Anyone use their camper as their only vehicle?

TooManyDogs

We're looking at replacing our car with a camper that we're going to convert from a van. But major stumbling block seems to be insurance. Does anyone else use their camper as their only vehicle and where do you get insurance?

niloc1951

TooManyDogs wrote: »

We're looking at replacing our car with a camper that we're going to convert from a van. But major stumbling block seems to be insurance. Does anyone else use their camper as their only vehicle and where do you get insurance?

A friend of mine has a panel van conversion, an Auto Sleeper factory factory built, as their only vehicle.
AFAIK they have it insured with Dolmens but it might be Stuarts for about €650, roughly double the camper insurance if it's not your only vehicle.

paddyp

TooManyDogs wrote: »

We're looking at replacing our car with a camper that we're going to convert from a van. But major stumbling block seems to be insurance. Does anyone else use their camper as their only vehicle and where do you get insurance?

I don't think theres a problem. I asked about it when I was getting dolmen insurance and there was set fee. If you're concerned get the normal insurance first then tell them you're getting rid of the car.

And believe me the major stumbling block isn't insurance its filling it with diesel Depending on the miles you do it may be cheaper to keep a small old car too.

Macy0161

I know two people that use their van as a daily driver - one a sprinter conversion, one a T5. Dolmen do insurance. Obviously the T5 is more practical than the bigger van for daily use, but smaller for camping.

paddyp

I drove mine daily for a while when the car was off the road awaiting parts, local tesco, londis, supervalue car parks are ridiculously tight, local dunnes has height barrier, town park/playground has height barrier, local harbour has height barrier, multistorey car parks and most town parking spaces out of the question. I did a lot of walking.

I worked out that between tax, insurance, nct, maintenance (which i do myself) it was only about €18 per week to keep the car of the road.

I'd save about €450 on fuel and factoring the €300 extra you'd have to give dolmen it worked out that keeping both vehicles on the road was about 60c per day so decided to keep it. Its pretty easy to save 60c a day http://www.bonkers.ie/
I rejigged our mobile, internet, utility bills, switched from landline to voip and saved about 2.50 a day.

Obviously if you have money tied up in the car it might make sense to sell it and get something cheap,economical and cheerful like an old almera, avensis etc.

TooManyDogs

Macy0161 wrote: »

I know two people that use their van as a daily driver - one a sprinter conversion, one a T5. Dolmen do insurance. Obviously the T5 is more practical than the bigger van for daily use, but smaller for camping.

Our problem is that I compete in agility shows, plenty of which are overnight and I need space in the van for me, 5 or 6 dogs in crates and I need 3 (proper) seats to accommodate me, hubby and our 3 year old. The bench passenger seat in most vans simply won't fit a baby seat and another adult

paddyp wrote: »

I drove mine daily for a while when the car was off the road awaiting parts, local tesco, londis, supervalue car parks are ridiculously tight, local dunnes has height barrier, town park/playground has height barrier, local harbour has height barrier, multistorey car parks and most town parking spaces out of the question. I did a lot of walking.

Yeah we figured this was going to be the main downside of a van

paddyp wrote: »

I worked out that between tax, insurance, nct, maintenance (which i do myself) it was only about €18 per week to keep the car of the road.

I'd save about €450 on fuel and factoring the €300 extra you'd have to give dolmen it worked out that keeping both vehicles on the road was about 60c per day so decided to keep it. Its pretty easy to save 60c a day http://www.bonkers.ie/
I rejigged our mobile, internet, utility bills, switched from landline to voip and saved about 2.50 a day.

Obviously if you have money tied up in the car it might make sense to sell it and get something cheap,economical and cheerful like an old almera, avensis etc.

Poor car is only fit for the scrapheap, has a list of problems wrong with it that makes it simply uneconomical to fix and bordering on dangerous, so we'd rather sink our money into one vehicle that is going to cover more bases than 2, figured we'd be more likely to get a better vehicle that way.

Sometimes it's cheaper keep your NCB alive by insuring a log book.

paddyp

TooManyDogs wrote: »

Our problem is that I compete in agility shows, plenty of which are overnight and I need space in the van for me, 5 or 6 dogs in crates and I need 3 (proper) seats to accommodate me, hubby and our 3 year old. The bench passenger seat in most vans simply won't fit a baby seat and another adult



Yeah we figured this was going to be the main downside of a van



Poor car is only fit for the scrapheap, has a list of problems wrong with it that makes it simply uneconomical to fix and bordering on dangerous, so we'd rather sink our money into one vehicle that is going to cover more bases than 2, figured we'd be more likely to get a better vehicle that way.

I'd be looking at making/buying an insulated trailer for the dogs.

TooManyDogs

paddyp wrote: »

I'd be looking at making/buying an insulated trailer for the dogs.

We used to have a trailer for them but I got rid of it for a number of different reasons including that it resulted in me have massive road rage if I thought anyone was coming too close to the back of me or wasn't going to brake in time. I was always terrified that I'd be rear ended and it'd be the dogs who took the brunt of it. So not an option unfortunately

I think people respect horse boxes more than trailers.

I have one of these on the towbar

http://www.speedstickers.co.uk/standard-stickers-3-c.asp

Tailgating is hugely reduced since I put it on.

Another good reason to insure a log book; keep the car, insure it and declare it off the road, is it will give you a lot more insurance policy options as some require you to have 2 vehicles and then give you a reduced rate on the camper.

paddyp

TooManyDogs wrote: »

We used to have a trailer for them but I got rid of it for a number of different reasons including that it resulted in me have massive road rage if I thought anyone was coming too close to the back of me or wasn't going to brake in time. I was always terrified that I'd be rear ended and it'd be the dogs who took the brunt of it. So not an option unfortunately

Its counselling you need not a van :P Surely that was before you had kids? I find people aren't 1/10th as obsessive about their dogs once they have kids. My brothers suggestion for tailgating is to wire a load of big red led lamps to a switch

I'd use a parking sensor instead of a switch. I find pulling in is the most effective defense though.

TooManyDogs

paddyp wrote: »

Its counselling you need not a van :P

You're probably right

paddyp wrote: »

Surely that was before you had kids? I find people aren't 1/10th as obsessive about their dogs once they have kids.

Nope, I'd still kill anyone who harmed my dogs, having a baby didn't change that in the least In fairness you don't have as many dogs as me without being Crazy Dog Lady