VAN-COMPARATOR Guide
Having a Van Converted: Cost, Lead Times and VASP Approval
Professional converter, removable kit or self-build: the real budget ranges, workshop lead times, what French VASP approval changes, and how to test before freezing the plans.
Between the panel van and the ready-to-roll camper lies a structural choice: entrust the conversion to a professional, fit a removable kit, or build everything yourself. All three roads lead to a campervan — but not at the same price, not on the same timescale, and not with the same resale value. Here is how to decide.
Three ways to convert
- The professional converter: made to measure, fine joinery, gas and electrics up to standard, homologation handled. It is the most expensive route — on the order of several tens of thousands of euros excluding the base vehicle for a full conversion — and the longest: workshop order books, from Nantes to Orléans, from Angers to Lyon, often run to months.
- The removable kit: a bed-and-kitchen module that straps into a van or leisure MPV without touching its registration papers. A few thousand euros, reversible, perfect for testing life on board — but no shower and no real autonomy.
- Self-build: the cheapest in parts, the costliest in time — hundreds of hours — and the riskiest on the technical points: gas, ventilation, furniture anchoring and electrics demand method (our guide to battery and solar power lays the energy groundwork).
VASP: why homologation changes everything
In France, a permanently converted van must have its registration changed to VASP caravane: the vehicle is inspected (berths, seating, gas installation, ventilation) and officially recognised as a motor caravan. That means time and paperwork — but a van left registered as a commercial vehicle with an undeclared fixed conversion pays three times over: at insurance (unsuitable cover), at the roadworthiness test, and at resale. The economist George Akerlof theorised it as early as 1970 in his celebrated “market for lemons” article (Quarterly Journal of Economics): when the buyer cannot verify quality, he pays less — and certification is precisely what restores trust (Google Scholar page). VASP approval is your certificate.
Test before freezing the plans
The worst conversion mistakes are made on paper: fixed bed or convertible bench, shower or no shower, indoor kitchen or tailgate galley — these calls are settled by sleeping aboard, not by watching videos. Rent the formats that tempt you in turn — a converted van, a compact campervan, why not a mini-camper — and note what grates day to day; our rent-before-you-buy method structures the trial, and the guide to the differences between formats clears up the vocabulary. The camper community, studied by Hardy, Gretzel and Hanson in the Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change (2013), works as “neo-tribes” sharing layouts, feedback and good workshops (Google Scholar page) — draw on it before you sign.
Convert, or buy ready-made?
If the calendar is pressing, the used market is full of vans already converted and approved — often cheaper than the same work commissioned new. Our guide to buying a campervan or converted van gives the inspection method, and our city pages — from Grenoble to the coasts — flag the regional pitfalls. Bespoke conversion keeps one decisive advantage: a van exactly to your hand. Provided you have checked, by renting, that you knew what your hand wanted.
Free checklist: your first campervan trip
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