Ep 15 Jared McCauslin CEO of Vandoit

In this episode, Hank Strange chats with Jared McCauslin, CEO of Vandoit, about the growth of Van Life and its impact due to COVID-19. They delve into the popularity of Van Duet, advantages of buying a Ford transit from Vandoit, and the versatility of their vans. The episode also features discussions on the Move model, aluminum frame pros & cons, cost and financing options, and the future of van life.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Alright, guys.
Welcome back to the Vanasore podcast.
We usually go live here.
On Thursdays at 2 PM Eastern, and, Hero andStrange Palooza, and Vanasore podcast is all
about exploring class B RVs Overlanding And VanLife, and joining me, this is, I think,

(00:22):
probably the last official show for 2023.
Joining me is Jared McCosland.
Did I get that right?
You nailed it, man.
You got it.
There you go.
CEO.
I think newly minted CEO of Van Duet, but notnew to Van Duet.
How are you doing, Jared?
Doing great today.

(00:43):
How you doing, Hank?
Awesome.
Awesome.
Thanks for being here.
By the way, look at that.
I am wearing Van Duick colors.
I don't know if you noticed.
That.
No.
I did it, man.
I love the rep.
Yeah.
If I yeah.
If I get more.
Oh, thank you.
I might get in trouble, but, whatever.
I I'm a fan of Bandwidth.
I'm even wearing look, like a yellow watch toto to coordinate.

(01:06):
He's just going for it.
He's gotta go for it.
Absolutely.
Hank so much for being here.
I've I've known Van Duet for a while.
I Hank, actually, you guys deserve some of thecredit for inspiring me to get into Van Life.
I met some of your folks.
I think it was 2018 at Sima Show, I met somereps for Van Duet and, just really started

(01:31):
thinking about using a Van as as my office andgetting around the country and all that kind of
stuff.
I haven't actually gotten into a van do it yet,but I still follow you guys, and I'm really a
big fan of what you do.
So, this is really cool.
This is, to me, gonna be a fun show.
And I think we should start off here by tellingthe folks who you are and how you came to be

(01:54):
working with Van Duet.
K.
So, Jared Macoslin, CEO of Van Duet, gosh, whatwas that been?
Became CEO about 2 years ago, but previous, Iguess, to that title, I was cofounder with my
father-in-law, Brent Klein, Van Duet, which isa spin off of a 3 generational business.

(02:21):
And, basically to sum up probably how we'vegotten to the point of where we're at is maybe
the best way to put it.
I, went to college.
Left college went to the corporate world forabout 2 years.
And through a long history, and we can diveinto that, later if you want, Hank, but the the

(02:45):
biggest thing is is came back to Klein van,especially rent which was a daily rental
operation, and come back to basically a staffof one person.
And whenever I joined, Brent and I, myfather-in-law, we talked about, you know,
there's gonna be something bigger that we do.
There's gonna be something that we can reallyHank our teeth into, but at the time, we didn't

(03:07):
know.
Moved back to the Kansas City area, and thatwould have been in 20 That would have been in
2016, moved back to the Kansas City area, andthe first kind of endeavor we jumped into was a
little bit of real estate that we've doneforever.
And then with utilizing the daily van rentalside, it always became that thing in the fall

(03:30):
and going into the next Strange, what do we dowith vehicles that we've been leasing or
renting out throughout the summer, and what canwe do with them?
And kind of basically how's the funny storygoes.
I wanted to build a camper van for myfather-in-law.
To kinda get him out of my hair.
He'd also had full career and basically becamea thing where I wanted him to be able to

(03:55):
travel.
He's an avid cyclist.
I wanted my mother-in-law to be able to get outand go.
And so through kind of the fall, we startedtalking about ideas for a van build and
basically fast forward about 6 months later Westart building a a handful of vans, with the

(04:15):
idea and concept that this could actually turninto a business.
And lo and behold, basically 6 years later iswhat you see Van Duod as today.
You know, the early days of it is kinda like Ithink what most startups are.
You are a startup in the context of, you know,you're trying to work through all different

(04:36):
types of you know, you know, napkin, pencil,you know, all those type things, and trying to
kinda just kitchen table your ideas, and that'swhat Brent and I did for quite a while.
And over time, we started acquiring basicallymore team members brought the business down to
Kansas City, which is where we are now in inBlue Springs, Missouri, and kinda just every

(05:03):
day starting 6 years ago.
Basically, it's what do we need to do for ourcustomer base to build a product that lasts and
build a product that people are going to enjoyand always be innovative, always be on the side
of cutting edge, Always try to do the thingsthat we know we need to do for our customers.

(05:25):
And that's where you see If you followed us,like you said, 2018, if you followed us, you're
you just continually see changes in evolutionin what we do, but we stay with same
fundamental basis with modularity, versatility,and honestly value.
We are just so value driven.

(05:46):
We want our Van Duette owners to have thesethings forever, be able to modify and make
sense where it need be.
But basically really get the value, you know,basically pinch those pennies as far as they
can go.
And that's that's kind of the that's that's thenutshell.
Yeah.
I think, I think modularity is a big part ofyour story.

