Welcome, the answer is varied and lots! really you neeed to decide how your going to use it how many people and off grid on grid etc then we can all bamboozle you with ideas!
Road tax is dependant on the exhaust emissions it makes no odds van or camper but it does make a difference to speed limits

 

Helllo and welcome Jezzaman .
Lets see you new van then .

 

Hi Jezza. Welcome to the forum!

Show us some pics and we can all have a shifty at what you have got and maybe offer some suggestions.

Also forget registering it as a "Motor Caravan" with DVLA, those days are long gone. It will be a "Van With Windows" even with a full conversion

You need a high top not a mid top and a full on "motor-home look" with body graphics, vents etc to do this nowadays sadly.

The only way of registering a mid top or low top or pop top is to be a professional installer with type approval i.e. VW Cali

Converting a vehicle into a motor caravan (motor home)

www.gov.uk

 

Welcome to the forum! There's some good advice above - if you're only just setting out on your conversion I'd consider carefully how you plan to use your van (and how often!).
It's all very well having a full blown camper conversion with kitchen and cupboards etc. but perhaps less appealing if it's your daily driver and you only actually ever go camping 2 or 3 times a year. Consider whether you'll actually cook and wash-up INSIDE the van or whether a side awning would be better. Do you need to carry passengers?
Do have kids and do they need to be up close behind the cab or will they be ok right at the back of the van (like the majority of rock n roll beds in camper conversions).

 

Thanks guys for your replies. I will post photos of the bus a bit later. So, basically whatever you do (campervan conversion etc) does not change the amount you pay for road tax? £645 a year tax is pretty hefty (Rolls Royce is half that)

 

One odd thing is that although the DVLA no longer change the registration to "Camper" if you convert it and meet the criteria, you can self designate it as one. I will find the link with the details on.

The vans they stopped naming camper were ones with pop top roofs. High tops could still be updated I believe?

 

One odd thing is that although the DVLA no longer change the registration to "Camper" if you convert it and meet the criteria, you can self designate it as one.
I will find the link with the details on. The vans they stopped naming camper were ones with pop top roofs. High tops could still be updated I believe?

For the vast majority of converters including home made then , yes, high tops only and you have to plaster your van with motor home graphics etc etc. Nice...🤢

NO low roofs, pop tops or mid line roofs. Although.....there is a get out clause for professional converters using brand new vehicles with low roof or pop tops!

I quote from the Jerba link below.

"If I buy a brand new professionally converted campervan with a pop top roof then will it be registered as a motorcaravan?

Simple answer – it depends! Where a professional converter sources a brand new vehicle from a manufacturer and then converts it into a campervan then even though it could have a pop top roof and not have two awning rails and fancy exterior decals, then yes it can. The professional converter has to meet regulations such as having certified full Type Approval (by IVA, National Small Series or European Whole Vehicle) and the vehicle must be unregistered so that the application is the very first – if the converter is working on an already registered panel van or window van then they won’t be able to have it reclassified as a motorcaravan.

This means that yes, converters such as ourselves and of course the VW California will have a DVLA Body Type of motor caravan on their V5’s despite being pop top campervans. How we love consistency of policy!"

Here is some useful info I posted from a previous thread re speed limits for converted campervans only. Not empty vans with windows!

Our get out clause is it's a camper ( read Jerba link below: as per self designated type approval - not the same as DVLA require though. Ha ha it's madness)

The Jerba links are really superb and my "go to" for the best info I have found on this.

You could send your pics off to DVLA and update it to "Van With Windows" on the V5 if you like.

It's no big deal really as most people wanted the "Motor Caravan" on there for possible insurance savings and maybe a selling point and , as I said, those days are long gone.

HOWEVER:

The fact it is now a campervan conversion and no longer a panel van ( therefore now covered by the Motor Caravan type approval NOT the stupid DVLA classification nonsense ) gives you a get out clause so you can drive the same speeds as passenger cars!

60 on single carriageway and 70 on dual carriageways. So as others have said you can repeal any speeding ticket. This is confirmed and proven by repeals and the Police themselves.

Yes, you might have to repeal a ticket but at least us campervan owners don't have to bloody panic all the time watching the speedo trying to do 60 in a 70!

Read this thread and follow these up to date Jerba links, by far the best and clearest information out there.

A9 in an N1 Van - not quite the usual question!

