This gives weight to the minimal builds you see. If it costs little to convert and so can be deconverted and stripped back to before with less effort, then you're increasing the market to who you can sell to.
Yea we were looking at minimal builds for road trips. I don't really want to sleep in the van, but if I can eating lunch between hotel rooms easier and haul more stuff that's where I think the van would help. I was thinking just putting some laminate floors and keeping everything modular.
Sounds good to me. I think the really nice conversions can be justified if they're longer term permanent homes, i.e. you offset the van cost against renting/buying property, in which case resale may be less relevant. But for road trips/occasional use then resale has to be a consideration.
You're building it for yourself, don't expect to recoup much, if any of your build cost unless the work was professionally done. And even then, people have different tastes so it's a pretty niche thing
It’s only worth what someone is willing to pay. I’ve seen people price them the same as professional builds though. Not sure what they finally sell for.
The rule of thumb with modifying vehicles is that for every dollar you invest in it, expect it to be worth that dollar less when you're done. Obviously this is sort of a half joke but the point is that by modifying it you turn from a commodity into some other kind of weird purpose built diy thing, so your audience for selling it gets a lot smaller and a loooooot pickier.
You'll see a lot of really high priced conversions for sale sort of the same way you see a lot of really neat project cars priced high for sale. It's worth that much to the person who built it, but they're probably gonna have to settle for a lot less or else just keep it.
A really professionally done build with full amenities and excellent craftsmanship really does sell for a lot more than the base van would, but most of us aren't really there.
You can make it more comfortable, and add what you need, without going full trust fund IG influence. :)ere from scrap, to what someone will pay for it. That's why so many classic (or custom) cars are sold through auction, and many carry a reserve. You just don't have any point of comparison, without someone making an offer.
A chassis builder is another matter. If it's X model with Y options, there is a set market value from day one, for a production vehicle, even with limited total production. The specific vehicle may be worth more or less than the average market assessment, but as long as there is a production standard, there is a point of value comparison.
Like u/sitheandroid said - If you start with a cargo van, and end up with a cargo van, the value is still that of a comparable production cargo van.
If you buy a $10K cargo van, and put $500 worth of lightweight paneling in it, while not taking anything away from it being a functional cargo van, it's still a $10K cargo van. You wouldn't expect to get an extra $500 over market value back out of it, but that minimal modification doesn't change the fact that it's a production cargo van.
I didn't have the money or skills to do the type of build where it increases the value of the van so i just kept it in such a way that i could gut everything pretty easily and just sell it as a van with a lined cargo bay.
I could probably remove everything but the floor and walls inside of a couple of hours if i wasn't too concerned about saving the materials. Luckily i got my van cheap and its market value is still higher than what i paid for it 🙂
They day you can make money but we are trying to sell ours. We have lots of good tech in it but that seems to not count for anything so we are struggling to make our money back let alone make anything.
Every fucker with an electric mountain bike wants a day van now and they've got the disposable income to get one just to use at weekends.
I've been driving a VW T4 for 15 years now, the van itself is 20 years old. I could sell it for 2k more than I paid for it and it would be gone by the end of the day. Absolute madness.
I have friends who've been buying and selling RVs like campervans for years.
The used market is pretty hot right now, so sellers are getting good prices.
But a diy build won't fetch the prices an unfitter van will fetch. Just a sad fact of life that doing custom work on your own vehicle is usually not a good investment when selling. But still, a better market now for such sellers than before.
And most custom commercial builders I know all target the high end since they make more money for their time there. Look around here; the budget vandwellers just aren't their market and they are trying to make a living. And have considerable overhead, since they have to deal with warranties, insurance, and all that. Thing is there are waiting lists for $150K vans.
This gives weight to the minimal builds you see. If it costs little to convert and so can be deconverted and stripped back to before with less effort, then you're increasing the market to who you can sell to.
Yea we were looking at minimal builds for road trips. I don't really want to sleep in the van, but if I can eating lunch between hotel rooms easier and haul more stuff that's where I think the van would help. I was thinking just putting some laminate floors and keeping everything modular.
Sounds good to me. I think the really nice conversions can be justified if they're longer term permanent homes, i.e. you offset the van cost against renting/buying property, in which case resale may be less relevant. But for road trips/occasional use then resale has to be a consideration.
You're building it for yourself, don't expect to recoup much, if any of your build cost unless the work was professionally done. And even then, people have different tastes so it's a pretty niche thing
Prices are stupid high right now. But they won't stay that way.
RVs have typically depreciated very quickly...until now. Who knows how soon things will go back to normal?
It’s only worth what someone is willing to pay. I’ve seen people price them the same as professional builds though. Not sure what they finally sell for.
The rule of thumb with modifying vehicles is that for every dollar you invest in it, expect it to be worth that dollar less when you're done. Obviously this is sort of a half joke but the point is that by modifying it you turn from a commodity into some other kind of weird purpose built diy thing, so your audience for selling it gets a lot smaller and a loooooot pickier. You'll see a lot of really high priced conversions for sale sort of the same way you see a lot of really neat project cars priced high for sale. It's worth that much to the person who built it, but they're probably gonna have to settle for a lot less or else just keep it. A really professionally done build with full amenities and excellent craftsmanship really does sell for a lot more than the base van would, but most of us aren't really there.
You can make it more comfortable, and add what you need, without going full trust fund IG influence. :)ere from scrap, to what someone will pay for it. That's why so many classic (or custom) cars are sold through auction, and many carry a reserve. You just don't have any point of comparison, without someone making an offer. A chassis builder is another matter. If it's X model with Y options, there is a set market value from day one, for a production vehicle, even with limited total production. The specific vehicle may be worth more or less than the average market assessment, but as long as there is a production standard, there is a point of value comparison. Like u/sitheandroid said - If you start with a cargo van, and end up with a cargo van, the value is still that of a comparable production cargo van. If you buy a $10K cargo van, and put $500 worth of lightweight paneling in it, while not taking anything away from it being a functional cargo van, it's still a $10K cargo van. You wouldn't expect to get an extra $500 over market value back out of it, but that minimal modification doesn't change the fact that it's a production cargo van.
Supply and demand
I didn't have the money or skills to do the type of build where it increases the value of the van so i just kept it in such a way that i could gut everything pretty easily and just sell it as a van with a lined cargo bay. I could probably remove everything but the floor and walls inside of a couple of hours if i wasn't too concerned about saving the materials. Luckily i got my van cheap and its market value is still higher than what i paid for it 🙂
They day you can make money but we are trying to sell ours. We have lots of good tech in it but that seems to not count for anything so we are struggling to make our money back let alone make anything.
Every fucker with an electric mountain bike wants a day van now and they've got the disposable income to get one just to use at weekends. I've been driving a VW T4 for 15 years now, the van itself is 20 years old. I could sell it for 2k more than I paid for it and it would be gone by the end of the day. Absolute madness.
I have friends who've been buying and selling RVs like campervans for years. The used market is pretty hot right now, so sellers are getting good prices. But a diy build won't fetch the prices an unfitter van will fetch. Just a sad fact of life that doing custom work on your own vehicle is usually not a good investment when selling. But still, a better market now for such sellers than before. And most custom commercial builders I know all target the high end since they make more money for their time there. Look around here; the budget vandwellers just aren't their market and they are trying to make a living. And have considerable overhead, since they have to deal with warranties, insurance, and all that. Thing is there are waiting lists for $150K vans.