(06:08):
You know, and for my memory, when you guysstarted out, Like like you said, right?
Were they, like, off lease vans that werecoming in and then you guys are building them,
into van for folks and maybe saving peoplemoney.
That way, make it more affordable to do this.
And and now you're these are, like, new vansthat that you're putting out there.

(06:28):
Right?
Yeah.
I mean, when we first started, everything wasoff the basis of what we considered off lease.
So their their units.
They're not necessarily personally owned units.
They're they're fleet owned vehicles thattypically add anywhere from 5000 to 25,000
miles on them.
And it gave us the ability of taking that brandnew unit shave the new cost off cutting 10, 15.

(06:57):
Nowadays, probably $20,000 off the cost of thechassis, and they'll be able to turn around and
do an upfit to where you could still get whenwe first started, you got a fully built van
from us, and you were in the realm of playingball with you know, upper $50,000 with an
upfit.
Mhmm.
And that was something that was

(07:18):
drastically.
Yeah.
Yep.
Yeah.
And and so, you know, for years, our bread andbutter has been starting with a used chassis to
get that price down from the get go.
But with, you know, that thing called COVID,you know, in 2020, you know, supply chain went

(07:38):
away a lot of the struggles came about, andtrying to get our hands on used good chassis to
still do that for customers became extremelydifficult Mhmm.
And our hand was just forced to go basicallynew.
And so since then, since about the summer of2020, I do not believe we've built probably
more than a dozen vans on used chassis.

(08:00):
Now we do we do offer a lot of programs wherewe still have used inventory
Oh, that's cool.
From prior owners, current owners, things likethat.
Mhmm.
But since then, we've only built on brand newchassis, but our our hopes and dreams is to be
able to bring back that budget friendly unit bystarting with a used chassis also the idea is

(08:24):
potentially building a unit that gets into aprice point where you can build as you can
afford.
You know, kinda kind of a few models we've beenworking on.
Yeah.
So as we're as we're going through thisconversation here, if you guys have questions,
shout out to everyone who's coming in, I seepeople starting to come in now.
Let me know what your questions are.
Also hit those thumbs ups.

(08:44):
We'll definitely get to that.
So, you know, I think a lot a lot of differentthings have happened.
And Van Life has just, like, grownexponentially, I Hank, from my point of view,
I'm I'm gonna say it's always been around.
When I when I speak to folks, it's been aroundsince, like, what are we what are we looking at
here?
Sixties, seventies, you know, if you reallyJack carpet?

(09:07):
Yeah.
If you talk to the old school guys.
Even Lola and I, when our kids were younger.
We had a conversion van, and we we drove aroundthe country with that.
But I think in the last 5 years, it's not justCOVID.
I think even before COVID, it was growing.
And then COVID was just like, rocket fuel toit.

(09:29):
Prices and everything on vans have, really,really grown.
And I think we've got 3 major, van brands thatwe get here in America, right, the Mercedes
sprinter, the Ram Pro Master, and then the FordStrange.
One of the unique things about you guys is Ithink you deal only with the Ford Transit.
Right?
Yeah.

(09:49):
So we are we are fully exclusive have alwaysbeen fully exclusive with the Ford Strange.
We going back into the the generationalbusiness, with my father-in-law, Brent, we've
just always had an amazing relationship withthem.
From the fleet days, we've had we hadSprinters, well, back then, it would Hank been

(10:14):
Ram Ram Sprinters and Freight liners, you know,as the name kind of passed through, but we also
have Ram Pro Masters Nissan in these.
I mean, we've we've ran them all, the Chevyvans.
We've ran them all.
And when the new Ford Transit came to Americain 2015.
We've we basically shifted our entire fleetover to Ford.

(10:37):
We would still carry a few sprinters basically,to have that emblem on the parking lot, but
because of reliability, because of all thereasons, we're exclusive with them with camper
van.
We would almost never send them out.
I mean, we just we've become just so loyal toFord, and they've just been so great to us.
Yeah.
I'm a big fan of Ford vans.

(10:58):
And I think, that's a part of the issue ofwhat's happening now because there's such good
vans You can go to a lot of places and getthem, get them serviced and all that kind of
stuff that I think Ford under estimated inAmerica, the demand here.
They've been building these vans, I think, singsomething like the fifties or sixties as well,

(11:18):
maybe, late fifties, early sixties.
Something like that all over the world,including, in Europe, they were really big.
But here in America, I think theyunderestimated how much people would want them,
especially all wheel drive.
It's fantastic.
You know, that leads me into asking you guysabout the Strange Trail because That to me is

(11:40):
really cool.
You guys, Van Duet is the first place.
I actually saw a transit trail with my owneyes.
Mhmm.
And I did a video on this, which at, I think itwas Overland East in Virginia, and you guys had
the Strange trail there not built, which Ithought was cool because I can actually look at
the shell and see what, you know, how it comesbefore you do anything with it.

(12:03):
But when Ford announced that and it's a bigdeal because Ford is getting into is, I think,
the first of those companies to build vans toactually make a van specifically for the RV
world.
You know, when it first came out, you guyslike, you guys had the prototype, right, Van
Duet was in all the marketing stuff that Forddid.

