I am about to take the plunge with an old Bongo mini camper but my multi car insurer won’t cover it. Who do you use and how much roughly does it cost?

Dont know about a Bongo but our camper insurance is with Aviva via Comfort Insurance

When i had mine 2-Gether insurance were the cheapest for Bongos at the time,

think ours is done via Lloyds. About £220 a year for main + 1 named driver, fully comp etc.

I spoke to someone else and as it is not classed as a camper but a 7-8 seater estate there is no problem. £130 to add it to our multi car policy. Just need to find somewhere to park/store it now.
I have never been a van owner (or proper camper) before and so I am pretty excited about the adventures ahead, assuming the rust doesn’t get us first.

I thought this was going to be about your priceless collection of vintage Razzle magazines, and was looking forward to seeing you take them for valuation on the antiques roadshow

I must confess, like binners…my first thought was ‘lock the door’.

Aaaaah….. the cornerstones of a mis-spent youth…..

😀

Mine used to be insured through Halifax, and Express and also LV.

Your car? Or your grumble?

Bongo Friendee is the most excellent name for a vehicle, makes me smile every time I walk past one.

J

My wife wanted the Bongo and so this could have been an entirely more exciting thread (never heard that term before). Ours is a Friendee! I’d smile more if it fitted on the drive. 😳

how small is your drive ? are you sure its not infact a patio designed for a table and a couple of chairs …..

its not exactly a huge car the bongo. – its smaller than or just the same size as a mondeo/passat

Please tell me there’s an actual bongo mag? The magazine for bongo owners? 😀

Please tell me there’s an actual bongo mag? A magazine for bongo owners?

containing Readers Drives where you get to have a gander at other peoples Bongos

The owner’s club is Bongo Fury… 🙂

Ours was insured with Admiral; when we first got it there were only two companies that would cover it, Lifesure and someone else, and it for an awful lot cheaper the year everyone else started covering them too!

My first year was nearly £900, over three times that for the Focus it replaced; my last year was £155 (with a very low annual mileage, admittedly).

I have been advised to find a Bongo man to service my Bongo needs. This is a whole new world.

Most independent garages will do a basic service if you’re confident it doesn’t need much doing, but it’s worth taking it to somewhere that knows what to look for and won’t inadvertently knacker it by not bleeding the cooling system properly…

We took ours to Ian Taylor in Stoke; Wheelquick in Wigan was also popular; I don’t know about further south…

Mine is insured with direct line, not converted though and used as everyday vehicle (although I commute by bike). I can recommend the Bongo owners pages on Facebook, hardly been on Bongo Fury since I found these. Is a 2.5 diesel? If so I recommend a low coolant alarm and doing the mod on the temp gauge so it reads properly. Absolutely great vehicle if looked after, we went to the south of France in ours last year, 2500 miles in 10 days, never missed a beat and ours has done 124k, not in the best shape at present but it’s a project. Had so many adventures, they’re great.

I have been advised to find a Bongo man to service my Bongo needs. This is a whole new world.

Petrol or diesel?

We have had ours done for a last 4-5 years by a local independent (who specialises in Alfas of all things) – but they were very familiar with them. There are two garages locally to us to who import Bongos and deal with them pretty much exclusively. People tend to go to them for parts regardless as they often have breakers which you can cannibalise which beats waiting for things to come from Japan.

As above, you can cause all sorts of issues by not bleeding properly – overheating and rust are the two main killers.

Get a low-coolant alarm fitted if not done already.

They’re ace. We’ve had ours for eight odd years and she’s part of the family. It’s not converted apart from hook-up being fitted, so functions well as removals van, extended family runaround (great for carting us + grandparents around) and general expedition van.

An informative thread. I’d assumed that “bongo insurance” was your mate who’s under oath to go round to your house in the event of your death and retrieve all your hidden grumble before your family discover it. But now thanks to posts here I realise that this must be a bongo friendee.

2.5 diesel, rusty wheel arches and no coolant alarm that I have found yet (but I have a number of mystery switches and buttons still). I am going to speak to our local garage tonight about their Bongo experience 😀 .
Within 5 mins of parking up last night we had four people stop and chat about it in a good way (rather than nimby way). Hopefully throwing a bike in the back and trying it up Pitch Hill tomorrow….not convinced it will reach the top.
I can confirm (from an office poll) that Bongo in the grot sense is a Northern idiom.