We Bought a Van!

Today – August 24, 2020 – we are officially owners of our first home!

And by first home, I mean a 2010 Freightliner Sprinter 170” high top that we will convert into a campervan to live in full-time as we travel the lower 48 United States in 2021!

This journal update includes:

• The insurance/financing saga of securing the van
• What we did right after we bought it
• First impressions of our new van
• What we named our van
• Summary

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Let’s back up… since this news is coming to you 5 weeks earlier than we expected!

We originally planned to purchase a Sprinter van by September 30, 2020. That timeline would have given us 2 months to search and find a good deal on a van, and 3 months to build out before our epic 12-month road trip departure on January 1, 2021.

Things happened a lot faster than we imagined!

How long does it take to find the right van?

In April, this idea was born. That month, we started researching vans to get an idea of the market and to set our budget. We wanted to find out what prices, mileage, and years we could expect within our budget.

In May we went to a new Sprinter dealer to test drive the 144″, 170″ and 170″ EXT. We decided on a build commencement of October 1.

In June I started my spreadsheet for tracking different vans I found that fit our criteria, so I could compare prices and determine what was a good deal.

Comment if you’d be interested in learning more about my van search spreadsheet

Some nights and every weekend in June and July we’d search online to see what new vans were listed, and put the ones that fit our criteria into the spreadsheet.

In August, we started going to dealerships and actually looking at and test driving the vans we liked that we saw online. Ultimately, we only spent 3 days (on 3 separate weeks), visited 5 dealerships, looked at 3 specific vans, and test drove 2 vans before we found the one!

Comment on this post to let me know if you’re interested in learning our method for van searching that helped us find our van in just 3 weeks!

 

Catch up on how we got here with the following posts:

• Finding the right van is like online dating – where I detail how long it took us to find our van & the trial and error along the way
• A fateful twist of events on our search for the perfect #vanlife van – where I detail how we discovered the van of our dreams

At the end of Saturday’s post, I indicated that we were both quite worried that something could go wrong with the sale and it wouldn’t go through.

Needless to say, the worrying was warranted as we had a pretty stressful Monday.

Uh-oh! Financing debacle

We woke up early to make sure that we were ready to call the credit union at 8 am to secure the financing, and the insurance company at 9 am to get the insurance set up.

Austin called the credit union at 8 am, but his contact wasn’t in the office yet, so he sent an email indicating that we wanted to get the check for our financing today.

At 10 am, the credit union representative emailed Austin and told him that we couldn’t get financing for the van because it would be considered a commercial vehicle. This was extremely frustrating because the first question Austin asked was whether they would finance the van even though it was typically a commercial vehicle since it was being used for only personal use. The rep told us the previous week that it wouldn’t be a problem, and quoted us a 2.99% interest rate for 72 months for 100% of the vehicle cost.

Austin called the rep to ask what the deal was, and he was told that her supervisor would call him back to discuss. In the meantime, we desperately tried to apply for other financing, though few online applications even had Sprinter vans as an option (probably because they were commercial vehicles) and it seemed pretty difficult to get a personal auto loan for a cargo van despite non-commercial intended use.

By the way, we did not share our plans to convert the van with the credit union.

Tip: Request that your credit union/bank representative ask their underwriter if they can insure commercial vehicles if they are for personal use. Sometimes the rep will not know.

Eventually, the credit union manager called Austin back and he negotiated our current financing which is a 4.99% interest rate for 48 months for 80% of the credit union’s assessment of the vehicle value (which is about $1,000 less than we paid). The documents expressly prohibit commercial use of the vehicle.

We think it may have helped that although he wasn’t a member before the loan application, when Austin opened the checking account to become a member, he put $500 in it instead of just the $5 minimum, showing that he was planning to use the account.

Once we had confirmation that the credit union would finance the loan, we called the dealer to let him know that we would hopefully be there around 4 pm to pick up the van.

Austin probably had about 5 or 6 calls with the credit union to iron out those details.

 

The insurance marathon

I called the insurance company at 9 am to get the policy, but my agent wasn’t in yet either and the person I talked to wasn’t comfortable processing the paperwork because the quotes I asked for also included details on insuring the van as an RV after the build.

I had to call the insurance company 6 times to get them to send me the insurance information (which every time was going to be sent to me in 10 minutes). Then when they finally sent me the insurance card, I only got the temporary ID card.

I didn’t get the “insurance binder”, which is what the insurance company needed to process the financing. It basically listed the credit union as the lien holder. This was probably my fault because I wasn’t explicit about what the credit union needed. I assumed that the insurance company would send me all the information I needed and that was not the case.

The credit union financing debacle lasted from 8 am to 1 pm.

The insurance marathon lasted from 9 am to 2 pm.

You can see how this day was shaping up to be a loooong one.

At 2 pm I finally received the insurance binder, and we shot it over to the credit union, immediately following up with a call requesting that they process the loan immediately.