(12:26):
If I could just get you to talk about that,like, How did that happen?
And, you know, what did you guys think aboutthat when that happened?
So to go So to go timeline, I guess, isprobably easiest.
Mhmm.
So this time last year, in kind of the secondhalf of November December 2022.

(12:47):
That is when Ford spent their time gatheringand getting all the marketing content for the
Ford Transit Trail to be able to release thereabout, I think it was, like, the 1st part of
January of 2023.
Go back in time, go back to I think it was Mayof 2022.

(13:10):
So last not this prior May, but the one priorto it, with our relationship with Ford, we've
always done a lot of different things with FordMarketing We share boot space at big events.
We put a lot of our camper vans in their biggerbooths, like, Sima is a perfect example.
And working with them, we just have such agreat relationship.

(13:33):
They, when they wanted to release the FordTransit Trail.
They wanted a brand that they could work with,in that process, I guess, I should say.
To be able to show not what you saw at OverlandEast, which in all essence, a transit trail
when it comes from factory, we can talk aboutthe features, but the biggest thing is is that

(13:57):
it is a basically, it's a blank canvas for aDIY builder, a builder like us, people in the
RV world to be able to do all the things thatwe wanna be able to do with it.
And what they wanted to do is they wanted abuilder that they work closely with, and we
were their call, and so working with themarketing team for Ford Ford Engineering

(14:21):
starting in May of 2022.
We started doing the blueprint and the plansfor the first transit trail that you see in all
the marketing.
What's really cool about that is is we reallygot to work closely with the engineering team.
We got, close to work with the team that, didall of the prototyping for the lift for

(14:44):
basically what the trail is.
Mhmm.
And it was cool for us because we also got tohelp get feedback, help, you know, really, I
mean, basically just be a part of it.
Mhmm.
And in that, they actually ended up doing theirphotoshoots.
So all of the the driving you see, thephotoshoots that's actually done right here,
outside of Kansas City, we were on set, helpingassist them in any, tight turn because as you

(15:08):
as you mentioned, and I guess I can confirmthat at the time.
And when you saw it, that was the 1st and onlytransit trail that had been touched.
And so
It's a big deal.
I'm sure some other companies
out there It's a big deal.
That build on these vans were like, Oh, if Icould get those guys.

(15:30):
Yeah.
When I saw it, I was happy because I was like,this is cool, man.
Van Duet, it's you guys I know people knowabout you, because when I drive, when I'm
traveling, especially, like, on the West Coast,I see Van Duette a lot.
Right?
So, yeah, I'm sure that that was did you guysget to did you get to go to that secret bunker
under the mountain?
That I've heard about?

(15:50):
No.
No.
We didn't we didn't get to do that one, but weactually still have that first Strange actually
in our facility.
Oh, cool.
And and as, you know, with the trail, it was acargo.
So, really, van do it.
So we have 2 things to kinda like, I guess Ishould say 3.

(16:11):
You have the aspect that we start with offlease so we could drive our price way down
whenever we could build our units for startingout.
Secondly, we use passenger vans.
So we only ever complimented what Ford did.
Ford Headliners see options.
We simply just complemented everything thatthey had already spent time doing, all the r

(16:33):
and d, all the testing, all the crash testing,we only complimented those things.
We never removed them.
And so we've always used passenger vans.
We've never built on a cargo until we'represented the Strange trail, which is a cargo
chassis.
So meaning we have to start with making theshell ourselves, making the foundation of the

(16:55):
build ourselves, cutting windows in if we wantwindows, and We took that project on and if you
go to our website, there's a huge write upabout, basically, how we work together but it
we as a team took on the project to build ourfirst cargo concept we'd ever done to the level

(17:19):
of the, functionality, modularity that you seein every van Duve built.
And so it really was a taxing on our team, butit was also very exciting for seeing what the
next chapter could really look like.
Having the do model, having the live model,stating there are units that still have massive

(17:42):
functionality and and huge places in thisworld.
We knew that we wanted to take on the challengeto work with Ford on the Strange Trail for the
cargo aspect because we knew that was a missingpiece of our portfolio.
Mhmm.
And bringing that kind of build what most wouldsay is your standard van life build out, you

(18:05):
know, if you've mentioned, you know, you say,hey, I have a Strange.
Well, that could sprinter means type ofvehicle, in my opinion, doesn't mean brand of
chassis.
Right.
And so we really wanted to, in a lot ofessence, spread our wings, we wanted to spread
our portfolio out and we wanted to really withFord, by our side, us by Ford's side, we really

(18:29):
wanted to put focus towards what could thisnext chapter look like.
So, I mean, we gave we gave Ford our all.
And, you know, honestly, you see the product onthe other side with the new, move package that
we've released and have now shipped outsuccessfully to some owners.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's I I think, you know, we've got, like,about a minute and a half here before we take a

(18:53):
break, but I think, yeah, that was great, man.
That was a big win for you guys.
Very of of you guys for that one.
Quickly, in the minute that we have, what isgonna be the major details that people wanna
know about the transit, and we might take someof this over to the next segment.
So you said it's a cargo van, but what size isthings like that?

