Are you planning to rebuild a car in order to get it approved as a motorhome?
There are a lot of rules to follow, and maybe some you haven't thought about at all.
I didn't plan to get mine approved as a motorhome but to keep it as a van, since I was going to keep the wall of the cab.
Which I thought would go just fine. But what I hadn't thought about was that it wasn't so easy to insure a van for the sum it had cost to build the car.
I checked with all insurance companies and got the best out of it with IF, who could offer NOK. 100,000 in addition to what the car itself was worth. This is a far cry from what I paid for the car, and I would not have been able to buy in more than a fraction of what it cost to build. IF and all other companies then said that it had to be approved as a motorhome in order to get better insurance that covered the cost of building it if something were to happen.
But to get it approved, first of all this list must be in order, (and then I started to sweat a little):
It can be found on lovdata.no, but I am attaching what was written.
When this list is correct, you can submit an application to the Tax Office for vehicle conversion.
What they were also very careful about was that the width should not only be at the bottom but also at shoulder height and all the way around. This is a problem as many vans taper at the top. My car, which is a Peugeot Boxer, is quite square and wide, which I was very happy about now.
Then there was the one-off fee, which I thought would be quite expensive. But to my amazement, it cost nothing in one-time fees. If you have built the car correctly and have a car that passes, it doesn't cost much to get it approved. At least it didn't for me.
Whether you have to pay a one-off tax or not, you can check on the Swedish Tax Agency's website.
When this approval is in order, you can book an appointment with the Norwegian Motor Vehicle Inspection Authority for approval.
I had heard that I could increase the total weight of my car (which the motoring authority also thought) up to 3500 kg from 3300 as both the front and rear axles could withstand up to 3650 kg. But it wasn't that easy... The factory did not approve this.
I therefore had to remove both cupboards and cupboard doors before approval, and empty everything in the car to get it approved.
But with all this out of the car, it was approved. Then it was just that I couldn't get everything back then... So then I just had to become even more minimalist 😅 But I still have clothes on me, climbing equipment, bike and various other things that I love to do so then I'm more than satisfied 🥳 And it's actually incredibly nice to have ONLY what I need with me 🚌 There's no point in going to the shops either because I don't have room for so much as another cup 😅
Happy to have had the car approved, I called IF insurance... They had changed their mind and instead gave me a new price of NOK. 46,000 per year. I therefore chose to change company to Fremtind, which had a completely different cover and price. Here I get coverage up to NOK. 600,000 and it costs about 1400 per month, as long as I can show receipts and pictures of what the car has cost if something happens.
Happy that it was finally approved, I wanted to share the process around it with you too, so it might be a little easier to figure out how to start this process and what needs to be done 🚌☺️