Getting the money

We headed to the local bank to pick up the cash for the down payment, and then to the credit union to get the financing check.

Tip: Call your bank ahead of time to make sure that they have the amount you need if it is several thousand dollars. They will not always have that amount on hand and you might need to go to a different branch.

At the credit union, we found out that the lobby was closed due to Coronavirus. So we e-signed the paperwork and waited in line at the drive-thru. Several thousand dollars of down payment money disappeared up the vacuum tube, and the tube returned to us with a check for over $15,000 (probably the biggest single check I’ve ever held in my life), addressed to the dealership.

We are van owners!

Check in hand, we drove to the dealer, checking with our GPS that despite rush hour, we would arrive before they closed at 5:00. We pulled into the lot at 4:30, with half an hour to spare. The second we saw our van, we couldn’t stop smiling. Annoying the dealer once again, I requested the key so we could check out the van one last time before we traded five-figures for a new home. It was as perfect as it looked on Saturday, so with happy hearts we went in and closed the deal.

When we gave the dealer the check and he processed the payment, we saw that his purchase price at auction was $13,090. I don’t know what the typical profit margin is for small dealers, but he got a good sale and we got a good deal, so it was a win-win.

After receiving a packet of information, we went to an auto tags place to get our temporary tag and registration, because we purchased in a different state than we reside and will register in. That cost $125 that we paid directly to the tags place (the dealer did not charge us any fees for this).

We put the temporary tag on the van, checked if the dealer had any additional keys (he did not), and we headed home with our brand new van. I drove our car while Austin drove the van.

What should we name it?

Naming the van was always an important part of the process. Austin and I have always named our cars, and this van would be no different. We had accidentally named one of the vans we went to look at (which we didn’t end up buying) because we kept referring to it as something in particular.

I think it led to us becoming a little too attached to the van, and so we decided to think about names but not decide on one until we met our van (see why we’re naming it? We see it as a character in our story).

I suggested a bunch of punny, pop-culture van names, which Austin wasn’t interested in. He threw out a few I didn’t like. We discussed naming it something hilariously human, like “Greg” or “Brad.” We kicked around the idea of Waldo (a-la “where’s waldo fame) and Chester. We decided that we’d figure it out when we finally found our van.

Turns out, our van already had a name! How did we know? The key for the van was in terrible shape, with the symbols rubbed off, the case cracked in half, and the key loop missing. It was held together with scotch tape, and labeled with a white piece of paper that simply said “Alan’s”.

When I first read the key, I thought it said “Alanis”, and suggested that be the van’s name. This confused Austin (because he can read correctly) and said that the van already had a name, and it was Alan. It just felt right. It’s a perfectly normal human name, and yet also somehow a good van name (at least in our opinion).

Thus, our van’s name is Alan.

We are beyond thrilled to welcome Alan into our family.

Surprise, we bought a van!

First stop after we bought the van – Becky’s parent’s house. My parents had known all about our van buying adventures and our travel plans. They are planning to retire in a few years and RV the country, so they think our plan is super cool (though they also suggest we could just buy an RV and make our lives easier – but where’s the fun/project in that?)

We gave them the “grand tour” and celebrated the purchase together. My Dad, who is also a mechanic, looked the van over and was impressed.

Next, we rolled up to Austin’s parent’s house. We parked on the street where they would have to come outside to see it. When we came inside, we invited everyone to come “check out what we just picked up.” The van was a total surprise to them, and they were thrilled for us.

I got my first chance to drive the van, and took it for a spin around the neighborhood with Austin in the passenger seat. The van handled really easily and I enjoy the raised seating position.

We ate dinner with Austin’s parents and discussed whether it was OK if we did the build on their property. They agreed and are very happy to host us while we build too – we’re incredibly lucky!! We figured out a spot and parked the van where we’ll be working on it.

It was really exciting to show Austin’s parents our vision for the van, in the form of giving them a virtual tour around the 3D model that Austin designed.

Want help modeling your dream van design? Austin’s a former industrial computer aided draftsman (CAD) and offers consulting! Send us an email to learn more.

Exhausted and excited, we both called our best friends and shared the news! Then we laid in bed where I scrolled Craigslist free and started dreaming of planning and starting the build.

Read the journal entry for Day 1: Van Build Project Management – Organizing tasks and estimating timelines

Summary:

8/24/2020

Build Day #0

Hours Worked: 24

• Austin – 12
• Becky – 12
• Total Project Hours: 24

Money Spent: $16,624

• $500 – deposit (paid on Saturday)
• $3,590 – down payment
• $12,300 (technically financed) – van purchase
• $125 – temporary tags
• $109 – van insurance first month
• Total Project Spending: $16,624

Tasks Complete: 5

• Secure Financing
• Get Insurance
• Purchase van
• Get temporary tags
• Celebrate

Questions Googled: 3

• Typical commercial vehicle loan rate
• Best place to get a commercial vehicle loan
• Banks that will give personal loan for a cargo van

 

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