(19:15):
The transit.
So it's bit yeah.
So the transit rail is built on the t 350chassis.
So that's base that's your standard transitthat you're gonna see.
They build it on the mid roof and high roofwith an extended.
At this time, they do not build it on a dually,so you cannot do a dually rear axle.
All are the EcoBoost motor, also with all wheeldrive, but the, I mean, the main features are

(19:43):
the ones that you can see.
So it's got the increased ride height.
So you you get a little bit more there.
It also comes with an all terrain tire fromfactory.
So in a lot of cases where most people areadding those tires afterwards, you're actually
gonna get it from them, which is also gonnamake sure that, you know, everything tried and
true with the chassis.

(20:03):
And so, but you are you're running on and Forddid a great job of making sure that all of the
chassis that your standard builders,
including ourselves now.
I'm sorry, Jay.
We're gonna take a quick break as you guysmight have already heard Lola and myself our
brand ambassadors for Sunshine State RV.
And as Vanasource, I wanna take this moment toencourage anyone who is in the market for Class

(20:28):
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That is the reason why they are the number onedealer in all of the state of Florida.
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SSRV will fly you right to their location inGainesville, Florida.
They'll give you a very detailed and thoroughwalk through of your van and they'll give you a

(20:53):
2 night stay at a local campground so you canget used to your van.
If you don't like that, you can actually havehands free delivery anywhere in the United
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We bought our coachman Beyond from SunshineState RV 2 years ago.
And over the past 2 years, we've seen how theytreat customers when it comes to warranty side.
Their service team is great.
Whether you bought it from them or not, everyperson that comes in there gets the same

(21:17):
service and care when it comes to warrantyrepairs.
The same service, attention, and care, andtheir team does a great job getting you back on
the road safely.
So if you guys are in the market for a B or Bplus van, consider Sunshine State RV.
We've got a link in the description that youguys can use to see their current inventory and
have someone get in touch with you.
Alright.
We're back here.

(21:37):
Sorry about that, Jared.
We were talking about details, and I thinkpeople, would be very interested in this.
And for the Strange trail, you can buy onedirectly from Ford.
Right?
You don't have to necessarily get it from VanDuet or, you know, anywhere else.
But you you will you should be able to.
I I think there's a couple of, like, regularfolks out there that have bought them so far.

(22:00):
Yep.
They they are, they're not exclusive to OEMbuilders.
Now with Van Duet in the position at which weare in, being QVM certified, we're an OVM upfit
or 4 Ford.
And on and just kinda what I've mentioned acouple times now, our relationship with them we
do get a chance at, chassis, before others do.

(22:23):
And I guess the Another way to say that is iswe get the volume and others don't, mainly
because of just our loyalty to them over theyears.
And so a lot of times, if you do have a chassison order with a a dealer, another upfit or
things like that, a lot of times, because ofour you because of our relationships, and

(22:44):
everything that we do, a lot of times we aregoing to have something before others have it,
and if we don't have it before others do,there's a more of a promise and a guarantee
that we will have it in time.
You know, unlike how you've kinda seen the carbusiness over the last couple of years, just
across all brands, if they tell you it's gonnabe 6 months, be careful making promises, and be

(23:09):
careful making trips around that timeline.
Yeah.
And look out for that up, the that upcharge.
I don't know if that's I don't know if there'sa lot of that with vans.
But they're they're definitely is that in the,in the car world.
So when, you know, let's say someone's outthere looking at getting a transit Strange, and

(23:32):
they're thinking, Hey, I could build this upmyself.
I think if you're very skilled, you absolutelycould do it yourself, and that's the whole
point of Ford.
Getting into the space.
However, if you don't have the time, you don'thave the skills.
I think a good way to go about this is to go toan up fitter sure.
Eventually, we're gonna see manufacturers, yourbigger RV manufacturers out there putting out

(23:53):
versions of a transit trail as well.
But I think that a good place to go to for thatis Van Duet because you guys are modular.
You know, you can you can get this van.
Take things out if you need to to get thespace, put things back in, change it around.
Right?
Yeah.
I mean, So we we require all of our customersto come in house and do at least a full a

(24:18):
single full day walk through of their vehicle.
We do that because, well, for 1, a lot of sightunseen, but then 2, with the way we build with
our modularity, we we want to spend the timewith you to make sure that when you leave our
facility, everything is the way you want it.
With with this with the style and everythingthat we do with moving kitchens around moving

(24:42):
seating around beds, Most of your builders,most of your your standard class b's or any
motor home for that fact, they are screwedtogether wood, and you're not gonna move stuff.
They're they are what they are, and you gettrained on the power system, and then you're
good to go.
Probably some black Hank, some sewers, somesome of that, but we make everything to where

(25:07):
it's just not set in stone.
So you might leave with the concept of say,hey.
You might have 2 kids at home still that youneed to take to school or practice or whatever
the case might be.
Mhmm.
But let's say you have your van and theygraduate, they move on, and you're not using it
for necessarily hauling people anymore.
That's great because you can remove the seatsand our vans do go up to 8 passenger seating,

(25:30):
remove the seats, put your galley kitchen in,and now you just have a full time RV at your
hands.
And so unlike most brands, unlike mostproducts, almost all products you see in the
marketplace, It's we are a one size shoe whofits all.
It's probably one way to put.
Instead of having a whole closet of shoes, weare that one shoe for everything.

