In reply to Saor Alba:
Insurance wise mine was cheaper than the merc vito I looked at but cant say anything other than that. Insurance is calculated on many things not just miles and usage, such as value, where you live, age, condition, extras or mods etc. can you tell us what your van has?
My insurance is 320 inc full EU breakdown recover. This is based on a £26k camper with std alloy wheels and the only mod to the outside of the van is side steps so my wife can get in easier as she is in a wheelchair due to MS. The van is an 08 2.5 tdi. Based north notts rural location
With regards cool. There maybe are some folks who think they are cool but you have that with what ever vehicle you buy, vito, tranny all have folk how bling them up put big alloy wheels on, that is there choice.
I did not buy my VW T5 for that reason, in fact it is one of the most understated campers I am aware of ( I visit many shows and forum meets now through the work I have got into).
Why don't you just try going to a VW festival in your van and see how welcome you are made to feel and how helpful folks can be, you don't have to own a VW to be part of the "club, scene or what ever you want to call it"
I feel I must reiterate the main reason I bought my van was residual resale value. This may not be top of your list but it was very much mine. What would have happened if I'd spent 26 k on a vito had it for say 6 years then some kind HGV shunted me, writing it off. Well considering how quickly they depriciate I would not get anywhere near what I paid for it and thus would probably not be able replace it like for like.
Now you can say but the money you saved in not buying a VW, but I would not have saved a penny I would have got a van of similar age but lower mileage.
So it does not matter if you think a high top, poptop, or a bigger van cheaper would have helped I still think buying into the VW is more logical and less expensive than other vans.
As I said in one of my earlier posts in 10-15 years time my van will still be worth 12-16k which can not be said for a similar brand. So if you sell at the same age and the other van type only fetchs say 6k at the best I have saved 6k at worst may even be 10 or more.
How is this not logical