What to expect for £10-12k

Discussion in 'Buying a VW Camper' started by cwatson90, Jul 23, 2020.

  1. Hi there

    Looking into potentially buying a T2 in the next few months but not entirely sure what to expect for a price range of £10-12k?
    Should we expect to see a bit of rust on the body work/under neath or to just walk away if there is any signs of the paint bubbling? I've got a very bad record of buying the first car I see and end up being stung, so trying to avoid it in this case!
     
    jivedubbin likes this.
  2. You could get anything, we sold ours last year and we had a look at the competion to see what we were up against.
    There seemed to be a number of expensive poor vans out there with(to my eyes) poor bodywork(filler etc) but newish paint (pre covid). The cynic in me is thinking what have people have been up to in the last few months?
    Don't get me wrong there are very nice and well looked after vans however you need to be very careful what you buy.
     
    brilliantblue likes this.
  3. I would imagine that you could get a pretty good van for that sort of money.
    Unfortunately you could probably also get a shiny van that looks pretty but is in fact an absolute nail beyond economic repair.
    You really need someone that knows them intimately to look at them with you.
    Best of luck with the search!
     
  4. So I bought mine from a reputable seller on here. I was very lucky! I did view some vans before hand that were same or more money.
    The ones before looked good but in further inspection ( under the floor ) I could of done a Fred flint stone to power it.
    Best option is find someone on here who lives near and get them to have a look with you or post pics on here and ask questions.
     
    thejamesm7, Faust and davidoft like this.
  5. davidoft

    davidoft Sponsor


    You were very fortunate :D
     
    S1mon likes this.
  6. Razzyh

    Razzyh Supporter

    Don’t buy a shiny van is my advice.
     
    Day and davidoft like this.
  7. bernjb56

    bernjb56 Supporter

    Ask on here if you are going to look at anything - there may be someone who can help. We also love picking eBay ads to pieces :hattip:
     
  8. That was my budget 6 years ago - prices much the same now. You should get a bus with 12 months MOT for that and all ready to go camping in. It should look tidy but not perfect - and the engine should run smoothly with no end float and not be smoking - but you would need to pay double that for a perfect bus- they all need constant fettling every year - even a 20k bus - there will probably be bubbles and small rust patches here and there - but a freshly painted bus should be treated with suspicion anyway - as said above - take someone with you who knows what's what.
     
    Little Nellie and F_Pantos like this.
  9. Coda

    Coda Supporter

    When I was buying I went to see one which had been done up and looked good in the photos. On closer inspection there was a little bubbling around the windows. When I got the rest of the photos the restoration process showed an Arthur Daly type job on some previous owner’s drive. That was going to result in another respray done properly very soon.

    Moral of the story - don’t take anyone’s word for it, if it looks shiny and the owner says it’s been restored, get photos of the process. If they say they don’t have any, walk away. If they do have some and you see parts sprayed with rattle cans up against a garden wall, walk away.
     
  10. davidoft

    davidoft Sponsor

  11. Sunderland, haven’t even had the chance to see one in person yet to be honest so might not be for me, struggling to find any at all locally!

    Would be more than happy to travel though if it came down to the right vehicle being far away
     
    Sick Boy and davidoft like this.
  12. Same here. I'm in Stockton on Tees. Not many come up for sale.
     
  13. I've been looking for a while now and i think I've become reasonably adept an zooming in on the fotos people post. You can see the imperfections. if you find one that looks nice and ask for further fotos, close ups of the bottom seams and wheel arches, underneath showing the structurally crucial bits, it tells another story. So I haven't actually been to see one yet, the fotos have put me off. But I've found this company in Milton Keynes. They are importing Early and Late bays that have been refurbished in South Africa. £16,500 to £20,000. there's some photos taken during the resto.
     
  14. davidoft

    davidoft Sponsor


    To cheap to be done half way good
     
    Soggz and Razzyh like this.
  15. When I bought my camper looked at a few online studying pics as best could and took a magnet seller offered to have bits sprayed but I said no found a few bits wrong but reading about t2 bays all have something wrong
     
  16. Just to give you an idea ...

    In three years, apart from servicing, I'm in for a rewire on the leisure electrics, new carb linkage, two front tyres and shocks, new roof canvas, fuel cut off solenoid, new fuel lines, rear brake rebuild (no new parts, just labour), two new CV boots, various bits of metal and paint, four new front speakers, fuel pressure regulator, carb rebuild (needle valves, floats and idle jet o-rings) and new wing mirrors (tho the old ones could be reglazed).

    Things I wanted to do, but didn't strictly need to do, include adding a rev counter, oil temp and pressure gauges, new dash stereo.

    And that's just what I can remember.

    The above advice about getting someone to look at a prospective Bus is spot on.
     
  17. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    For £13k I'd sell Gusbus (I'm already thinking seriously about it) and that is pretty much camping ready, has all the curtains included, as would be a Camping Gaz chiller, small coolbox, hook up cable, fully serviced and possibly mot'd depending on the buyer.
     
  18. 12 K will get you a driver avoid the shiny painted ones depending on where in the country it might be the sun news paper filling holes or a posher area might be lucky and get the independent paper so worth more.joking aside be wary before parting with hard earned cash, too many cowboys out there to take your money.
     
  19. Day

    Day

    I had a choice between 2 buses.
    1. A dull, scruffy, in need of a clean, bus from a genuine old guy who pointed out what bits need attention.

    And

    2. A Shiney bus with 'go faster' seats and a nice floor from a guy very full of himself. Who told me"all these old buses smell of petrol, yeah they all had massive play in the steering".

    I made the right choice and number 1 bus is a trusty friend whose done 100,000's miles without serious probs.
     
    Gooders, Razzyh, Purple and 1 other person like this.
  20. The best bit of advice I ever read on here was, take a piece of cardboard and wear old clothes.

    in other words you should spend a long time under it and work your way up. Expect to get dirty.

    And one other thing, unless you can see pictures before it was applied. Walk away from any bus that’s caked in black goo underneath “to protect it”.

    I looked at one a couple of years ago that was parked up with a for sale sign in the window. So I stopped for a nose. You could literally see where they’d slapped it on and missed a bit, which was rusty, so you could be sure as hell they’d just slapped it over the rust as well.
     
    Soggz and JamesLey like this.

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