The Idea
The idea of outfitting a van came to us while sitting in our camping chairs along the Colorado River near Moab, Utah in 2017. We were car camping at the time and thought it would be nice to have something in between a tent and a camping trailer. Something we didn’t have to set up and tear down each time we relocated, and would also provide a dry place to hang out when the weather was bad. We eventually came to the conclusion that a van would be perfect. There would be plenty of room to store our camping gear and we could replace the sleeping bags and cots with a real mattress and a comforter.
It seems funny now, but at the time, we didn’t know building a van was “a thing”. In our minds, growing up in the 70’s, we were thinking more along the lines of the vans popularized in television series of the 70’s; the A-Team, Charlie’s Angels, and of course, The Mystery Machine. If you’re our age, you know exactly the ones we’re talking about. After returning home and doing a little bit of research, we soon discovered that building a van was already “a thing” and everyone was doing it. But, instead of converting a 1970s van, they were using commercial cargo vans. What a cool idea.
- Initial Cost
- Low Maint. Costs
- Availability
At the time, choosing a van came down to 3 main factors: the initial cost of the van, low on-going maintenance costs, and availability. Based on those factors we began looking for an extended length, Ford Transit 250 or 350 Cargo van, with a high roof.
Road Trip
By late May in 2021, we were ready to make a purchase, so we decided to take a road trip to look at some available vans. We found 7 vans in Utah; 1 in Logan, and 6 in Salt Lake City. The van in Logan was our first choice because it met all the criteria and it was a Transit 350. All of the other vans in Salt Lake City would work, but they were all Transit 250s, in roughly the same condition, with comparable mileages and prices. On the first day, we packed up the car and headed west on I-90, stopping in Rocker, MT for the night. The next morning we sent an email inquiring about the van in Logan and headed south on I-15 towards Utah. Along the way we also contacted the dealership in Salt Lake City to schedule some time to look at their available vans.
It wasn’t long before we received a reply from the dealership in Logan, letting us know the van was no longer available and it was being shipped out that very same day to it’s new home. That was a bummer, but we knew there were six other vans in Salt Lake City. Besides, the road trip was about more than just looking for a van, it was also about getting on the road and doing some traveling. In fact, before we left home, we found a highly rated disc golf course in Idaho Falls, ID that we knew we had to play. Driving south on I-15 was no coincidence, as Idaho Falls is located just 2 hours and 45 minutes south of Rocker, MT.
After playing a round of disc golf, we received a series of texts from the second dealership. They were replying to our earlier inquiries regarding the six vans they had on their lot. They let us know right away there were, in fact, only two vans left and another couple were coming down to test drive one of them later that day. At that point we contemplated turning around because we knew one of those vans had a reported accident on it, but after some discussion, we decided to keep going, even though we knew we wouldn’t get to Salt Lake until 6pm… long after the others were due to arrive to look at the van.
As expected, once we arrived at the dealership, another couple was already there and the only van left was the one with the reported accident. To our surprise, after talking to the agent and reviewing the Carfax report, it turns out the van hadn’t actually been in an accident. Because the van was an Enterprise rental van, the floor dents and scratches were reported as an accident. This actually didn’t bother us because we knew we were going to cover all that up with our build.
Once we drove the van and thoroughly checked it out, we fell in love with it and decided it was the van for us. All in all, we think it was the easiest vehicle purchase either of us had ever made from a dealership. Once we had the FedEx tracking number and a photo of the check being sent from our credit union to the dealership, we were good to go. We grabbed the keys and headed home.
Lesson Learned
Originally, we were going to finance the van through our credit union, but the underwriters had two issues. First, we were on a sabbatical and technically unemployed, so they wanted us to put a large amount of money down to secure the loan. Second, we were buying a commercial vehicle and were not allowed to modify the vehicle for the duration of the loan. Ultimately, we just financed the loan ourselves, effectively bypassing the underwriters and their requirements making the process much simpler.
In hindsight, we should’ve purchased the van and paid it off before leaving on our sabbatical.
