What exactly does a camper van conversion cost? The correct answer to this question is probably “42“, because a conversion is absolutely individual. In this article we will at least give you a detailed list of the costs of our own camper van conversion.
The following lists will be completed bit by bit. I will link all the articles we have bought as detailed as possible. If we have bought used parts for our camper, I have linked to the cheapest dealer possible (but state the price we have paid).
And now to our budget and the expected / incurred costs. I’m sure we haven’t thought of everything, but hopefully we’ve thought of the essentials:
Costs for the camper van:
| Vehicle costs: | Expected costs | Actual sosts |
|---|---|---|
| Iveco Daily | 8500€ | 5700€ |
| short term registration | 13€ | 13€ |
| short term license plates | 14€ | 14€ |
| short term insurance | 50€ | 50€ |
| Sum vehicle costs: | 8577€ | 5777€ |
For the basic vehicle we decided to use a L5H3 van and planned up to 10.000€. Important for us was basically the greatest possible height and length of the camper. In order to have some leeway for possible repairs, we reduced the price a little bit and decided that the base for our camper van should not cost more than 8500€. We finally bought a much cheaper Iveco Daily for the camper van, which obviously had a lot of issues, but in our opinion was mostly easy to repair. The scheduled repairs were as follows:
Costs for repairs:
| necessary repairs: | expected costs: | actual costs: |
|---|---|---|
| 4 tires | 600€ | (not yet repaired) |
| front left fender | 50€ | 17€ |
| damage in the back of the roof | 80€ | (not yet repaired) |
| brake pads | 200€ | (not yet repaired) |
| Timing belt | 200€ | 175€ |
| gear shift linkage | 30€ | 104€ |
| Rear view camera | 100€ | (not yet repaired) |
| side mirror left | 88€ | 68€ |
| Indicators in the side mirror right | 25€ | 13€ |
| Change window regulator | 100€ | 91€ |
| small parts from iveco dealership (cables, clips, screws) | 0€ | 92€ |
| New seat upholstery - driver's seat | 0€ | 57€ |
| Getriebeöl und sealant | 0€ | 54€ |
| Door mechanism sliding door | 0€ | 30€ |
| sum of repairs: | 1323€ | 701€ |
As you can see, there was (and still is) a lot to do.
Basically, we want to repair all issues as cheaply as possible. Before buying the vehicle, we have therefore roughly estimated the costs of all defects and calculated whether the “low” price for the basic vehicle will still be worth it after all repairs. We decided for the Iveco, knowing that it needs some love now.
Many spare parts can be found cheaply on ebay, much cheaper than from Iveco itself. Some parts can be bought used with good conscience! So it can be worthwhile to search a little bit.
Overview of posts on the topic of repairs:
A decent number of the repairs are still pending, but we have already done quite some of them! You can see our posts on repairs below:
costs for camper van conversion
Now it gets complicated! We had come up with a plan before our conversion started and calculated the costs in as much detail as possible in regards to individual components etc. .
Therefore our plan contains 3 columns: The 1st column “expected costs” contains the price of a particular item as it is new to buy online. In the 2nd column, named “Alternative”, you can find a price for a cheaper alternative, for example a cheaper window. The 3rd column “actual costs” contains the price that we really did pay in the end.
“Additional costs” can be found at the bottom of the tables. In this section you find incurred costs that we had NOT taken into account! Of course you cannot predict every price exactly in advance, but we have to admit, there were some some necessities we simply did not think of.
