Last Updated on I’ve been selling campervans for a long time, and I’ve watched a lot of people buy the wrong one. Not a bad van — the wrong van for them.
Usually it comes down to the same handful of decisions, made in the wrong order. Berths before belts. Layout before weight. Model before honest thinking about how they actually travel.
So here’s the order I’d work through it in, and the checks I’d make at each stage of choosing a campervan:
- Work out who travels with you, how often, and where you’ll store it — before you look at a single van.
- Berths and belted seats are different numbers. Check both.
- Payload is the figure that catches people out, especially on pop-tops plated under 3,500kg.
- A Category B licence covers you to 3,500kg. Some campervans exceed that.
- Buy used. The first owner takes the steepest depreciation.
- Damp, conversion quality and paperwork matter more than mileage.
What is a campervan?
A campervan is a van whose interior has been converted into living quarters, keeping the original van bodyshell. That’s the defining characteristic: the living space sits inside the van’s existing shape rather than in a purpose-built body bolted to a chassis.
That distinction matters more than it sounds.
A coachbuilt motorhome starts as a bare chassis cab, and the habitation area is built onto it. That gives you more internal space and standing height, but a wider, taller, heavier vehicle.
A campervan keeps the van’s dimensions. You can park it in a normal bay, drive it through a barrier-height car park, and use it as everyday transport.
What a campervan is not: a caravan, which is towed; a day van, which has seating but no cooking or sleeping provision; or an American RV, which is the US term for a motorhome and a category we simply don’t have here in any meaningful numbers.
If you want space, buy a motorhome. If you want to be able to use the vehicle on a Tuesday, buy a campervan.
What should you work out before you start looking?
Answer four questions before you open a single listing. They’ll eliminate about eighty per cent of the market for you.
Who travels with you
Count the people who’ll be in the van regularly, not the maximum number who might ever come. A four-berth bought for two occasional grandchildren is a van you’ll be manoeuvring around a supermarket car park every week for the sake of a fortnight a year.
How you’ll actually use it
Weekends away and long summer touring are different vehicles. Weekenders can live without a washroom and a fixed bed. Anyone doing three weeks in France will want both.
Be honest about wild camping too. If you’re mostly on serviced pitches with electric hook-up, you don’t need a large lithium battery bank and 400W of solar.
Where you’ll keep it
Measure your driveway and check your council’s rules before you commit. A 6.4-metre panel van conversion won’t fit where a 5-metre Transporter will.
If you’re storing it off-site, factor a CaSSOA-rated site into the budget. Around £400 to £900 a year is typical depending on region and security grade.
Your all-in budget
Set the purchase figure, then add roughly ten per cent for the first year. Insurance, a habitation check, servicing, storage and any accessories you’ll want immediately all land in the first twelve months.
Which size of campervan suits you?
There are three practical size brackets in the UK, and each one trades interior space against everyday usability.
Small campervans
Around 5 to 5.5 metres, usually on a VW Transporter, Ford Transit Custom or Vauxhall Vivaro. Pop-top roof, rock and roll bed, small kitchen unit. No washroom in most.
These drive like a large car and park like one. That’s the whole point.
Medium panel van conversions
Around 5.4 to 6 metres, typically on a Fiat Ducato, Peugeot Boxer or Citroën Relay with a fixed high roof. Full standing height, a proper kitchen and usually a compact washroom.
This is the sweet spot for couples touring for more than a long weekend.
Large panel van conversions
Around 6 to 6.8 metres. Same base vans in long-wheelbase form, with a separate washroom, fixed rear bed and often a garage for bikes.
More space, but you’ll think twice about taking it into town.
| Small | Medium | Large | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Length | 5–5.5m | 5.4–6m | 6–6.8m |
| Berths | 2–4 | 2–3 | 2–4 |
| Standing height | Pop-top only | Yes | Yes |
| Washroom | Rare | Compact | Full |
| Typical used price | £26k–£50k | £42k–£56k | £48k–£64k |
| Best for | Daily use, weekends | Couples touring | Long trips, gear |
Do berths and travel seats mean the same thing?
No. A berth is a sleeping space. A travel seat is a forward-facing seat with a three-point belt that someone can legally occupy while the van is moving. The two numbers are frequently different.