(25:53):
And so it gives you that ability of changingthe vehicle for the time of year you're in,
time of life that you're in.
Whatever the case might be, we can make itversatile.
We have people who do landscaping with theirvans, and then they go camp 4 people.
I mean, they'll take they'll literally takewheelbarrows and the tarp and just lay just

(26:17):
like all of the what am I trying to say?
Like, Bark for their landscaping in the back ofa van, and then within couple hours, they pull
the tarp out, throw a bed back in, and gocamping, you know, and so that versatility, you
know, is is what really sets us in a different,I shouldn't say category, but we're kinda just

(26:39):
all around different where the where the Swissarmy knife is is who we are.
I'm rolling in pictures, by the way, whileyou're talking because your your team sent me
some, pictures on Google Drive that I'm rollingin here for people, so just so they can get an
idea, if you haven't seen, Van Duette Vanbefore.
This particular one trail.
I've got some other stuff.

(26:59):
That is, yeah, that is, yeah, what you have onthe screen there.
That is the very first concept build that wedid for our all new move build.
And I wanna disclaimer that build.
That was from a napkin to finished product inabout 3 weeks.
Oh, wow.

(27:20):
That was let's just say that was trying to fita square peg in a round hole, literally every
day.
A lot of late nights.
It was a lot of late nights.
Yeah.
The trail's really good looking, by the way.
Just a really good looking van.
I like the, those, like, markers right there.

(27:41):
It's kind of a hybrid of their of a, thisgrill, this, black grill that you see in
Europe.
But they've got the the marker lights on.
It's just really cool, man.
Yeah.
They go, a lot of a lot of our customers, evenmyself, I kinda call it the Raptor style.
Pack, the raptor truck, and it's they went alittle more that way to get the the bigger, the

(28:02):
larger flares.
Yeah.
There's the black.
The black rim, the all terrain tire.
Yeah.
And so you get a little bit wider stance and,you know, for for base most of us slash almost
all of us.
Mhmm.
The look you know, so much of the of whatyou're looking for is is honestly that look.
And the trail the Strange absolutely adds thatextra level, above what, you know, the

(28:28):
standard, you know, the standard Strange has.
Yeah.
What do you see?
Like, so far as people coming in and, makingorders, do see them going for the, the 148 or
the 148 extended wheelbase, which is the longerone.
Well, okay.
Go go off.

(28:50):
Go off percentage.
You typically see the 148 non extended.
That's that's typically what you see, because Ithink a lot of it is when you get that extra
length, you start to worry about people startto worry about can I still park it in my
standard parking bought at the grocery store?

(29:13):
Whenever you're not extended, you're reallystill the size of just a normal vehicle.
You know, but what's what's really cool Ishould say is is whenever you take that chassis
you go extended.
Yeah.
You're bigger than a suburban, but you're notthat much bigger.
My wife, she we almost always travel in theextended length dually, which is a little bit

(29:38):
wider as longer, but she has no problems withit.
And I think that's the biggest thing we noticewith people is they get scared about the
additional size.
Mhmm.
But the payoff of the additional size peoplewill learn how to cope with the with its
footprint.
And I think that's what I see so often withpeople, is just the constant you know, oh my

(30:03):
gosh, I'm I'm worried about, can I park ithere?
Can I park it there?
You know, getting it out of the school lines,whatever the case might be, and then once they
do it a few times, they're like, Oh, well, thisis no big deal.
It's like going from a car to a suburban, yeah,it's a difference, but it's a manageable
difference.
And the the thing that we see with what ourvans do versus your typical RV pull behind

(30:26):
things like that is we replace them alone, acar payment.
So instead of having a truck and a car in yourdriveway, and then you have an RV, We replace
your car or your truck, and we actually see itvery often that, peep couples will come in,
families will come in, and a lot of times itmight be the husband who's getting rid of his

(30:48):
truck or his car, because maybe the wife is notso, you know, confident, I guess, I should say,
in the size of driving it for their day todays.
And nine times out of 10, we see that scriptflipped we see with the 8 passenger seating.
The ability of standing inside a vehicle andput a kid in a car seat that's why my wife

(31:12):
won't travel in anything, but our vans.
Safe your back.
You can hop it.
Yeah.
You can stand up.
And so mean, it really is a permanent standing.
It's a better version of a minivan.
And so it's Mhmm.
We just see people constantly realizing howaffordable these are when they see the
versatility and modularity actually benefitingthem.

(31:34):
Yeah.
And I think so I think the same thing happenedwith Lola and myself.
We traded in.
We had a Ram Rebel.
Both of us drove it, to get this van.
Lola, when I give her a chance to drive thisvan, she loves it.
It's actually easier to drive than that RamRebel.
It's probably maybe a little bit bigger thanthat, but, you know, it's very easy to drive.

