cleared the 5k costs, that's 6k for a new vehicle. We'd need a decent volume to the car, I doubt we'd get a van, so what's a good vehicle for 6k these days? It seems mostly soda, astra, insignia and dacia logan in 70k to 200k mileage with 2016 plate at 6k! Doesn't appeal somehow,
Advice desperately needed. Not big car fans and only driving 6.5k a year these days.
The question is considering it's a professional part conversion campervan with a new engine, oil pump and turbo, once repaired. Should we keep it or sell it in case it's going to get worse? Trouble is, it's nice having the van but we're simply not using it as a van. So the thought is sell or not.
As a plain van current prices indicates about 11grand. Anyone know how part conversion done by a pro converter would affect that list price?
The other question is, if we got 11 grand, cleared the 5k costs, that's 6k for a new vehicle. We'd need a decent volume to the car, I doubt we'd get a van, so what's a good vehicle for 6k these days? It seems mostly soda, astra, insignia and dacia logan in 70k to 200k mileage with 2016 plate at 6k! Doesn't appeal somehow,
Advice desperately needed. Not big car fans and only driving 6.5k a year these days.
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Jody
Stubborn git
Campers are at a premium currently and it's a sellers market.
My dad sold his Renault Master after 11 years ownership for a profit. The dealer who took it in put 6K on the price and it sold it within a couple of weeks.
Edit - Unlucky on the oil pump failing. Awful being handed that much of a bill to get mobile again.
My dad sold his Renault Master after 11 years ownership for a profit. The dealer who took it in put 6K on the price and it sold it within a couple of weeks.
Edit - Unlucky on the oil pump failing. Awful being handed that much of a bill to get mobile again.
Time Waster
Veteran
I take it is worth getting mobile even if selling it then?
It has pop top roof with 2 berths, rock and roll beds (crash tested design), lined out, floored, led lights, diesel heater, silverscreena front screen cover, two passengers side and one drivers side windows ( one on each side is sliding and they're flush fitting ones not those framed motorhome style). All colour coded to the nice blue colour. Decent nick if you exclude the engine issues!
It doesn't have a kitchen so more day van plus than a full campervan. I wonder how the likely selling price would be compared to the panel van it was originally? Do you know where to get a rough valuation before look into selling it? If we do of course.
It has pop top roof with 2 berths, rock and roll beds (crash tested design), lined out, floored, led lights, diesel heater, silverscreena front screen cover, two passengers side and one drivers side windows ( one on each side is sliding and they're flush fitting ones not those framed motorhome style). All colour coded to the nice blue colour. Decent nick if you exclude the engine issues!
It doesn't have a kitchen so more day van plus than a full campervan. I wonder how the likely selling price would be compared to the panel van it was originally? Do you know where to get a rough valuation before look into selling it? If we do of course.
Jody
Stubborn git
Definitely. The person who buys it will be doing just that but taking the profit.
It sounds like a nice vehicle. Do you know who did the conversion?
It's very much still a sellers market it will sell if priced right and advertised well. Being a day van will limit in some ways your market but equally. it's a growing tread for many wanting to go camping with most of the house. Once at site they throw it all in the awning and never dream of cooking in the van. So much more likely to go for day vans. £11k is not a bad price for a day van yours is a pop top which is in its favour as most days vans are not.
Our van is a vivaro too 08 plate it was to start with priced at 12K but had low milage and 2 owners. Fully serviced, newly fully converted, had little use and it's a high top.
Have a look on eBay to give you an idea of pricers and to see what over priced crap looks like.
https://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/ maybe worth a look and ask on the forum its a nice friendly site.
Our van is a vivaro too 08 plate it was to start with priced at 12K but had low milage and 2 owners. Fully serviced, newly fully converted, had little use and it's a high top.
Have a look on eBay to give you an idea of pricers and to see what over priced crap looks like.
https://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/ maybe worth a look and ask on the forum its a nice friendly site.
Fastpedaller
Über Member
Can you get another complete engine from a 'recycling' place? ..... Need to check if it would work with the ECU maybe?
Jody
Stubborn git
The main thing to watch for on this engine type if going second hand is injectors siezed in the head.
Jameshow
Veteran
There is a specialist Renault breakers in the north east. They will have them s/h and quite possibly fit it for you if you get it to them.
Time Waster
Veteran
We got a Morecambe based company called Van Bodies. They've been around for years working in various fields. Their biggest earner is commercial / Industrial conversions. They do very large Industrial fleets in million pounds plus contracts and always have about 6 to 8 vans being converted.
I've been shown the vans in there when we first looked into it, before we got our base van. The vans close to going out were amazing! One was for a couple, one of whom was disabled so needed better access and even down to getting the van heated before they got there iirc. They had a clicker to unlock and switch the heating on from a distance, plus accessibility aids to get in. All in a van kitted out with just about every equipment you might want in a bog standard transit van! Immaculate and luxury fittings.
I've seen huge vans with motorbike garage, full kitchen/ living area plus modular bed system from single to xl super king size. Or mitsubishi delica conversion. Landy ones even a car one. A decent company but not a big name converter I reckon.
I've probably got the invoice for it somewhere too if that helps a sale. It's just that there are a few issues against it. No kitchen, no storage and the seat only has marine ply boxed in as it was our thinking we'd finish the conversion a year or two later once we'd worked out our needs and saved the money. We decided we didn't want a full conversion in the end.
Also, there is a split power to the leisure battery which powers the led lights and 4 usb sockets. Plus there was an external socket that feeds an RCD dual 3 pin plug sockets as a kind of extension lead. The idea was this would then be converted into a full kitchen and powered conversion later on, that plan changed.
One last useful feature is that all liner panels are screwed in with discretely coloured screws so they they can easily be removed to access any cables and to make any further conversions easier. We were looking at getting a swivel plate for the front, 2 person bench seat and possibly the drivers seat too. When we got our conversion there weren't many options for the roof and swivel plates. We couldn't afford the main brand in that field, a vw specialist, but the UK company we got a roof from had literally only just designed it for the new shape vivaro. In fact our roof was rejected by them for quality reasons ax they had to remake the mould. That took a few months then covid delayed it further. We must have got the first our second roof kit off production!
In think it's a good conversion overall and still very tidy.