This is the single most common mistake I see, and it’s an expensive one to discover after purchase.
A four-berth pop-top might have four sleeping spaces and only two belted seats. Four people can sleep in it. Two people can travel in it. If you’ve bought it to take the family away, you’ve bought the wrong van.
It runs the other way too. One of the CamperKing T6 conversions we’ve had through described itself as a four berth with five seatbelts — more travel seats than beds, which suits a family who use it as a second car during the week.
Always ask for the belted seat count in writing before you commit. Don’t infer it from the berth figure, and don’t count seats by eye, because a side-facing bench is not a travel seat.
There’s a related trap on pop-tops. The upstairs bed in a pop-top is genuinely a berth, but it’s usually rated for children rather than adults, and there’s a weight limit on the roof bed board. Ask what it is. A four-berth pop-top marketed at families sometimes means two adults below and two small children above, which is a different proposition from four adults sharing.
How much payload does a campervan really have?
Payload on a typical campervan is somewhere between 300kg and 500kg, and the fashionable kit eats it faster than most buyers expect. It’s the figure that turns a well-chosen van into an illegal one.
How is payload worked out?
Payload is the maximum authorised mass minus the mass in running order. In plain terms: the van’s legal maximum weight, minus what it weighs ready to drive.
Mass in running order already includes a 75kg driver, fluids and most of a tank of fuel. What’s left is everything else — passengers, water, gas, food, clothes, bikes and the awning.
Both figures are on the plate in the cab or in the handbook. Check them. Don’t take a brochure figure on trust.
What eats into your payload
Here’s a realistic run-down on a van with 400kg to play with.
| Item | Typical weight |
|---|---|
| Pop-top roof | up to 100kg |
| Wind-out awning | up to 55kg |
| Cab air conditioning | around 35kg |
| Bike rack | around 10kg |
| Two bikes | around 30kg |
| Three passengers | around 225kg |
That’s 455kg before you’ve put a single teabag in the cupboard.
Now the bit worth knowing: not every campervan is plated at 3,500kg. Every VW T6 conversion currently on our forecourt is plated at 2,800kg. Buyers see “well under 3.5 tonnes” and assume weight is a non-issue. On a 2,800kg-plated Transporter carrying a pop-top, four people and a week’s luggage, it very much is.
If you take one thing from this guide, take the van to a public weighbridge fully loaded before your first proper trip. It costs a few pounds and it settles the question.
What licence do you need to drive a campervan?
A standard Category B car licence covers any campervan with a maximum authorised mass up to 3,500kg, which is the overwhelming majority. Above that you need Category C1, covering 3,500kg to 7,500kg.
If you passed your driving test before 1 January 1997, C1 entitlement was granted automatically and you can drive up to 7,500kg. If you passed on or after that date, you won’t have C1 and you’re limited to 3,500kg MAM unless you take the additional test, which runs to roughly £500 to £1,000 with training.
Two things to watch.
First, a handful of campervans exceed 3,500kg. We’ve had an Auto-Sleepers Kingham plated at 3,650kg — a perfectly ordinary two-berth panel van conversion that a post-1997 licence holder cannot legally drive. Check the plate, not the category.
Second, C1 doesn’t last forever. From March 2026 the rules around retaining C1 at age 70 changed, and drivers renewing their licence need to apply specifically to keep it, backed by a Group 2 medical. If you’re relying on grandfather rights, check your licence rather than assuming.
What are the best campervans?
The best campervan is the one that matches your travel pattern, but a handful of models consistently earn their reputation on build quality, layout sense and how they hold value. Here’s where I’d look, including a couple we don’t stock.
Best small campervan
Volkswagen T6.1 conversions (CamperKing, Highline and similar). The Transporter is the definitive small campervan for a reason: it drives well, it’s easy to live with daily, and the residuals are the strongest in the class.
The trade-off is that most are aftermarket conversions rather than factory-built, so who did the work matters enormously. The VW California is the factory alternative — better integrated, noticeably more expensive, and worth considering if you want the badge on the whole vehicle rather than just the front.
