…or perhaps I should specify custom built campervans built anywhere other than france.
my plan had been to get an EU vw transporter with the intention of doing a custom camper conversion (professionally by a specialist company) here in the UK, then take it with me upon relocation to france. after months of digging and researching and talking with custom camper companies in france, and roof manufacturers, I have all but given up hope that this is possible. but I would welcome any observations or ideas.
as many of you probably already know, a custom built campervan in france requires VASP homologation. there are certain criteria with when you do or don’t require this, but if there’s any structural change, such as adding a poptop roof or windows, or for example changing the number of seats in the vehicle, VASP is required. I would need to have a poptop fitted before departure for france for reasons too long and boring to explain. so it seems its not feasible. there’s a high likelihood that a poptop fitted, even professionally, by a company outside france, will not be accepted for VASP, so you would end up with a vw transporter that you’ve chopped the roof off that you can’t drive in france. obviously an unacceptable financial risk.
its frustrating.
I can have a Reimo poptop fitted, which is TUV approved, that comes with official TUV install certification by Reimo UK, and a long list of official stamped approvals from VW themselves for that particular model roof, and apparently there’s still a chance it will not be accepted by VASP.
obviously the alternative is to do it all after relocation with a french company, which is what I’ll have to do, but it will be considerably more expensive and less convenient. I’ll need to get a car in the short term for the relocation, then take it back to sell in uk after getting the camper sorted in france.
My experience in the practical sense,to date, is limited. I only know that in a conversation with a FR guy with a self-built camper, here in Vire, he told me that since he’d done his the rules had changed and ‘self built’ was not poss to CT. Thus my Movano went back to UK, still on GB plates, and sold.
This leads me to the notion that I will construct a ‘day van’ with anything not ‘CTable’ removable. Having never finished the full conversion of my H3/L3 Movano - just a bed and storage, solar panels and interior lighting, - I know I can function without a kitchen and ablutions. Camping-style kit for those, a tent and use of ‘shore facilities’ will serve.
A.t.mo. I’m waiting to have LHD headlamps fitted and a NSR [RHD] fog. Garagiste and vehicle registrationist Mark Rimmer said that RHD Trafics/Vivaros had wiring for a NSR fog already in place but the lamp assembly has the fog bulb holder blanked off! Dumb.
I will remove the cab bulkhead and fit side windows behind the driver/pax seats. When I mentioned this to the CTist she pointed to a van with same and said. “Oui. Minibus”. So that should be OK.
I’ll also remove the double pax seats. I have every expectation that in a CT the comment will be as per the absent rear seats of my Peugeot 307 estate “Seats not inspected as seats not present.”
In the case of @whatsisname it seems to me that there is a decent budget for a camper. I’d be inclined to go shopping for a good, clean s/h one - or new if you can afford it. The FR are mad for campers. The showrooms/sales lot are enormous. Dozens - scores - of campers. Must be something already good for FR out there.
I have been chatting with a conversion specialist near bordeaux called lucas. it seems it is possible to have a custom camper build pass CT but it has to pass VASP homologation. that is no easy straighforward feat, and involves a mass of paperwork, dreal inspection etc. lucas offers a service to get it thru VASP for you (as long as the vehicle meets requirements). without VASP, yes, it won’t pass CT.
I like your idea of not doing anything to it that requires VASP, removable parts etc. unfortunately for me because of mobility issues I will have to have a poptop roof, which automatically requires VASP.
re your suggestion to go shopping for a SH one I presume you mean after arriving in france. I may well end up doing this. like you tho, I don’t need that much in my conversion, just a poptop and some basic furniture, and buying a secondhand one will undoubtedly be overkill for my requirements with regards the conversion and specs, and hence much more money than I would otherwise need to spend.
if VASP would accept foreign installed TUV poptops, I could procede. but they won’t, or its not guaranteed that they will.