| Conversion costs: | expected costs: (new/ pricy parts) | inexpensive alternative | actual price paid: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roof hatch 1 with vent | 188€ | 188€ | (not yet purchased) |
| roof hatch MPK 70cm x 50cm Vision Star Pro L* | 365€ | 199€ | 299€ |
| side window right side | 380€ | 275€ | 115€ |
| side window left side | 380€ | 275€ | 115€ |
| roof hatch bathroom (Micro Heki + 42mm Kit) | 200€ | 80€ | 90€ |
| 2 windows in sleeping area (Dometic 700x300) | 250€ | 80€ | 564€ |
| Double induction cookingplate* | 200€ | 200€ | 120€ |
| Kitchen furniture Ikea Knoxhult & Push Locks | 200€ | 200€ | 147€ |
| short term solution for cooking plate to get camper registration | 100€ | 100€ | 25€ |
| Mobicool cooler - 40 Liter* | 300€ | 300€ | 97€ |
| Shurflo water pump (Whisperking) | 150€ | 50€ | 50€ |
| 2 80 liter tanks (examples are linked) | 150€ | 150€ | 100€ |
| Autoterm 44D 12V "Warmduscherkit" + small parts | 1059€ | 1059€ | 1156€ |
| matress 2m x 1,40m | 250€ | 250€ | (not yet purchased) |
| Shower tray, welded from aluminium | 109€ | 80€ | 198€ |
| Thetford C403 toilet | 350€ | 250€ | 370€ |
| sink in the bathroom | 75€ | 60€ | (not yet purchased) |
| Wood, floor, hinges, screws, PVC wall, laminate, glue, varnish, etc | 1000€ | 800€ | 609€ |
| 4m² Reckhorn ABX Alubutyl | 65€ | 65€ | 65€ |
| Insulation: 33qm Armaflex XG self-adhesive | 360€ | 360€ | 321€ |
| Electronic equipment (later in more detail..) | 600€ | 600€ | 633€ |
| LED-Streifen, together with passendes Aluprofil & runde LED-Leuchten | 50€ | 50€ | 76€ |
| 140 AH battery | 0 | 0 | 163€ |
| 2 swiveling consoles for front seats | 400€ | 400€ | 238€ |
| Passenger seat | 400€ | 400€ | 400€ |
| NOT included into our calculation beforehand: | |||
| Toilet "servicedoor" + lock & keys | 0€ | 0€ | 20€ |
| Gas bottle | 0€ | 0€ | 56€ |
| 13 Meter 4-edged steel | 0€ | 0€ | 70€ |
| battery box | 0€ | 0€ | 10€ |
| Table frame | 0€ | 0€ | 150€ |
| Hammerite - 500ml + brush | 0€ | 0€ | 27€ |
| 3x 310ml Dekalin Dekaseal 8936 sealing compound | 0€ | 0€ | 33€ |
| Petec Window installation kit | 0€ | 0€ | 30€ |
| Fix-All Turbo adhesive | 0€ | 0€ | 13€ |
| Jigsaw blades | 0€ | 0€ | 8€ |
| tape | 0€ | 0€ | 11€ |
| Flex Discs | 0€ | 0€ | 8€ |
| Grinding discs | 0€ | 0€ | 2€ |
| Water tap in kitchen & Ikea sink | 0€ | 0€ | 99€ |
| various adapter cables | 0€ | 0€ | 35€ |
| 18m Trinkwasserschlauch & Hose clamps | 0€ | 0€ | 65€ |
| Styrodur | 0€ | 0€ | t.b.d. |
| lap belt - rear seat bench | 0€ | 0€ | t.b.d. |
| Sum: | 7581€ | 6471€ | 6588€ |
Finally, the total price will hopefully be somewhere between the column “Expected Costs” and “Alternatives”.
Overview of our posts on the topic of our camper van conversion:
You can find all posts about our conversion and the individual steps we made and products we used below:
- Using Alubutyl AND Armaflex? Not a good idea..
- Armaflex ACE, XG or AF? These are the differences!
- Chapter 8: Installung a Dometic window in your Camper
- Finding the best window for your camper van conversion
- Chapter 7: Bed frame for our camper van conversion
- Chapter 6: Armaflex XG for Camper van Insulation
- Chapter 5: Reckhorn ABX Alubutyl for noise insulation!
- Chapter 4: Replacing window regulators
- Insulation for camper van conversions
- Which van to use as a base for a camper conversion?
- Chapter 2: Dismantle rear panel and remove wood panelling
- Chapter 1: 5700€ for our Iveco Daily: Vantour… or let´s call it damage assessment?
Costs for tools for the camper conversion
Even though we do actually have a well-equipped workshop, there are still some tools that had to be bought in addition. Since the costs for these tools are only for the camper equipment, we list them here. We have assumed a flat rate of 500€ for the purchase of tools.
| Tools: | actual costs: |
|---|---|
| Blow gun tornadopistol* | 55.99€ |
| circular table saw | |
| multimeter | 40€ |
| router | 59.99€ |
| router parts* | 38.95€ |
| Sheet metal nibbler | 15.69€ |
| Crimping tool* | 16.99€ |
| Sum: | 227.51€ |
Total cost for our Iveco Daily Camper Van Conversion
Finally, a look at the total costs. From the beginning we have planned to spend about 15.000€ for the whole camper van including the conversion and all necessities along the way. There will certainly be some additional costs, but we remain hopeful that the costs will not significantly exceed the set goal.
| expected costs: | actual costs (so far): | |
|---|---|---|
| vehicle | 8.500€ (including repairs) | 5.777€ |
| repairs | 0€ (included above) | 701€ |
| camper conversion | 6.471€ | 6.588€ |
| tools | 500€ | 228€ |
| total costs: | 15.471€ | 13.294€ |
We have listed all essential cost items. If you would like to know how we are progressing with our camper conversion, you can also subscribe to our YouTube channel. We are happy for any feedback!