Building the dream: A look at Jerba, Scotland's premium van converter

“They are buying a dream, rather than a product. It is a lifestyle.”

That seems a rather bold statement, don’t you think? How could a vehicle be the reason for a person or couple’s lifestyle to be altered so much?

Well that second question can be answered in one of two ways. Some might say that no vehicle can do that. It’s just something to get you from A to B, and that’s that. But there is a community out there that understands what that quote means and how – in this case – a campervan can do just that.

Campervans have been around for quite a while now, but the most iconic of the lot is the Volkswagen Transporter. In one form or another, it has been around for almost 70 years and has been the base for many people to enjoy their holiday without having to book an extravagant hotel every night. They are a home away from home, and conversion companies can turn the standard commercial vehicle into almost anything people want them to.

David Miller, customer support manager at one such company, Jerba Campervans, said: “Without a doubt, the Transporter is an iconic vehicle. Campervans are just associated with VW Transporters so people just make that connection which is a great thing for us. It is an aspirational vehicle; people want to own a Volkswagen campervan.”

Managing director of Jerba Simon Poole echoed Miller’s comment and added: “I can’t see VW being knocked off the peg – it’s the van everyone wants. The strength of the VW brand is huge and the customers don’t want anything else. Even with the emissions scandal, it hasn’t unstuck them.”

Nestled in the East Lothian countryside near North Berwick, Jerba Campervans has been altering vans to these little slices of home for over a decade. Originally they transformed any van the customer wanted, but they became solely a Transporter adaptation company and have become one of the top converters in the UK.

After being a consultant fundraiser, Simon Poole decided to turn his passion of travelling and owning campervans into a business and at the tail-end of 2005 he and his wife, Cath, set up Jerba.

“I was looking for something different and started to research into other conversion companies,” Poole explained, “and it became evident that at the top end of the market, there were only a few companies converting T5s – in those days – so I started to look at it from a commercial point of view.

“Gradually I formulated a plan realising there was a market here for producing a really good product. That was my vision right from the start. The quality of the product is what it has always been about.”

That air of excellence starts with the base product and David Miller, a former VW Commercial employee and Jerba’s customer support manager, said: “The vehicle itself is brilliant. It’s reliable, the back-up from the dealers is great and we solely convert VWs – that’s all we do. We won’t convert anything else, because the Transporter is a reliable product, there aren’t really any issues with it.

“The main challenge with that product though is the price – it is an expensive product and has a much higher mark-up than anything else, but it’s a great quality product.”

With a team of 13 working on different areas of the vehicle, each of the 50 or so conversions Jerba undertakes every year is completed within six weeks. On visiting the factory, which without designation you would just assume was a farm building, it was full up with five in progress, all at different stages in their transformation from a rather normal van to a fully-fledged camper.

Customers select the spec for the base van where they can opt for a leather interior, multimedia system and other comfort features, but the rest is handled by Jerba. Buyers select the interior finish for the floors and cabinets, followed by any additional features they want to add, such as solar panels, extra sleeping space and even a shower.

On arriving from Volkswagen the vehicles are completely stripped out, the front seats are covered to protect them and the van is wrapped in protective film to avoid the paintwork from being scuffed and scratched. With five interior layouts on offer and the option to have a folding roof panel fitted for extra sleeping space, the fitters get to work on transforming the T6s.

With the panel van Transporter as the base, sections of the bodywork are cut out for the windows and optional folding roof sections and the outlines for the panel sections are drawn in. Then, depending on the options chosen, the electrics, plumbing and gas fixtures are fitted, with the flooring and windows following shortly after. The customisable and professionally made panelling is added along with the optional extras towards the end of the process, with every vehicle then quality checked to make sure the van is in the right condition before leaving the factory.

But even with their extensive checklist, Simon admits things can still be missed and with their annual customer survey, new issues are highlighted.

“We have processes galore out there and if we do have a complaint, we try and work out why that happened. We work out if it was the product, if it was training or method and make sure that it doesn’t happen again. We have a detailed checklist and if something new occurs, it goes straight on the checklist. It may only take ten seconds to check, but it means that we should never assume something is fitted properly, it adds a process and being thorough with that makes a big difference.

“People have different perceptions on quality, but the time we take and the hours we spend looking at the finish of the jobs we do and how we make furniture fit and do things differently, we definitely spend more time on these vans than other people do.”

With the government’s announcement to stop the sale of conventionally powered vehicles by 2040, this could have a serious effect on campervans and commercial vehicles in general – as many drivers use diesel-powered vehicles to do the work. But Simon Poole doesn’t seem phased by the change in mentality from a business point of view.

“The switch to electric will happen one day as technology will allow batteries to last longer and be lighter, but at the moment in the commercial world – and ultimately campervans are commercial vehicles – there is nothing on the horizon that will suddenly mean we go electric. If it happened, we would be straight in there and doing it, but I just can’t see it happening in the foreseeable future.”

Despite Brexit affecting many parts of society, Miller doesn’t seem concerned. He said: “If anything, it has probably been good for us as people are now happier to have UK holidays and have holidays at home. More and more people are discovering the joys of Scotland, Snowdonia, the Lake District and the Peak District and want to spend time in the UK, which is good for us.”

But Poole didn’t see Brexit as much of a problem. “If I was sat here, not looking at any of the papers, you would have no idea what’s going on with the economy. Whatever the economic climate, there are always people who have money. They are looking and thinking that they are sick of being in a tent camping, they want a bit of luxury and get rid of the big car, we’ll retire, we’ll go to Europe for two months, and I would say that 75 per cent of our customers fit that profile.”

Camping isn’t for everyone and even with products like this on offer, not everyone will find the fun in owning a campervan.

“It’s a trying thing, some people are just not into it and I get that,” Miller said. “I have a friend of mine who loves walking, but you could not get him to spend a night in a campervan, not a chance, as he wants a nice hotel and have certain things and it’s just his way of doing things. All I can say is try it before you knock it.”

And that’s the thing that customers know they are getting into with a campervan. It isn’t just a temporary thing – it makes a large shift in how people live and as Simon Poole said: “They are, in effect, buying a dream, rather than a product. It is a lifestyle, customers take a package away, not just a campervan.”

by Jack Healy