Hi guys,

We hope to move to Spain sometime next year but seeing as a lot of people are moving back to the UK, i'd like to run this by you all:

The plan is to buy a used minibus (£1000-£1500), remove most of the seats, fill it with essentials and drive over. Once there and settled with paperwork etc. done i would want to sell the bus on or swap it for a Spanish car with Brits returning to the UK.

Does this sound like a good idea? How many of you would be prepared to buy/do a swap?

Thanks,
Glenn

No one will buy it because a UK specification RH Drive vehicle would be uninsurable.

I would be very careful in terms of leaving your wordly goods alone even for a second in minibus. I have had friends have their van emptied in minutes while using big UK service stations and really when travelling across the continent (especially Spain) vans are particularly vulnerable when parked up.

At that price, easiest is to just scrap it. No one will buy it.

Sure. That's what i'd do if all else fails. But i imagine there would be people like us looking for a cheap way to get themselves and their stuff back and it would seem a shame to scarp it if it were still servicable.

You would be better off hiring a van one way than trusting a cheap old minibus to make the journey. Plus a new engine would take far less fuel than an old one.

Alternatively, hire a minibus in Spain, drive to UK, fill it and drive it back, all insurance and road taxes will be inclusive of the hire price and it'll be cheaper than hiring a van in the UK (where they also don't like you taking them abroad), I'd have thought?

Well i'm not fit enough to do those sort of journeys anymore. I did look at one-way van hire but can't get anything with more than 3 seats, we need 4. I don't pay road tax anyway and the insurance quote i got (under £500) for a year includes all recovery and driving abroad for as long as i want. So i still think i have the best plan so far and i would still have up to 6 months using it in Spain while we get settled.