Camper van insurance and general camper questions.

[UterusUterusGhali]

I've been offered a t25 vw camper for £2200.

I'm having a nightmare with comparison sites on my phone, so can anyone tell me what I'm likely to pay in insurance.

Does anyone use theirs as their everyday run-around?

Do all children need to be restrained, or can they sit at the table iyswim.

Shall I get one? Shall I????:D

Also posted in chat, sort of.

Kids need to be restrained. So if it hasn't got belts in the back you need to get them put in.

I always insured mine through a specialist campervan insurer. Normally with Adrian Flux.

£2200 is cheap for a t25. Ones in good condition are about 6k plus. Have you had it checked by someone who knows campervans?

They're loads of fun but expensive to maintain and run.

Think I paid about £30 a month insurance for mine before I sold it. Then tax, service, mot, garage bills, usually needed about £500 of bodywork a year, cost a fortune in fuel.....

It's cheap as chips which is why I want to bite their hand off!
£30 is much better than I thought!

Hmm. It has two "proper" seats and I have three children.
:(
There is a camper specialist near me though.

Thanks Beaver!

As long as you're sure they're not selling you a dud. Ie; its got a ton of seam rust under the paint.

Eek. I haven't seen it tbh!

It has a new mot.

Ok in order!

• the price seems very reasonable so I'm instantly wondering what condition its in? Outside condition is more important than interior (interior is easier to fix) you need to seriously check for rust, particularly in the sills.

• We pay about £220 per year for insurance for 2 over 30's with a crash each

• not everyday but we use it a lot (when its not in the garage!)

• I never travel with the table up - ds sits up front with seatbelt and dh or I sit at the back unrestrained. It is legal to ride in an old vehicle if a seatbelt has not been ever fitted over the age of 3. Check-out the depart Of transport website

• yes, yes! But beware we've spent a fair bit making ours mechanically sound and it drinks petrol like nothing else.

I would recommend you check out the club 80-90 website for more info on t25s- its been really useful. But we love ours, wouldn't be without it!

Ha ha x post with Viva! She gave us fab advice when we were buying too!

I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. Not until I had someone who knew what they were looking at give it the once over.

First van I went to see they wanted 5k for it, looked nice in photos. When I got there I didn't even bother looking inside. Full of filler.

As Colley said its the bodywork that's important.

When I sold my van it looked in pristine condition, nice shiney paintwork everywhere. I knew for a fact it was as rusty/rotton as hell under the main windscreen rubber which is a major job. Basically a little more rust and the windscreen drops out. Plus there were other problems underneath the van. I sold mine for 5.5k. Buyer didn't know, the van looked like it could have won a show. I reckon it needed 1.5k worth of work doing on it.

Colleys, if the woman I sold it to is still on 80-90 don't tell her!

In fairness when we agreed a price and sale I didn't know that. But as part of the sale I agreed to getting a bit of seam rust sorted by my friendly body work bloke. So technically I'd sold it, had the deposit, etc. Took it to the garage to get the little job done and he laughed when he brought it back, said it was a good job I was getting rid of it.

Ok looking at the photos it does have 3 seat belt points at the back.

It's on eBay. I've been offered it as winning bidder was a fake.

Rust isn't fixable, right?

Pm me a link to the auction if you can. I promise I don't want it myself!

Rust is fixable.....very, very expensively fixable depending how bad it is.

Oh xposts!

Hmmmmm

Depends on the level of rust. I bought an old mg that was so rusty that the jack went straight through the body when we tried to change the tyre. Took it took the garage who found loads of rust underneath, they fixed it, £2000 later. If you're not sure then get someone to check it over for you. Its worth paying someone to do that.

It'll probably be highlighted on 80-90 if its cheap.

Don't worry viva i won't tell a soul! But its part of the course with a t25!!

If its a true dud the pictures wont be of key areas so a link might help :)

Have pm'd you viva

My gut feeling is don't buy it.

There's no close up areas of key problem points which is always a bad sign.

They've been trying to sell it at a vw show....you can see the a4 advert in a side window on a couple of the shots.

Now if they've not sold it at such a bargain price to people who know vans inside and out and have seen it in real life then that speaks volumes.

If you're still tempted go onto 80-90. Chances are someone there will know the van if its been to shows. Also they're a friendly bunch and if you ask someone local to the van will go and see it.

Plus it's petrol, which is even worse on mpg than a diesel one.

Let's us know what you decide op!

If you don't know about tem don't buy it or take some one along who knows them.
Now Insurance, some one like Pete Best Insurance will do this as a classic for about £185 if its a second car and on limited mileage, if its for everyday it would be around the £500+ mark.
Oh have you driven a T25???

No! Never driven one! I used to have an enormous estima though. (not close, I know). I'm a confident driver.

I've emailed them about the rust, but they haven't got back to me, worryingly.

As it happens my car has decided to start dying, so I might need to divert funds. :(

I feel you my find is slow cumbersome and thirsty
Have you thought about a Mazda Bongo?
I am biased as we have one
Loads of info here
www.bongofury.co.uk

So, update;
They've got back to me. It's just had the front panel replaced and the remaining rust is a couple of spots on the roof and a hole under the door runner.

The engine is a bit hit and miss, but my gentleman admirer is good with such things.

I'm sooooo game, but I don't know how much my proper car is going to cost to fix. :(

Can't you go and look at it first? I'm looking for a camper myself at the moment and would only bid on something I've been to look at first. The trouble is that they all look in fantastic condition in the photos and you could easily be tempted to just buy them!

Holes under the door runner are fairly common, peeling back the rubber mats in the steps to have a look is something you should do on viewing. Not sure how big a job to fix but it'll need doing or the hole will just get bigger.

Personally I wouldn't trust anything someone selling a vehicle was telling me.

I'm guessing its a flat roof then as opposed to a fibre glass high top or pop top?

The hit and miss engine makes me but then I'm a suspicious type! Our engine we found was only firing on 3 cylinders (despite passing an MOT the day before) so I'd want to know a bit more detail about exactly what hit and miss means tbh. Some engine things are home fixable, some things - valves for example - can end up being an expensive bodge job and you need a mechanic who knows about old vws. And if you buying it as a runner you want to be able to at least get it home!!

I really would advise going to see it to look at the rust they've highlighted and then the other keys areas for yourself - round the windows, the footwells, sills, arches etc.