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The Wildax look lovely but too big for us, and conversely only a maximum of 3 berths.

Strangely it seems the less you get the more it costs....  I would consider a LHD if it was just for holidays but I want it to be my everyday transport and I can see that LHD would be a real pain for car park barriers etc (as well as the obvious driving disadvantages) 

A friend of ours has just changed from a T4 to a T5 - he went for the option of having a bed factory fitted.  I know he checked everywhere before he bought his in Scotland as this is where he got the best deal.  He's a member of the T4 forum previously mentioned and I know thats where he spent a lot of time looking. 

Another good place to check for VW campers for sale is any of the VW shows - in particular Vanfest.  Its on 12 - 14 September at Malvern Showgrounds and has everything VW camper related you might ever be looking for.  I know the T4 forum guys - which also has a T5 section - had club camping there last year and are planning to do the same this year. 

www.vanfest.org.com

Sorry for delay in reply.  The van cost £ 10995 for a lwb window van but i did forget to add the VAT.  However, we have spent approx £8k on the fixtures and fittings.  We had the main electrics fitted by a commercial vehicle outfitter (i.e leisure battery and split charger) along with the heater which we sourced from e-bay.  The roof with bed cost the same wherever we asked for a quote.  The units were made by a master carpenter( yellow pages).  Soft furnishings were sourced on e-bay.  We did some of the work i.e. the fitting of curtain rails and odds and ends ourselves to reduce costs.  The result is probably not as swish as a conversion company version, however, our units are in plain ply not plastic covered chipboard which a lot of companies use.  The advantages of this are that any damage due to our child's big feet or our kayaks can be repaired by sanding and re-finishing.  Chip board is heavier and once the covering is chipped it stays chipped and tends to look tatty.  Also thew van is designed to our needs not one size fits all.

Hope this helps,

Oz

Thanks for all the info guys, we are looking into hiring a California in the next few weeks as a comparison to the Bilbo to compare factory built to a conversion.

Vicki

Mmm yes I know that but to be honest I hardly ever park on the road, and having the sliding door on the same side as the drivers door would actually be an advantage for me when I'm on my own with the kids.

Another option of course would be a T4 - has anyone driven both?

I spoke to my friend who has just changed from the T4 to the T5 and asked if there were any real advantages to either.  The T4 is apparently slightly wider - but not enough to make a huge difference.  His main reason for changing was that he needs a van for both work and camping and the T5 suited that for him.  He reckons that the T4 is more reliable and is cheaper.  Apparently a proper T4 campervan 2003 is fetching the same as a 3 year old T5 which needs converted.  He also mentioned that there is a really good T4 LHD for sale at the moment on the T4 forum.  There is also a good looking RHD T4 for sale on volkszone.  www.volkzone.co.uk  

He also said the T4 multivan is in his opinion the best option for camping etc.

Hesuggested that you register on the T4 forum and they will be happy to answer any queries you might have.

Hope this helps.

Just an update on the search for a camper, after driving a T5 and a T4 we decided in the end to go for a T4, I thought it was nicer to drive and felt a bit less like a van than the T5 (and obviously a good deal cheaper!)

So we are getting a LHD Westfalia California, picking it up this Saturday! We've changed our ferry / campsite bookings to later in the summer in order that we can have a few practice weekends before we take it to France but now I'm officially very excited!

Any recommendations for insurance?

Vicki

I’m just having a full conversion done at www.swcampers.co.uk who are South West Camper Conversion Ltd. The old website link was down for a while because they’ve just built to a new workshop and are now trading from Bideford.

I’m really pleased I managed to re-find these guys, as I was also trying the old link for a while and eventually found them the old site was re-linked to there new site a month ago.

There are a lot of companies we looked at offering to do nice ‘professional’ conversions at good costs, but we’ve gone with these guys as we found loads of these to just be home garage surfy converters with a website smoke screen. We needed an elevating roof and three point harness seat belts in the back for the kids, and these guys are also insurance recognised.

I've known several people who've had conversions done and then weren't able to get insurance - good to know they are insurance recognised.  

Picked up my camper yesterday - very cool!

We insured it through Safeguard, they were very good, mirrored the no claims on my car (although I am going to sell it) and includes European cover & UK & European breakdown cover too.  Everyone else I rang seemed to specialise in big motorhomes or old VWs.