Van Life Costs: Some Sprinter Builds Cost Six Figures (or Way More)

Living in a van down by the river used to be a Chris Farley joke on SNL back in the '90s. His character Matt Foley might've been onto something though because it's actually a goal for people now. For those wanting to escape the grind, see the world, and spend their days traveling, van life has serious appeal. Social media's full of people who transformed old vans into homes on wheels and hit the road, often picking up remote work to fund it. Because while Foley's lifestyle used to be what happened when you had no money, now it's a dream that can require a huge investment.

If you really want to, van life can still be done cheap and simple. Unfortunately Americans don't have access to relatively cheap new kei campers. But you can grab an old reliable van, maybe an early GM product, build out the back yourself, and learn basic vehicle maintenance.

Problem is, and social media's probably to blame here, lots of people don't actually want to do it cheap. They want to take the path less traveled in a brand-new lifted four-wheel-drive Mercedes Sprinter or some wild all-terrain F-Series build. If that's your route, forget getting by on a handful of cash with a case of old tools in the back. You could easily be looking at a quarter-million-dollar investment.

Van Life's Easily a Six-Figure Expense

Quick look at sites like Bring A Trailer shows how much people are willing to drop on the van lifestyle these days, even for used campers. Checking out higher-quality Sprinter builds shows a $201,000 2017 Sprinter converted to include everything needed to travel and explore. Kitchenette, hideaway beds, bathroom, shower, even "engineered porcelain flooring." This thing's nicer than most houses. Four-wheel-drive too, powered by a torquey turbodiesel V6, suspension's lifted from the factory, equipped with all-terrain tires.

Yeah it's expensive at $201,000 but the original build cost $715,000. More shocking is the original buyer only put 2,000 miles on it. That's nearly $360 per mile. So before judging someone living down by the river in their almost-decade-old van, consider they might've invested three-quarters of a million to be there.