Building the dream: A look at Jerba, Scotland's premium van converter
Jack Healy visits Jerba Campervans, one of the country’s premium van converters.
“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.
