Most of us, at some point in our lives, have had the urge to quit the 9-5 and go on the adventure of a lifetime.
And if you’re reading this, you’re probably ready to make that dream into a reality.
Endless mountain roads, waking up to the sunrise every morning, falling asleep under the stars.
That's the goal, right?
But then all the realistic thoughts start popping into your head...
How much money will I lose buying a rusty old van? What if no one wants to buy my van when I leave? Will I have to sell my beloved home on wheels to a scrap yard for $50 because my visa is ending and say goodbye to all the money I invested into it?
Those thoughts are overwhelming. We struggled with the decision for months before we decided to take the plunge.
Well, imagine if you could live the van life dream, and then sell your campervan for more money than you initially paid for it...
This is what happened to us.
Timing is Everything
We travelled to New Zealand on a working holiday visa, arriving at the end of March in 2018. What we didn’t know at the time was that we were arriving at the very end of the summer season. Whilst this meant that we missed the main summer months, arriving at the end of summer meant that we would also miss the hoards of tourists, dreaded sandflies and higher costs of travelling New Zealand in peak season.
However, the main perk we discovered when arriving at the end of the summer was that there were literally hundreds of fellow road trippers desperately trying to sell their camper vans before leaving the country.
We by no means planned this when it came to our trip, but we think everyone should know that this is a possibility if you plan ahead!
Buying Your Van
We had budgeted around $4000 - $5000NZD for the van we would like in for our year in New Zealand. However, despite our limited mechanical knowledge, we knew we wanted something that was not only going to be safe to drive, but also cozy and warm inside.
Read our detailed guide on Buying a Campervan in New Zealand here...
After many deliberations and many many different vans, we ended up paying $4000 for our little van and couldn't be happier with our decision. This was less than the original asking price of $7000, but the couple were happy to agree on the lower cost as they only had 2 days left to sell the van before their flight to Australia.
We found this to be a common occurrence in New Zealand, and although it worked in our favour because we managed to spend less than we had planned, we knew we needed to give ourselves plenty of time to sell the van. That way, we wouldn’t have to settle for less than our asking price.
Time To Say Goodbye
After the best ten months of our lives so far (no exaggeration here) the time had finally arrived to start thinking about selling our van.
We read that people would be more willing to pay higher prices in the bigger cities like Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington. It would also be more difficult to find a buyer in smaller towns like Nelson, Dunedin or Blenheim.
With this in mind, we decided to put it up for sale in Christchurch, two months before our leaving date. Whilst this may seem overly cautious, it meant that we had no urgent need to sell the van and we could decline any offers we weren’t interested in. After a week of viewings and test-drives, we managed to sell our van for our initial asking price of $7000!
In total, we made a profit of $3000 just from selling the van!
Obviously this doesn’t take into consideration the solar panel we bought, or the money we spent on servicing, warrants of fitness, and road tax/registration. But if we include these costs, we still made a profit from our little van and couldn’t be happier with the outcome.
What About The Summer Weather?
So, you may be thinking, does this mean you'll miss out on a summer road trip and the best weather?
Surprisingly no, and we were pleased to find that the warm summer days don't immediately come to an end at the end of the summer season. The North Island, especially, is often referred to as having an endless summer and we still had many weeks of sun bathing and swimming in lakes in early/mid Autumn and Spring.
And of course, nothing beats waking up to the mountains covered in a glistening white blanket of snow.
For us, the pros of travelling in off-season massively outweighed the cons, but we've put together this list for you so you can decide for yourself...
Pros
- Less Tourists EVERYWHERE! Seriously, it’s is insane how empty some of the most touristy spots in the country can become. We sat at the bottom of Hooker Lake watching the sun set on Mount Cook with only a few birds as company!
- A lot of tourist attractions and experiences are so much cheaper over the winter period! We found heaps of half price deals for things like scenic flights, accommodation etc.
- No Sandflies! Need I say more...
- Autumn/Spring can be a great time for the great walks as most can be fully booked a whole year in advance in Summer!
Cons
- The winter months in New Zealand can get pretty cold on the South Island! But from our experience living in our van in Queenstown during winter, the lowest temperatures were around -5 Celsius and it's nothing a few blankets and a mug of mulled wine can't fix!
- Some Great Walks are advised against during the winter months due to dangerous alpine conditions, but there still so many beautiful walks you can do in winter.
This is by no means a guaranteed method, and its worth remembering that things definitely do not always go to plan when you’re living, sleeping, and driving in an old van.
But if you make an effort to look after the mechanical aspects of your home and plan ahead when it comes to both buying and selling your van, then there is no reason why this couldn’t work for you!
Key Things to Remember:
- Plan your trip around when and where you will buy/sell your van and consider travelling in the off-season. We arrived around mid-March (end of the summer season) and sold our van in January.
- Allow yourself plenty of time to view different vans and make sure you make the right decision when it comes to choosing the van you want to buy. Ultimately, if you buy an old dunger, it might be difficult to make your money back if you continuously have to pay for mechanical fees!
- Look after your van! Servicing, careful driving, and regular maintenance will help to keep it running smoothly and make things easier when it's time to sell.
- Give yourself plenty of time to sell the van! DON’T leave it to the last minute. We started to think about selling our van two months before we needed to leave.