Best campervan for couples
Adria Twin 640 SGX Supreme. The Twin is the benchmark Ducato-based panel van conversion in the UK, and has been for years. Six and a half metres, proper washroom, sensible storage, and a layout that doesn’t fight you.
You pay for it. Expect low sixties for a recent one. But it’s the van most people end up comparing everything else against.
Best British-built option
Auto-Sleepers Kingham. Boxer-based, built in Gloucestershire, and the end washroom layout works better than the spec sheet suggests. We hold several at any one time because they sell steadily and come back in good condition.
Watch the plated weight on older examples, as above.
Best hidden gem
IH 630FL. IH is a low-volume British converter that doesn’t get the coverage it deserves. Build quality is genuinely high and the layouts are thought through by people who use them.
Less mainstream, so slightly slower to sell on, but a better van than its profile suggests.
Best four-berth
Bailey Endeavour. Transit-based, under 3,500kg across the range, and built for year-round use rather than summer weekends. We don’t stock it, but it’s the one I’d point a family towards if they want four berths without stepping up to a coachbuilt.
Should you buy a used campervan?
For most buyers, yes. A campervan takes its steepest depreciation in the first two to three years, and buying at that point transfers the largest single cost of ownership to somebody else.
A three-year-old van with 20,000 miles is mechanically barely run in. The conversion is proven — any weak joinery, leaking seal or undersized battery has had three winters to show itself.
New buys you specification exactly as you want it, a full manufacturer warranty, and no history to investigate. If you’re keeping the van a decade, that case is reasonable.
But the honest position is this: buy used, buy from somewhere that inspects properly, and put the difference towards a better-specified van than you could otherwise afford. Our used campervans come with a three-year RAC warranty and a fresh twelve-month MOT, which closes most of the gap that makes people nervous about used.
What should you check before buying a used campervan?
Five things, in this order.
Damp
The single biggest destroyer of value in any leisure vehicle. Ask for a recent damp report and read the actual readings.
The industry bands are clear: 0–15% is fine, 15–20% needs attention, 21–30% means remedial work is required, and anything over 30% indicates structural deterioration. Low readings in the first band are normal and nothing to panic about.
Press around window frames, roof lights, the pop-top seal and the join between floor and wall. Soft or spongy is bad news.
Conversion quality
Open every locker and pull on every fixing. Furniture should be screwed into structure, not glued to a panel.
Look at the standard of the electrical work. Tidy, labelled, fused wiring is a good sign about everything else you can’t see.
Gas and electrical systems
Ask for evidence of a recent habitation check. A habitation check is an annual inspection of the living area — gas, electrics, water, ventilation and damp — and it’s the leisure-vehicle equivalent of a service.
Gas work should have been done by a qualified engineer. Don’t accept “the previous owner was handy with that sort of thing.”
Base vehicle mechanicals
It’s still a van underneath. Check MOT history online, look for cambelt evidence, and pay attention to corrosion around the sills and rear arches on older Transporters.
Check the emissions standard too. A pre-Euro 6 engine is getting steadily more expensive to run in UK clean air zones, and that will only tighten.
Paperwork and history
V5C in the seller’s name at the address you’re visiting. Service history, habitation check records, conversion invoices and any warranty documentation.
Run an HPI check. It costs very little and tells you about outstanding finance, write-offs and mileage discrepancies.
Where should you buy a campervan?
Four routes, each with a real trade-off.
Specialist dealer
Most protection, highest price. You get consumer rights that don’t exist in a private sale, usually a warranty, and a vehicle that’s been inspected before it reached the forecourt.
You pay a margin for that. Whether it’s worth it depends on how confident you are inspecting a conversion yourself.
Converter direct
Buying from the company that built the conversion, new or used. Strong on conversion knowledge and often good aftercare.
The catch is that they’ll only ever show you their own product, so you won’t get a comparison.
Private sale
Best price, most risk. You’ll save several thousand pounds and you’ll carry the entire burden of verification.
If you go this way, pay for an independent inspection. Mobile specialists such as HabCheck will travel to the vehicle.
Auction
Cheapest, and only sensible if you genuinely know what you’re looking at. Limited inspection, no comeback, and conversion faults are hard to spot in a lot queue.
