Is it a Camper or is it a Van ???

Billy Bunting

Hi All,

Just wondered what the legalities are of having a van that is converted to a camper but is still registered and insured as a van ?

Is there any other way to go in these cases ??

Billy.

peasant

honestly ...haven't got the foggiest

My guess would be that if you ask all the relevant "authorities" (DOE, Tax, insurance, a garda of your choice) you're probably going to get all sorts of answers ranging from "no prob" to "no way, Jose" ...and most likely never the same answer twice :rolleyes:

If I were you, I'd try the "Irish approach" and just do it and cross any bridges once thay may or may not appear on the horizon ...just remember where all the screws for your fittings are, so that you can quickly take them in and out as needed

dollydishmop

Billy Bunting wrote: »

Hi All,

Just wondered what the legalities are of having a van that is converted to a camper but is still registered and insured as a van ?

Is there any other way to go in these cases ??

Billy.

Just a random guess, but if you are ever involved in an accident, your insurance company is going to drop you like hot coals...and that could involve lots of nasty legal wrangling from the other party(ies) involved in the accident, and at best leave a large hole in your wallet.
If your insurance company is insuring this as a comercial van, and you've converted it to a camper without telling them, they aren't going to touch you with a barge pole. Insurance companies tend to do whatever they possibly can to wriggle out of a claim...so why hand them the ultimate cop out on a plate!

As far as I see it, you have two options. Leave it as a commercial van, and tax & insure it as such. Or convert it to a camper, have it assessed as such and get it taxed & insured as such. It can't be both

stapeler

Another option is to approach an insurance company and explain your plans. I've found Quinn insurances to be very approachable and open minded.
There are a lot of (work) vans on the roads these days with additional windows and a second row of seats. I'm sure adding a cooker, bed, toilet sink etc couldn't add much to a policy.
Another point to argue it the fact that if it's a (motorhome) van then the annual mileage would be quiet low.

Run_to_da_hills

If what you added ie cooker, bed toilet etc is "permanently fixed" it would be classed as a Camper, same goes for mobile workshops. I see the Mazda "Bongo van" advertised on Ebay, it has a pop up roof and the interior can be removed quite easliy and made into an ordinary van.

Billy Bunting

Hi,

How permanent is permanent ? my interior has come out of a Talbot Autosleeper, took me around an hour to remove, is really actually just 5 units, 2 seats/beds, fringe unit, sink/cooker unit, and a wardrobe.

Run_to_da_hills

Billy Bunting wrote: »

Hi,

How permanent is permanent ? my interior has come out of a Talbot Autosleeper, took me around an hour to remove, is really actually just 5 units, 2 seats/beds, fringe unit, sink/cooker unit, and a wardrobe.

The revenue do not want to see fittings held in with bunjys etc, anything that is solid and bolted down would be ok. What they are trying to do is stop people registering vans as campers to avoid the DOE. They had the same problem with mobile workshops.

Billy Bunting

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

What they are trying to do is stop people registering vans as campers to avoid the DOE. They had the same problem with mobile workshops.

Gosh! and there was me thinking they were doing it to charge 10s of thousands in VRT. :rolleyes:

Was thinking of adding 1000ah worth of batteries, 25mm armour plating under the ply floor (bomb proof for trips abroad) and sticking a 1000lt water tank on the roof for those long hot days, do you think this would get me over the 3000kg.