Our VW Camper Costings.
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused.
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Hey, it's OK. Feel free to learn at my expense! (No, really, I'm not bitter!). The amounts shown below exclude routine servicing, tyres and MoT tests. The list was compiled very retrospectively on 030303, but I don't think I've lost any of the bills. Notice there's no total figure shown! Please do not total it up and tell me the result! (Apart from £204 for a stand-alone awning with groundsheet, none of the work has been unnecessary, but much of the engine and gearbox work could have been easily avoided by using reliable suppliers in the first place. |
The work has been done at few different garages and auto-electricians in Lancashire. Except for a small amount of interior electrical work, none of it's been done by me. Why not? Well, I've no garage, no drive and I live on a hill, (And I'm lazy. And I'm not very good at that stuff).
If you can do your own repairs, or if your van was much better than ours when you got it, then these figures will probably serve to cheer you up immensely. It is with a feeling of something close to embarrassment that I publish, but I think I've 2 good reasons for doing so:
1. Reading this may help you to avoid my mistakes and
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2. If you own, or are about to buy a t25, then this page should encourage you to join Club80-90. Had I known about the club, (before so many mechanical and electrical things went wrong), I'd have been able to get loads of good advice and thereby avoided a great deal of this expenditure, (and a vast amount of time off the road!). |
OK, it's a joke. I pinched this photograph. Our van has never looked this sad really.
On 200400 I bought our T25. It was first registered in 1989, a from-new conversion by Leisuredrive of Salford, UK. I paid, I think, I really can't remember for certain, nearly £4000 for it. (Well, at the time I needed to persuade the county court that my outgoings were enormous). I've continued at various times to pay a lot to have it put right:-
| 190700 | Supply exchange replacement engine: | £910.63 |
| 190700 | Fit that engine: | £250.00 |
| 010800 | Supply & fit discs, pads, cylinders: | £268.83 |
| 090201 | Supply & fit 4 Bosch glowplugs:, (It says that, but I thought I got new injectors about then). | £62.27 |
| ??0401 | Supply & fit 2 mirror glasses, (clutch?), slave cylinder), brake fluid, dash bulb, new horn, (MoT preparation): | £199.02 |
| 110701 | Supply & fit exhaust front pipe, plus some work on the injectors: | £163.28 |
| 270701 | Starter motor repairs: | £48.00 |
| 270701 | Supply valve cover gasket, (and fusebox. I don't remember that): | £6.57 |
| 280701 | Supply & fit leak off pipes, fit gasket: | £21.13 |
| 161101
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Parts: Vege exchange engine, exchange turbo, recond. gearbox, (at £464), turbo oil pipes, flywheel, clutch assembly, vacuum pump, water hose, engine and gearbox oils, fuel and air filters, antifreeze: | £3,409 |
| 161101 | The service / labour cost included stripping the old engine in case it had been repairable: | £400.00 |
| 110302 | Under Warranty - replace recond gearbox with 1 costing nearly twice as much: | £350.00 |
| 060402 | Repairs to glow plug circuit, fit relay & fit one leak off pipe: | £67.76 |
| 150402 | My old dad paid for half of this - Refurb and full respray, (except for the roof): | £875.00 |
| ??0702 | Gearbox replaced under warranty. | |
| 260702 | Gear linkage parts and labour: | £76.08 |
| 160802 | Supply exhaust box and tail pipe: | £113.94 |
| 200802 | Supply & fit new fuse box, (something to do with the Zig unit): | £41.12 |
| 210802 | Remove corroded exhaust / silencer, fit 3 new bolts: | £31.13 |
| 280802 | Bulb kit, V belts, accelerator cable, (spares for France trip) | £25.25 |
| 160902 | (Somewhere in France), one fuse: | £0.40 |
I do take some small consolation from the fact that in mid-2002, shortly after all the major expense had finally ended, I was driving near Bingley when I saw a 1989 Leisuredrive hightop T25 diesel on a campervan showroom forecourt where it really was offered for sale for significantly more than I'd already spent on ours, including the purchase price!! I'm not imagining it - I turned around, went back and walked all around that van a dozen times just to make sure.
If you're still thinking about buying a T25, (go on, course you are), go here, (then to Type 25s, to Information Pages, to Transporter Buyer's Guide).
Here's
a situation, not uncommon, I suggest: On a Monday I
asked my local non-VW, but normally useful, garage to do my nearside upper
wishbone bushes. They weren't interested(?) and suggested a local firm called
VolksXXXX and also referred to Volksworld in Preston, (01772 - 797919), for
"half-price, genuine" VW parts.
My total VW-fanatic friend has told me VolksXXXX are unreliable, (and I know
that they look and behave like a scruffy "hobby" garage).
What to do? Gulp! I booked it in at the main dealers. Gulp! (They have a short waiting
list!). I took the van in on the Thursday and, they kept it all day and did 2.5hrs
work. They phoned mid-afternoon with bad news.
I collected it
and they told me I needed:
1. new brake drums, they were "siezed" -
not so;
2. as well as the bushes, a new wishbone bolt - they've snapped the head off it
- not unusual;
3. new front tie rod bush;
4. new ros spring - it's cracked.
And they quoted me for everything £640. I pulled the van out of there, £66
lighter for the 2.5hrs labour. Yes, that's £26 per hour, which I'm assured by
Club80-90 folks, is not terribly expensive.
On the Friday I phoned Volksworld - they could supply the parts, but not the
wishbone bolt and tie rod bush.
"Do you need the brake drums?", he said.
AND
"I call them original, not genuine
parts".
Down to my MoT garage, Cabus Autos, where the man pulled a brake drum off, (OK,
with
difficulty), and ground the lip off it there and then. The shoes still had some
fair mileage in too. He ordered the bolt from VW, confirmed the spring was
broken and said that I don't
need a front tie rod bush, (and he's the chap who'll be MoT testing it in 2
months time).
So I ordered the shoes, both sides £17.90 + VAT, (is that too cheap?), and the
spring £34 + VAT and the bushes £13.50 + VAT. (Volksword, Preston doesn't generally doesn't do mail
order).
Collection Saturday.
The following Monday I took the van to Cabus Autos, got it back Wednesday and
here's what I had done:
fit new brake shoes ,
oil and filter change,
fit nearside upper wishbone bushes and, (from VW), bolt,
supply & fit handbrake adjuster from VW,
fit offside coil spring,
grind off lip on brake drums.
Remember that VW's quote included new brake drums, (but not
the handbrake adjuster nor
the oil and filter change), £640.
The absolute total cost: £261.13, (of which £72 for labour), including
those non-genuine VW parts bought by me. Oh, and that £66 labour charge at VW.
Put your feet up