Camper Conversion Kits – Your Complete Guide
Compare VW Campervan Insurance Quotes Today
January 16, 2023
A Complete Guide to Camper Van Cooking
February 24, 2023
Camper Conversion Kits – Your Complete Guide
When you’re ready to embrace the campervan lifestyle, you’ve got a few options available to you for getting your own camper. You can buy them ready-made, you can pay for someone to kit out your own van, or you can try converting one yourself.
If you want to convert your own, you don’t have to completely start from scratch. You can instead by a campervan conversion kit, helping to make the job a whole lot easier.
In this guide we’re going to take you through everything you need to know about campervan conversion kits, whether they’re the best option for converting a campervan, and where you can get help with creating your perfect camper.
Covered in This Guide:
- What Are DIY Campervan Conversion Kits?
- What Do Campervan Conversion Kits Include?
- Campervan Conversion Insurance
- Campervan Conversion Kits vs. Completely DIY Conversions
- Campervan Conversion Kits vs. Ready-Made Campervans
- Bespoke Campervan Conversion Kits By Make & Model
- Campervan Conversion Kits – The Online Community
- Campervan Conversion Kits Cost
- Campervan Conversion Kits – The Verdict
What Are DIY Campervan Conversion Kits?
DIY Campervan Conversion Kits are exactly how they sound – a kit that gives you all the essentials you need to convert your own van into a campervan, ready to go.
It’s a sort of middle ground between carrying out a conversion yourself from scratch, sourcing all the different parts and materials you’d need, and paying a professional to convert the van for you. Instead, you pay an experienced company to put together a kit that you can then assemble in the van yourself.
Some kits are generic, aimed at suiting a wide variety of vans, while others are tailor-made to fit specific makes and models – obviously targeting the more popular vans that people tend to convert into a campervan.
If you buy a tailor-made kit, you may pay a little more, but you’ll get a kit that will maximise the available space in your van, and fit it perfectly. You’ll also get specific instructions of how to make sure your kit fits in the van in the best way.
Buying a generic kit will be cheaper, but the downside is that it won’t make the most of every inch of space in the van. And when it comes to van conversions – especially if you’re working with a smaller van – you’ll want to make the most of every bit of space you have.
What Do Campervan Conversion Kits Include?
Campervan conversion kits are not standard – you’ll find that different kits offer different levels of conversion for your van.
Typically, the most basic options will come with modular furniture that will include a seating area and a bed. Usually, to save space, these are combined so you get the benefit of seats during the day that fold down to create a sleeping area at night, even in a smaller van.
Your kit can include any of the following:
Plus, individual kits may have more unique features to add to your campervan too.
Obviously, the more complex a conversion kit, the more it’s going to cost you. It’s also more complicated to install, so you need to consider whether you feel confident in your DIY skills. It’s no good paying a large sum for an intricate conversion kit if you can’t install it properly!
Campervan Conversion Insurance
If you’re thinking about converting your van into a campervan, you’re going to need to inform your insurance company, and you may need to change policy to get the right campervan conversion insurance. This applies whether you’re having the work done professionally, or whether you’re converting it yourself, using a kit or otherwise.
Any changes you make to the structure, interior and value of your van will impact your insurance premium, as will any changes to how you use the van. If you’re going to start using it as a campervan, you’ll need an insurance policy that is designed to cover that.
And if you choose to use a conversion kit, rather than pay for a professional installation, your insurance premium may vary. The insurer may want to understand how secure the installation is and the quality of the work you’ve carried out. In some circumstances they may want to see images of the work you’ve done.
Campervan Conversion Kits vs. Completely DIY Conversions
When you decide to convert a van yourself, you’ve the option of using a kit or doing everything yourself from scratch. That can mean buying modules of a conversion, or just sourcing your own materials and making everything yourself.
There are pros and cons to both approaches and there’s no single answer on which is the best way to do things.
The pros of using a campervan conversion kit are:
- You’ll get everything you need in one go, ready to install in your van
- Each module will have been created to a fixed spec that should fit together correctly
- You’ll be provided with instructions on how to assemble everything in your van
- If you buy a conversion kit that’s designed for your van’s make/model, everything will fit perfectly
- You don’t have to plan as much, it’s one single purchase to make
- They’re much easier for people who don’t have a lot of skill with DIY projects
The downsides to using a conversion kit are:
- They tend to be more expensive that buying items individually/building your own furnishings
- You might not find the perfect kit that you need, and may pay for items you don’t actually want just to get the fixtures you do want
- If you buy a kit that’s designed for your van it will definitely be more expensive
- They can sometimes be trickier to install, if they’ve been built to a high standard that relies on fitting things in the van in intricate spaces
- It can be harder to get help and advice online if you’re asking about a specific kit
Campervan Conversion Kits vs. Ready-Made Campervans
The easiest way to convert your van into a campervan is to pay someone else to do it, but again that doesn’t always work for everyone. There really isn’t a simple answer when it comes to the best way to convert a van. And once again there are pros and cons to both approaches.