My sister has a VW built California Camper van, built by VW as a camper. 2015 I think. Its LH drive and she wants to sell it if its of interest to you? They just dont use it much.
Its in UK and is located on the Isle of Wight, let me know if its of interest to you.
BIL’s van failed CT as the single passenger seat was replaced by the bench seat, origional Merc seat, manufacturers bolt holes and captive nuts already present. Pathetic robotic French ideas, driving in reverse practical skills.
And as in the case of agriculture and the CAP, the FR are notorious, possibly in reality, certainly anecdotally, of either rigging the rules to suit themselves or ignoring the rules formulated by the EU.
One instance of this is in the boat buiding industry. The British Marine Industry Federation [member C. Nation of Weir Quay Boatyard] went into battle on behalf of British boat builders because the FR had persuaded the EU that a homologation system should apply to pleasure craft as well as vehicles.
The output of boat builders throughout Europe is minute compared with the volumes of road vehicles produced. But France has the only ‘mass produced/volume’ boat building companies in the EU. These 3 companies could afford the considerable costs of homologating their boats.
British companies - Westerly, Sadler, Rival [Princess Anne’s ‘Doublet’] , Marcon [my Sabre 27’] Contessa [Ted Heath’s first ‘Morning Cloud’] could not afford homologtion costs.
Westerley went bust, Sadler [very popular boat] struggled on and folded. Marcon took to supplying mouldings for DIY completion.I doubt whether any of those companies are still building boats - or not boats which will sail in EU waters.
We live in one of Europe’s - possibly the world’s - most regulated societies, according to my pal French Franck.
It’s the way to go.
How much cost do you anticipate for your custom built dream? Just adding the words custom built and specialist together spells expensive.
You might get what you call an overkill spec when buying in France but you dont have to use all the gizmos. France is a nation that has so many camper van and camping car suppliers and many private sellers that there is sure to be one out there rhat suits your pocket and is legal to enjoy straight away.
Custom jobs simply hardly exist here unless it on dutch plates!
Thread drift disclaimer.
Particularly popular with viewers of Howard’s Way.
I once met David Sadler’s wife when I dropped her sister, a friend’s mother at the Sadler’s home in Poole. I had no idea whose house I was invited into but commented on the beautiful marine paintings on the walls. I was told that the lady’s husband was a boatbuilder, David Sadler. Over the next half an hour I discovered why he wasn’t there, he was sailing around the World. It turns out that for the last decade or so of his working life he fitted out a purpose built boat to his exact specifications to fulfil his dream of circumnavigating the globe under sail. The final day arrived and he retired. Soon afterwards he brought the subject up and asked when they would leave. We? She asked. I know that you wanted to sail around the World but did I ever say that I would be going with you? He went. She stayed. As she said to me, he’ll be back one day.
It doesn’t strike me as too unreasonable that, if the carte grise specifies X seats, then a number of seats greater than X is a fail. If we’re casting judgement, perhaps we should consider the arrogance of the vehicle owner who didn’t feel it necessary to follow the process of updating the carte grise to reflect the actual configuration of the vehicle?
This is one of those rare occasions when I think the insurance could have got properly sticky if something had gone wrong while carrying more passengers than recognised in the carte grise.
Well it strikes me as totally ridiculous that you cannot change one seat for the exact same manufacturers seat without changing and fixings and just declaring to an insurer which “option” you have chosen. They come with the addition seatbelt. You declare you have a towbar and most insurers dont make any additional comment and thats a whole load more complex than a seat thats an option. Splitting hairs, you are certainly living in the right country.
A bit harsh but, as a generalisation, I prefer to follow the laws of the country of which I’m a guest.
And, even when I find them annoying, I don’t blame the functionary whose job is to apply those laws.
I didnt say you or anyone else should break the law, just stating its a stupid law, is it actually a law or just more red tape? For those of us that have owned vans its just a case of insuring a 1 seat, 2 seat or a crew cab no biggy. Restricting the fitting of anything non COC is questionable.