(31:56):
I think the issue comes in.
Maybe if you're looking and ours is Dually, butif you're looking at going off road, the non
dually is probably a better fit for you ifyou're gonna go off road, easier, you know,
better for that to be lifted.
And non dually just for, like, articulation andstuff.
I don't know how much of that you're gonna getin a van, but

(32:16):
Yeah.
I mean, it's It's 601 Hank a dozen of another.
People do perfectly fine in a non dually.
Mhmm.
I personally these things are tall.
So the biggest thing, like, with my sales team,and and when we talk to our clients is is we're
not going to we're not gonna, you know, softenthe blow for you.

(32:37):
We're not gonna sugarcoat These things aretall.
They're big.
They can catch wind and side wind, especiallywhen you go extended having that additional
dually back there having that extra footprinton the ground.
Yeah.
It it dramatically helps.
And so, everything is a give and take.

(32:57):
I Well, transit does not produce a passengervan that's not an extended dually.
Okay.
So to to be clear, they make a mid roof, lowroof, high roof standard links.
So the 148.
Mhmm.
And then their extended only comes in high roofand dually 4 passenger units.

(33:21):
And I think, truthfully, I think a lot ofthat's not payload.
That's not really what changes it.
It's I think it's stability.
I think it's just knowing if you have ablowout, you got another tire there to save
you.
And I think on with your traditionalmanufacturers that are out there, building
class b vans, especially for weight, they'rebuilding mostly on dually.

(33:46):
It's probably a good idea.
In my in my opinion, it's definitely easier todrive and all that kind of stuff.
Yes.
If you're going fast enough and you have enoughwind, gonna move you around.
I think the tech inside of a Ford helps a lot,but you probably need to slow down and, and
take it easy.
Yeah.
But, yes, Dually helps.
Like, I've driven single wheel lifted andeverything, on the highways and it's a little

(34:09):
loosey goosey, a little squirrely.
Mhmm.
A
little bit more squirly at times.
I do you think that Ford's actually gonna do aversion of transit trail and put dualies on it?
I don't know.
Okay.
I I hope they do, because my favorite chat heis the extended dually Mhmm.
For all honestly, all the reasons we've talkedabout stability being the biggest one.

(34:33):
I I hope they do I mean, we'll see.
It it does make sense for them.
I think the biggest thing just with supplychain, chassis, everything else.
It's Mhmm.
Which ones do we really need to make sure buildfirst, and then we'll probably venture into
kind of spanning it out.
You know?
So, I I I foresee it happening, when and whatvolume?

(34:57):
Who who knows?
Yeah.
I think Ford's had a some serious issuesactually, like, building enough fans, in in
2023 for sure.
Obviously, everyone had that in, in the induring COVID, but in 2023, some months I see
when I look at the reports out there, like,Ford's building more.
And then I talk to people and they're like,well, we're not getting more.

(35:20):
And then I see the reports like, yeah, there'slots getting built.
I don't know exactly what the issue is, butthere's very high demand.
And I think there's just still some supplyissues out there with all the different things
going on in the world.
Yep.
So Supply issues.
I mean, definitely, it's it definitely, youknow, my background and just kind of being

(35:42):
around long enough.
What I what what we see is is that, you know,something like COVID hits, there's gonna be
ripple effects, you know, you throw somethingthrow something out there in the, in in the
ocean or a pond, and and you're gonna getripples.
It's how big a ripple do you make on what whatyou threw in the water.
Mhmm.
And COVID through was was massive and it threwserious ripples.

(36:06):
And you know, I, talking with my father-in-lawBrent, who's been an amazing mentor, for me.
You know, we talk about it constantly, but backin 2021, we kind of figured we're gonna have 3
to 4 years of ripple effects from all of this.
Mhmm.
And the auto industry could have it longer.
Because if you if you look at just the sheersheer volume that the auto industry is used to

(36:31):
producing every year, and the world has beendependent upon that volume.
You're not gonna uncover, you're not gonna getback on top in a year.
You're not gonna get you're not gonna you know,re correct that in 2 years.
And there's just been so many chain reactioncomponents happen.
Microprocessors chips, I guess, is what peoplecall them.

(36:54):
You
know, and it to put it, but it's a lot morethan that.
Yeah.
Yep.
It's that's so it's we still feel it.
But because of our structure, because of ourfoundation, because of our backing is in a
company, who we are you know, we are we arevery fundamentally Strange, and we've never,

(37:14):
we've never had to slow down.
We definitely grew year over year.
We had to halt growth, at times just because wedidn't want to run ourselves into a position.
But we've never had to slow down, and that'sbeen such a great feeling, knowing that we have
supplies to continue to build.
But it's it's let me just say it's, there'sbeen times where we've gotten ourselves down to

(37:39):
what are we gonna do in 3 or 4 weeks?
But those days are past us, and it's it'sreally feeling great going into 2024.
Okay.
And, let me see.
Many things I wanna get into here.
I wanna get into the move.
I've got some pictures of it.
Quickly, though, I wanna ask you, does Van doit build a dually.
Right?
So an extended wheelbase, dually, and then liftit.

