Van Hunt!

[carlhopf]

I'm hunting for a van, a cargo, a transit, that sort of thing. I'd love a camper van build, or a camper RV type (think "westfalia"  or Chevy (or old Ford)

I can't seem to find a lot in the Southern NJ area, even on Craigslist.

I'm happy to travel anywhere within 50 miles of Philadelphia, PA.

I'm still scouring RV trader, and have my car dealer looking for one, even a pickup with a hitch, and hopefully a cap.

What's the best way to do this, from experience?

 

[bullfrog]

Almost everything depends on you and your abilities. We tend to change by having experiences and as we age. I have used all different types of places and ways to live and travel. Each year I find some things just get to hard to manage so I find so other way of doing what I want to do or something else I can do easier and works better for me. The most important thing I did was my attempt at living cheap and simply. If you are happy and satisfied with very little then even a small income savings allows you to change when you need to. I’m 69 years old this year and still working easy jobs because I like working but it also allows me to pay for something or someone to get done something I might hurt myself doing or just not have the endurance to do on my own. There is no one best way for any of the things you may do which determines what you take. We need to know more about you and your abilities and where and how long you plan to go before we give you advice.

 

[George Mason]

Why not just buy a basic van, and build your own? That's what I'm doing. I built a bed size for me, with a memory foam mattress, and it's set up like an Old Navy coffin Locker. That means the top opens and inside the bed frame is storage for clothing or whatever else you might want to put in there. I haven't decided what else to build yet, I want to see what else I need. But I have enough space underneath my bed for 3 Foot Lockers and some other stuff. I definitely need to come up with a way to organize my stuff, and that's one of the reasons I'm here.

 

[gslanm]

I'm hunting for a van, a cargo, a transit, that sort of thing. I'd love a camper van build, or a camper RV type (think "westfalia"  or Chevy (or old Ford)

I can't seem to find a lot in the Southern NJ area, even on Craigslist.

I'm happy to travel anywhere within 50 miles of Philadelphia, PA.

I'm still scouring RV trader, and have my car dealer looking for one, even a pickup with a hitch, and hopefully a cap.

What's the best way to do this, from experience?

Hi I'm in that area too, northern. I haven't started van yet but I've been looking on cargurus, carfax. Craigslist scares me a bit due to you never know who is selling it or how it's treated etc, but I might start looking there (bypass the middle man etc). 

So far the target for me is a fleet owned sub 23,000 mile cargo van, the only price range with that low mileage is 25k best case, but I'd really love to get something under 21k to reduce the taxes too but the mileage spikes so high to 45-49k at that price.

I wish someone could point me in the direction to a good used and reliable cargo van high top 25k or lower in the 25k or lower mileage range, but particularly great at stealth.

 

[WindChaser]

I am single woman hunting for a van. I had been looking at different options and finally settled on a camper van. I am handy up to a point and cannot see myself doing the insulation. I have been searching and not much out there, and as a single woman reliability is a huge factor. I found a 1989 Ram Coach House 193. My question is, does anybody know how reliable this vehicle is? It is 100 miles away and I don't want to waste my time going to look at it, if it is not reliable. Thanks for the input.

 

[bagabum]

It's 31 years old, its going to be a crapshoot depending on how it was taken care of. and if it was well taken care of, it's still 31 years old, I want to think you will need to be lucky on this one. If you go, I would really test drive it, a lot, and then look for leaks, etc. Who knows, maybe some of the major drivetrain components have been overhauled. I know, not much help....

 

[WayOutWest]

It can be hard to find used cargo vans for sale, as they tend to fly off dealer lots pretty fast.  I chatted with some people who bought their used van pretty far away, such as several states over.  The supply is lower now due to the pandemic.  I would say identify which type of vehicle you want and this reduces the amount of work involved.  Once you figure out the type of vehicle, I'd recommend buying either from a car rental company like Enterprise or Hertz, or a big car dealer, even if you have to travel a couple hundred miles to see and buy it.

 

[doublegregg]

in spite of my advanced age, prob everyone here is more experienced in vans than me. but i bought from enterprise car rentals.... i wanted to deal with a business, not a person, a place that turns over their fleet, etc... i suppose it has worked out ------- it's another option. maybe one you've already passed on....... but i guess another thing is covid.... probably even harder to get a cargo van now, or rv's etc...

best of luck!