Hi,
My SO and i are arriving in Canada in July 2017 from New Zealand. We are looking to buy a van setup for sleeping in. We will be staying with familiy on Vancouver Island to start with. Our plan is to then travel between winter seasons where we will work on resorts.
Does anyone know the best place to buy a van set up for sleeping/camping?
Cheers
Start with EBAY motors or craigslist ... Have any coach you wish to buy ... checked out by a mechanic in your, employ ... Happy trails ... carracar
You could look on the Island while there or perhaps on the Lower Mainland of Vancouver. Assuming that you have all the correct paper work for working in Canada.
You need to think about buying insurance and licencing. Depending on where your permanent residence is, the process could be both costly and wrapped in red tape. Whatever else it is, buying privately or through some sort of on-line trader wont't be casual if you want to be legal.
If you are on Vancouver Island, check usedvictoria, or craigslist victoria or buyselltrade.ca but as above obtaining insurance and a license could be a hassle? Renting a car or van might be an option but costly too? Depending where you are going to be there are some campsites with showers etc or RV places.
Thanks for the reply. I have family living in Victoria. Can I use their address as my permanent address for insurance and licensing?
I believe it might be a requirement for your paperwork to have an adress and your family adress would work. As for licensing and insurance, you might want to look into international driving permit but you would have to get it in new zealand, it could also be used as id.
Start with EBAY motors or craigslist ... Have any coach you wish to buy ... checked out by a mechanic in your, employ ... Happy trails ... carracar
Craigslist is pretty good. There are bunch of Vancouver facebook and Whistler facebook groups with Buys and Sells you can join to also put up an ad. There's a pretty active market in camperized vans.
IDP is just a translation of your license. Useless for someone from NZL.
You need to google for the official website of the Province of BC and check out their licensing and insurance regulations. All insurance there is through the province. I know that you certainly can buy & insure a car if you are on a WEV or temporary work permit. You just need the right ID and a residential address, and be able to prove residency in BC. So you may need to stay in BC for a bit to start out. Especially since you usually will only get a temporary insurance card, so you need to wait and get the permanent card in the mail (and usually it's good for one year, then you need to renew and get a new card). You need to have the card IN the vehicle - otherwise a very nasty fine.
Also you need to be well aware that there's not much free camping here -- other than crown land and the occasional WalMart parking lot, you must camp in campgrounds. And most campgrounds are shut in the winter, as are many public washrooms/info centres/other places where you can get info/shower etc. in the summer. Plus living out a van doesn't tend to work well in the winter - can be down to -30c easily. Plus you must have at least M+S tires on the van to drive any inland BC road between November and April. Preferably winter tires - and good solid winter driving experience. As well, you will find that there are few to no places in almost all ski area towns/townsites for winter camping/camping.
I'd suggest that you'd be better off staying in fixed accommodation, then renting or buying a van for summer travels. Then back to fixed accommodation for the next winter. I suspect a van, especially in the winter, will be far more expensive than renting a room or an apartment. Gas alone to keep a vehicle going and warm in the winter, plus snow tires, plus maintainance, plus insurance etc. Not cheap.
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