(38:02):
Have you guys done that?
We have.
Yep.
We
have.
How's that work now?
We have.
It's actually worked out really well.
We've worked with, Quigley, 4 by 4 on their Qlift platform.
Spent a lot of time testing.
And so for about 3 years, we've been doinglifts, through a third party vendor.

(38:22):
Here locally to us.
We do full suspension, and just in time, we'vejust continually perfected and tweaked.
So what you get in the trail, is also somethingthat we have perfected in a different facet.
And it's it's been amazing for our ownersdriveability, stability.
We're doing suspension on the front and rear towhere it really our owner's satisfaction and

(38:50):
and drive comfort, let's call it, is justthrough the roof.
It's it's been awesome and As, you know, mostof us care about, you know, the looks, the
looks of these lifted units are just amazing.
Yeah.
I, yeah, I would love take a look at that.
That's one thing I have not driven that I wouldlove to drive and see how that is, but people
ask me about it all the time.

(39:11):
So tell us about the move.
I'm gonna run-in some pictures.
We've got about and a half minutes.
So some of this will carry over.
But so the move and the Strange connected.
Right?
They are.
Yes.
Yep.
We built the first move model concept becauseof our partnership with Ford and working with

(39:31):
them on the first, trail concept, we we had toventure into the cargo And at the time, it was
the cargo concept on the all new transit trail.
And when we really saw what we had built, andaccomplished, we realized it's gotta be a new
part of our portfolio, and it became what wecall now the move model.

(39:56):
And the move model is built on cargo chassis,which also we can do on an extended length
cargo dually.
Okay.
It
just says in the trail.
Okay.
And so, like, the photos you see there so thatis actually a lifted cargo that is not a trail

(40:17):
in that photo.
Oh, this is not?
Okay.
That is not.
That is a Ford Transit T 350 High roof cargo.
Okay.
Built out with our 3rd party vendors herelocally to us to get you that increased ride
height to be able to get you that groundclearance, and that has full, what we
classified as a stage 3 suspension.

(40:38):
So it's got Billstein under the front, Fox,under the rear, But that is that is a move
model.
Okay.
But that is not a transit trail chassis.
That is strictly just a transit cargo chassis.
Okay.
Alright.
So that just for folks who are watching this,we're we're making that definition.
Have you guys put out any Strange trailversions yet?

(41:02):
We have we have 2 currently in production beingbuilt.
Okay.
To the the, like, the photos, the interior ofthose vans that you see.
They're currently being built there on ourproduction line now.
We have shipped the move model that's in thosephotos, just not on the trail itself.
So I think we've got, I think we've got 6 or 7trails currently, going through production.

(41:30):
Well, processes of production, I should say.
Mhmm.
Okay.
Awesome.
Lola and I are now official brand ambassadorsfor Coachmen class b.
So I wanted to take a moment to tell you guyswhy we, as Vanosaurus, like a says on our t
shirt, are very excited about our partnershipwith Coachmen Class B.
First off, Coachmen RVs has been a leader tothe great outdoors since 1964.

(41:55):
So next is the fact that coachman really caresabout you as an owner, whether you bought new
or used after you buy your van, they reallytake care of you.
With Coachmen Klosbee, you have all theoptions.
Coachmen builds on all three van platforms.
On the Mercedes Sprinter is the CoachmenGalleria.
Before transit is a coachman Beyond and Ram ProMaster is a coachman Nova.

(42:19):
Lastly, best value for money.
We've had our van for 2 years and coachmanbills to the highest standards of quality and
craftsmanship.
You can't go wrong with a coachman class b.
So if you're interested, check out the link inour description and find the coachman van
that's best for you.

(42:43):
Alright.
We are back.
So, okay, we were talking about the move.
Mhmm.
And you're saying you've got, several vans outthere, various Strange.
Of production of Vanessa Katie, just to get acomment in here.
For folks, if you guys have questions orcomments, let me know.
Just put them there in the chat and hit thosethumbs up.
She says I'm gonna purchase a van to travel andcamp.

(43:06):
It's fun for anyone who's thinking about it,regardless of what you get out there.
It's a fun thing.
I don't regret doing it.
I feel like I'm gonna have a van for the restof my life even if I don't have another
vehicle.
If Lola cuts me down to one vehicle, pleasedon't do that anytime soon, Lola.
But if she cuts me down to 1, it's gonna be avan.

(43:27):
Hands down.
Yeah.
It's
just too useful.
It's just the versatility, man.
The 2 wait.
There you go.
Way too useful.
It's all things in 1.
Yeah.
They're it's just all things.
Yeah.
So I'm gonna continue looking at the move, andI wanna talk about this.
Obviously, there's choices that because I knowwhat is it?
You you have, like, before we got to theStrange Trail, in a regular Van Duet build,

(43:53):
what is it you like, what is it?
Do it?
I'm I'm I'm I'm sure I'm messing it up.
We have the do model and the lube model.
Yeah, we have model.
Mhmm.
Yep.
And so, so in a live model, you get that kindof standardized queen bed.
That does not have to be folded up out of theway.