Hey folks - After opinions in regards to the A9 and the average speed cameras. I'm up and down this road a few times a year in my T5.1 N1 converted panel van. The question / problem is this... ANPR average speed cameras on that road limit me to 50 on singles and 60 on dual sections (They...

www.vwt4forum.co.uk

Campervan & Panel Van Speed Limits Update | Jerba Campervans

In our last blog on speed limits for campervans, panel vans and vans with side windows, which we posted on the 22nd September 2021, we talked about how we

www.jerbacampervans.co.uk

Campervan, Van With Windows & Motorcaravan Speed Limits (2020/2021 Update) | Jerba Campervans

In February 2020 we wrote a blog about campervan and van with windows speed limits, which sought to unravel the mysteries of what dictates how fast you

www.jerbacampervans.co.uk

Reclassifying Your Panel Van or Van with Windows to a Motorcaravan – the Conundrum! | Jerba Campervans

In 2019 reclassifying a panel van, or van with windows, to a motor caravan with the DVLA suddenly became a far more difficult task. From previously only

www.jerbacampervans.co.uk

 

Motor caravan external permanent features
This list describes the external features which are commonly seen in motor caravans, and it is intended to provide guidance on what DVLA expects to see when considering your application:

• 2 or more windows on at least one side of the main body (this does not include windows on the driver or passenger doors) to provide a reasonable amount of daylight into the living accommodation
• a separate door which provides access to the living accommodation of the vehicle (this excludes the driver and passenger doors); a window on this door counts as a separate window on the main body
• motor caravan-style graphics on both sides of the vehicle
• an awning bar attached to either side of the vehicle
• a high-top roof (this does not include a pop-top elevating roof)

DVLA will need photographic evidence of the completed conversion.

 

To add to the confusion, I believe that the Kombi is classed as a dual purpose vehicle and can already do car speed limits?

This is based on my interpretation of:

Dual Purpose Vehicles:

a vehicle constructed or adapted for the carriage both of passengers and of goods or burden of any description, being a vehicle of which the unladen weight does not exceed 2040 kg, and which either—

(i)
is so constructed or adapted that the driving power of the engine is, or by the appropriate use of the controls of the vehicle can be, transmitted to all the wheels of the vehicle; or
(ii)
satisfies the following conditions as to construction, namely—
(a)
the vehicle must be permanently fitted with a rigid roof, with or without a sliding panel;
(b)
the area of the vehicle to the rear of the driver's seat must—
(i)
be permanently fitted with at least one row of transverse seats (fixed or folding) for two or more passengers and those seats must be properly sprung or cushioned and provided with upholstered back-rests, attached either to the seats or to a side or the floor of the vehicle; and
(ii)
be lit on each side and at the rear by a window or windows of glass or other transparent material having an area or aggregate area of not less than 1850 square centimetres on each side and not less than 770 square centimetres at the rear; and
(c)
the distance between the rearmost part of the steering wheel and the back-rests of the row of transverse seats satisfying the requirements specified in head (i) of sub-paragraph (b) (or, if there is more than one such row of seats, the distance between the rearmost part of the steering wheel and the back-rests of the rearmost such row) must, when the seats are ready for use, be not less than one-third of the distance between the rearmost part of the steering wheel and the rearmost part of the floor of the vehicle.

 

Just look on the V5c.

If it's M1 then yes. Car speeds.

If it's N1 then no. Van speeds.

( Unless it is a full "obvious" camper conversion then you still risk a fine but as per Jerba link there is a get out clause / repeal as confirmed by the Police. )

You might try arguing the dual purpose ( i.e home made Kombi or shuttle conversion on a N1 ) view with a court with images to back it up much as with the "campervan defence".

Not sure if this has ever worked. Camper van one is proven.

Note you cannot change the V5c from N1 to M1 or vice versa no matter what you do to the van.

 

Thank you all for your answers. It is M1 on logbook. Will do a light conversion I guess. Pity road tax is higher than lambo's and no way to make it less

 

Nope tax stays the same regardless.
Ours is an N1 (with motor caravan classification) but you wouldnt know it to look at it and in 8 years of doing car speeds its never ever been queried by anyone at anytime. 🙃

 

Hi and welcome.
When you're ready if you need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.
Regards,
Dan.

 

Not to miss a chance ....

 

lol well i hope the quote is more realistic than the one you gave me