Which base vehicle should you choose?
The base vehicle determines running costs, parts availability and how the van drives. Four dominate the UK market.
Volkswagen Transporter
The strongest residuals of any small campervan base, and the easiest to live with daily. Parts and specialists everywhere. Expect to pay a premium for the badge.
Ford Transit and Transit Custom
Cheaper to buy and run than the VW, with excellent dealer coverage. The Custom drives nearly as well; the full-size Transit gives you more conversion space.
Fiat Ducato, Peugeot Boxer and Citroën Relay
Mechanically the same van under three badges, and the backbone of the medium and large conversion market. Wide, boxy and easy to convert, which is why most manufacturers use it. Build feel is a step below VW, reliability is generally fine.
Mercedes Sprinter and VW Crafter
The premium large-van options. Better to drive and better built than the Ducato family, and priced accordingly.
Does it matter who converted the campervan?
Yes, considerably — it affects safety, insurance and what the van is worth when you sell it.
A professional conversion from an established converter will typically hold value noticeably better than a self-build of similar age and specification. Buyers trust documented work, and so do we when we’re taking something in part-exchange.
Look for NCC approval, which shows the conversion meets industry standards, and GB Whole Vehicle Type Approval on newer builds. Volkswagen recognises only a small number of UK converters, and that recognition carries weight on resale.
Self-builds aren’t automatically a problem. A well-documented conversion with photographs, receipts and certificated gas and electrical work can be excellent. An undocumented one is a gamble on somebody else’s competence.
Does the V5C need to say “motor caravan”?
No. Reclassification is optional, not mandatory, and a great deal of confusion exists on this point.
You can legally own, drive and insure a properly converted campervan whose V5C still records it as a van with windows. Specialist insurers assess what the vehicle actually is and how you use it, not what the logbook says — provided you declare the conversion accurately.
Where the body type does have practical effect is around ferry pricing, some parking and tolling systems, and buyer perception on resale. Those are reasons to pursue it, not obligations.
The one non-negotiable: declare the conversion to your insurer. Failing to disclose a material change can invalidate a claim, and that’s a far bigger problem than a logbook entry.
How much does a campervan cost to run?
Budget roughly £1,800 to £3,500 a year for a used campervan, excluding finance and depreciation.
Insurance typically runs £250 to £1,500 depending on the vehicle and your history. A habitation check is around £200 to £300. Servicing depends on the base vehicle. Storage, if you need it, is £400 to £900. Add vehicle tax, and fuel at somewhere between 25 and 35 MPG for most conversions.
The figure that dwarfs all of these is depreciation, which is precisely why buying used matters so much.
What do first-time campervan buyers get wrong?
Five things, repeatedly.
- Buying on berths. Count belted seats. Then count again.
- Ignoring payload. Especially on pop-tops plated below 3,500kg.
- Buying too big. The van you can park is the van you’ll actually use.
- Skipping the damp report. It’s the cheapest survey you’ll ever refuse to pay for.
- Forgetting the running costs. Work out year one properly before agreeing a price.
Conclusion
Work through it in order and the shortlist writes itself. People, then use, then storage, then budget. Size and layout next. Then weight, then licence, then the specific van.
The buyers who get this right aren’t the ones who did the most research. They’re the ones who were honest at the start about how they actually travel, rather than how they’d like to imagine they might.
Two people who go away most weekends need a different van from a family of four who go away twice a year. Neither is a compromise. They’re just different vehicles, and the trouble starts when someone buys the second while living the first.
So take your time over the four questions at the top of this guide. Get those right and everything downstream — the layout, the weight, the base vehicle, the model — narrows down almost on its own.
Then go and sit in a few. Spec sheets tell you what a van has. Ten minutes sitting in the passenger seat with the door shut tells you whether you want to spend a fortnight in it.
Oaktree Motorhomes is a used motorhome and campervan dealer based in Nottinghamshire, and we’ve been at this for over twenty years. Every van on our forecourt is unlocked, so you’re welcome to have a proper look round without anyone following you about.
If you’d like a second opinion on something you’ve found elsewhere, or you want someone to check a payload plate with you, give the team a call. We’d rather talk you out of the wrong van than sell you one.