- The pros of using a conversion kit instead of paying someone to do it for you include:
- It’s always going to be cheaper to do the work yourself
- Unless you pay extra for a truly bespoke conversion, you can get a more tailored kit to your needs
- You get a true sense of accomplishment when converting a van yourself
Don’t underestimate that last point. It may sound trivial but it feels so much better travelling in a van that you have converted yourself, and for a lot of the conversion community this is one of the best reasons to go for a DIY conversion.
But the cons of converting a van yourself instead of paying someone to do it are:
- It takes longer – you not only need to order the materials and wait for delivery, but you then need to do the work yourself
- It’s more labour-intensive since you have to make the time to convert the van, rather than getting someone else to do it
- You’re taking a risk with the installation, especially if you’re not the most handy of van converters
- You don’t get a warranty – most campervan conversion companies will give you some form of guarantee on the parts and materials used
Bespoke Campervan Conversion Kits By Make & Model
If you do want to go down the route of a campervan conversion kit, it’s worth looking out for those designed for specific models of van.
There are a number of companies that target the most popular van makes in the UK for campervan conversions, and design kits that are tailored to the dimensions of those vans.
These include Ford Transit campervan conversion kits, Peugeot Boxer campervan conversion kits, Sprinter campervan conversion sets and more. Most of the major small vans used for campers have the option of a tailored kit.
Tailored kits are often more expensive because the furnishings aren’t just built to a generic template. They’re designed to perfectly fit the size and shape of the van, which means more work goes into them.
But when you’re dealing with a small van, this can be a huge benefit – you don’t have a lot of space as it is, and these bespoke kits are much better at using every inch that you have for storage, seating space and more.
It can sometimes mean that the installation is a little bit tricker too though – any time you’re dealing with a snug fit, it may be a little bit harder to secure everything in place.
However, you’ll also know that the way the kits have been designed, once they are installed they’re a better fit for your van and so will be more likely to stay secure in place, giving them an extended lifespan.
Indeed, using a kit that is designed to fit your van’s make and model could mean your campervan conversion insurance is just a little bit cheaper, since the quality of the finished work should be higher.
Campervan Conversion Kits – The Online Community
The biggest mistake you can make when trying to convert a van into a campervan is going completely alone.
That doesn’t mean finding someone to pass you the tools while you’re actually installing the kit (although a friend would definitely help at this stage!)
What we actually mean is trying to determine the best solution for your van without doing some research, and making the most of the extensive online community that can help with a wide range of campervan conversion questions.
There are multiple forums you can turn to if you want to learn more about campervan conversion kits, and they are very active. The camping community loves to help each other out!
Whether you’re looking for tips on the best kit for your van, or advice on installations, or even just campervan conversion ideas if you’re at the very first stage, we’d recommend getting involved in the community from day one.
You’ll get the best answers to every question you have by consulting the experts – AKA the people who’ve already been through it, often multiple times. Once people convert their first van they often catch the bug, and may convert others for friends or family, or upgrade their own van over time!
Some of the best places to get help include:
DIY Motorhome Forum
Campervan Life Forum
Van Conversions into Campers
The Campervans Subreddit
Some of these are international, so if you’re looking for specific advice on UK campervan conversion kits you may need to dig around to get your answer, but post any questions you have and you’ll usually get the help you need really quickly.
Campervan Conversion Kits Cost
The cost of a campervan conversion kit can vary by a significant amount, for example VW conversion costs may vary from a Renault conversion kit. Kits aren’t standard and can include a lot of different options for furnishings and fixtures.
The most basic kits – those that consist of primarily a bed/seating combination with some basic storage – may cost between £200 and £500. But the most extensive, feature-laden kits can cost thousands, especially if they are tailored towards a specific make and model of van.
Campervan Conversion Kits – The Verdict
The key point to take away from this is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to converting a campervan, and a conversion kit will not be the right choice for everybody. But it could be the ideal solution for you.
You’ll need to be at least reasonably confident with your DIY skills, but you don’t need to be an absolute expert since you’re not building anything from scratch.
If you are a hazard with a screwdriver in hand, it’s probably better to pay a professional to convert your van for you. You’ll get better results, and you’ll help to keep your campervan insurance costs low.
But, if you are OK with a toolbox in hand and you don’t want to have to build everything from scratch, there are some excellent options out there for conversion kits which can save you a lot of time.
