So after doing a few months research, we decided on a Ram Promaster.
Sprinters seemed like a decent option, but the repair costs for them scared me off (and that's if you're close to a Mercedes dealership when you need something done). It's hard to find a T1N version, but those are the most reliable (the NVC3 models from 2007 on all have a fucked up emissions system to try to comply with US regulations). A newer model Ford Transit was another option, but the wheelbase is shorter, it's got somewhat curved walls, and the price wasn't much different. Also looked into maybe getting a Ford E-250/350, or GMC Savana/Chevy Express (they're the exact same), but finding one with a high roof is difficult. And they're about $4k if we wanted to put it on ourselves.
We found a 2018 Promaster, 159 wheelbase with a high roof, that was formerly a rental with only 11k miles on it. It's got some dings (you can see the big black one on the side), but we don't care all that much about those. Pretty excited to get it started.
We'll end up insulating it and then just throwing a bed in it to start off, that way we can get a better idea of what we want and where.
Oh, and in case anyone else is interested in doing this, we did have issues with financing. We got a pre-approval from our credit union, but when the dealership was trying to verify it the credit union was like, "Uh, we actually can't honor it because that's a commercial vehicle." Even after explaining that it was for personal use, they didn't care. We ended up having to use a different bank and got a much higher rate because
no one would give us a rate that was a "personal loan" even though that's what it is. The annoying part is that our credit is actually even more ridiculous than it was when we bought our house (was about 810 three years ago, it's now 867). It's not a big deal to us since we're planning on paying it off in 5-6 months. Just still obnoxious and I'm not happy with our credit union (Navy Federal).
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