Are you wondering how to go about finding the perfect campervan? Perhaps you’re looking for tips on how to find the ultimate camper for the vanlife you want to live? Or maybe you fell in love with a camper, but missed out? We feel your pain.
Looking for the perfect campervan can be a daunting task – it’s a hyper competitive and fast-moving market out there right now. Never have we seen vans move so fast!
Each and every campervan is individual – one-of-a-kind – and there’s nothing worse than scrolling through the Buy or Sell Campers website (the largest global campervan marketplace), your eyes meet, but you discover you missed your meant-to-be.
Worry not! With a bit of grind, dedication and careful planning, you can find the perfect campervan – a travel buddy that surpasses your wildest dreams, and leaves you feeling pumped for your next vanlife adventure!
11 Pro Tips on How to Find the Perfect Campervan
There are some secrets to landing that dream campervan, fast. We’ve compiled the list of must-take tips to help supercharge your search for the perfect campervan:
1. Do your Camper Research!
Get an idea of what types of campervans are available. Make a list of features that are important to you, such as size, fuel efficiency, sleeping capacity, storage space, etc. Consider layouts that will suit your lifestyle: fixed bed, lounge/bed conversion, or something else?
Really do your homework in order to get to grips with what you’re looking for: your nice-to-haves, your non-negotiables, and your total turn-offs. It doesn’t have to be hard work – Pinterest and Instagram are your friends here.
🙋🏽♂️ Ask yourself the five key questions at the start of this blog: ‘Which Vans Are Best For Vanlife?‘
2. Sign-up for Email Alerts
All the best builders and sellers list their campervans on Buy or Sell Campers.
From boho boudoirs on wheels, to microcampers with dinky dreaming dens, 4×4 adventure homes to family fun wagons, they all list here. The buyers who find their dream campervan quickest – for the best price – do so by signing up for our personalized email alerts.
We send regular email alerts as soon as a new campervan hits the market, as well as when a price drops. Sign-up for email alerts, and you will be the first to know! You can get updates as soon as any campervan is added to the marketplace. Imagine that – no need to addictively refresh our listings. We will take the hard work out of your search!
You can live your best life, with the reassurance that your dream camper could drop into your inbox at any moment, and you won’t miss it! We’ll send you an urgent email alert as soon as we have a new van we think you’ll love.
3. Follow @BuyorSellCampers on Instagram
Buy or Sell Campers grew from social. We have a hugely engaged audience of campervan buyers and sellers there. The most unique camper vans make it onto our Instagram page. Follow @BuyorSellCampers on Instagram to get gorgeous campervans, straight to your feed.
But also be sure to…
4. Like, share, save and comment on @BuyorSellCampers Instagram posts and stories
Not all posts from the profiles you follow are automatically shown in your feed. Liking and commenting on our Instagram posts and stories is a sure-fire way to see more of what you love.
If you actively engage with us, it will radically increase the chances of your dream campervan showing up in your newsfeed. Sharing and saving posts also helps.
Don’t miss out on your meant-to-be!
👥 Follow @BuyorSellCampers…
👩🏻💻 Comment and engage…
❤️ Share the love…
To get more of what you love!
5. Add @BuyorSellCampers to your 'Favourites' on Instagram
To add us to your favorites, simply:
- Head to our profile – @buyorsellcampers
- Hit the small ‘Following’ drop-down
- Select ‘Add to favorites’.
This will add our posts to your favorites list. This is great for when you’re short on time and you just want a quick update on our posts. To access your favorites, go to your home page, tap on the drop-down menu in the top left corner and select ‘Favorites’.
Your feed will now be sorted to display posts only from your favorites in chronological order. This is also a super-effective Instagram hack – stop scrolling for hours, and prioritize the profiles you really want to hear from!
6. Turn on Notifications from @BuyorSellCampers
Probably the best and most crucial way to curate your home feed is notifications. Not only will you never miss a post, you’ll get notified as soon as we publish something new. To turn on notifications, open Instagram and visit @BuyorSellCampers. Now tap the bell icon in the top right.
Toggle the ‘Posts’ switch, and tap ‘Goes live’ at the bottom of the pop-up window. This is automatically set to ‘None’. Switch it to ‘All’ instead for a totally watertight way to never miss a post.
7. Don't Hang Around, Act Fast!
It’s a seller’s market out there. Campervans come and go in the blink of an eye. The buyers who get their dream vans for the best price, do so by acting fast when they see what they want on Buy or Sell Campers.
8. Message the Seller and Be Decisive
Don’t miss out on your dream campervan, because you were too quick to scroll past it! Stop and take a real look if you think this could be the one.
There’s no time to waste in the search for the perfect campervan – once you’ve seen it, someone else probably has too! Be sure to act fast and contact the seller.
The best way to initiate contact with a campervan builder or seller is to slide into their DMs, hit them up by email, or via the van’s listing on our website.
Sellers receive a lot of inquiries, many from timewasters. Don’t just message and say “Is this still available?”. Assume it is, and go in strong from the start! Include your location, say what you love about the van or why it’s perfect for you, and propose the next step you’d like to take. Do you want to go and see it in person? Or perhaps you’d like a video tour? Maybe there’s something specific you would like to know or see? Let the seller know – open a meaningful dialogue – let them know your availability.
You want to make sure yours is the message that stands out from the rest – the hot opportunity – the first message they want to reply to! The campervan marketplace is hot right now. There is no room for half-heartedness here!
You can even go as far as to ask how you can make sure you get first refusal. The more you can cover off in this first message, the better. You don’t want to get lost in the long grass here, you want to show that you are a determined and committed buyer.
A word or warning: Don’t try and knock down the price in your early messages, especially if you know the campervan has just hit the market. There is a time and a place for negotiation, and it’s more likely to work once you have had some serious exchange.
9. Recognize that Knowledge is Power!
The greatest advantage a buyer has is their knowledge. The more you know, the better your chances of getting a great deal on a campervan. But, we feel you – the world of campervans can be a confusing place. And it’s hard to know what a good price looks like.
If you really want to get to grips with it and be proactive, a spreadsheet or a database could be your friend. Creating a spreadsheet of different campervans, logging all kinds of different factors (age, mileage, attributes, factors that are important to you etc) will help you find the best fit for you, and you’ll get good at spotting the outliers – the best deals.
10. Join Waitlists
The selection of campervan builders in our Van Life Business Directory (US / UK / EU) is a who’s who of the best out there.
Many builders offer them the opportunity to join their own waitlists for next time they have time to take on a commission or have a new camper ready to hit the road.
Have a cruise through the Buy or Sell Campers Van Life Business Directory (US / UK / EU) and hit the websites for the ones you like most. If they don’t have a waitlist on their website, connect, follow them on socials and connect via DM.
11. Join our free Buy or Sell Campers Facebook group(s)
And finally, our Buy or Sell campers Facebook Groups are a great place to find even more campervans for sale. Why not post about what you’re looking for, and ask sellers to contact you?
Click it like it’s hot:
🚐💨 Good Luck Finding the Perfect Campervan!
This may seem like a lot. But this could be the most important – and most exciting – purchase of your life!
Picture yourself cruising down the highway in your dream campervan, windows open and the wind in your hair as you take in all of the Insta-worthy scenery around you. The freedom of going wherever you want with no worries is like no other feeling and you can truly experience it living vanlife. You can decide what places to explore, what new cultures and traditions to discover, and take life at your own pace with like-minded wanderlusters by your side.
If you’re looking for an adventure, a little bit of extra grind goes a long way.