(44:14):
You can always have your bed ready to go.
Still gives you the 8 passenger seating.
Gives you still the modularity of kitchen,kitchen components, things like that.
Gear slide that pulls out the back to put gearstorage in your garage underneath your bed.
The biggest key component is a hydraulic bedlift.
It gives you the ability of setting your bed atdifferent heights.

(44:36):
But when you step in it, it's still that thatbed that doesn't go anywhere.
It's it's right there fixed so you can easilycrawl in after a long race.
Whatever the case might be, it's always there.
And then you step into, what we called way inthe early days.
We call it our rep van.
So repping product, people who traveledbasically live full time.

(44:58):
It was a vehicle that gave you the versatilityof having basically an a frame, grid of
extrusion to attach things everywherethroughout the vehicle.
So really increase that versatility andmodularity front to back from the back doors to
the back of your driver seat.
So, like, bicycle razors, dirt dirt bike,folks, all all that kind
of stuff.

(45:18):
Yep.
Anyone and everyone who needed to haul, dowhatever.
You could clear it out toward the whole floorwas just cargo space if you wanted.
Mhmm.
But your beds were Murphy style.
So they would fold off the off the wall.
And actually, I don't know Yeah.
Hold on.
Let me let me go full screen on you here.
K.
Hold on a second.
I'm gonna have to change the camera.

(45:39):
K.
I'll do
that real quick.
There we go.
Boom.
Because Jared is in the band, which is awesome.
Yep.
Yep.
So this is a this is a do model.
So this is an EL basically trying to kinda lookhere, but, so that structure across there, the
bed above, that is a platform that can gocompletely out of the way.

(46:01):
And so, so, like, you've got hanging cabinetsthat can move, And so I'm basically just
sitting up here, in the swivel seat in thefront.
Yeah.
But what it is is is it style in
and profiling.
There there you go, man.
I even got my haircut for you, by the way.
I I stopped.
I had to grab lunch.

(46:21):
My wife and kids are gone.
I have no home.
I have no food at home.
So I'm like a college kid when I'm alone.
So I
Is that your wife I saw in the chat?
I think I saw your wife in there earlier.
She probably is.
Who knows?
Yep.
That's her.
So,
she's checking you out, man.
You know, when you get that new haircut, thewife, you always The wife always likes you for

(46:46):
about a couple of days until that fades out.
Yeah.
Well, I'm actually growing hair again.
So I went from a big fro.
If you ever come tour.
I got a big old picture of me with a pro on thefloor.
Okay.
Nice.
A whole another story to that, but, now I'mactually not shaving my head completely.
So, I don't know.
I might go back to the front.

(47:07):
But, but the model that I'm in is the duemodel.
And that gives you that really Swiss army knifeapproach of literally, you know, so live model
is live anywhere.
Okay.
The do model is do anything.
So live anywhere.
Do anything.
Do anything.
So for the folks who, like myself, right, whereyou wanna be on the road, but you're also

(47:30):
working.
You need like an office or something.
They would go with the do.
I'm assuming.
Most most people who want that versatility ofWorkspace go with a new model.
It is a very big structure and a focus of ourson our all new move model.
Because the move model really gives you thatnext, shouldn't say tier, that's wrong, because

(47:56):
the the due in the live are bulletproofvehicles that have shown true.
With with tons of miles on them, and longevity,but the move model offers additional storage
features I guess maybe that's the best way isis is this features that it offers with an with
an upgraded power system and a few other thingsit gives you those abilities of kind of

(48:19):
maximizing you working on the road.
That's, I think that's a lot of what pushedThat design was, what we launched at the
beginning of 2023, which is our commercialdepartment.
And really, again, expanding our portfolio, andgiving those people who maybe are a little less

(48:42):
on the passenger hauling.
Because the move is built on a cargo.
Okay.
And so you do not have the rear passengeroption.
That's where our do and live really help assistyou.
Yeah.
I get it.
I see now.
I okay.
So the seat situation is also because I know,you guys tame the airbags and all that kind of
stuff.
So this is what

(49:03):
makes a
little bit of a difference here.
Right?
Yes.
Yep.
Yeah.
We retain everything.
Mhmm.
Yep.
We when it comes to the do and live models, westart with a passenger unit and we only
complement with Ford's done.
So all your Ford safety all your passengersafety with curtain airbags, all of that stays
intact.
Okay.
And so all all everything with what we do withthe do and the lift stays within all

(49:28):
guidelines, and we're still and we're fullybacked by Ford, through their QVM program.
And so we have the ability of going to 8passenger seating in the do and the live
models.
The move is currently a cargo version.
We are working on and we have now produced acouple we It's a funny name, and my whole team

(49:54):
who's watching or listening are gonna make funof me or get mad.
But we call the passenger version of the move,the move air the move airbag.
And literally it's because we are keeping theairbags in the back of the van.
Hank, they'll also make fun of me too becauseI've probably said literally about forty times

(50:18):
in this.
Okay.
And
I know when I step out of this van, they'regonna meet me at the door and say you gotta
stop saying literally so much.
But, hey, it's that's part of working at Van.
Do it.
Yeah.
Don't leave because your face will getplastered on the ground.
Yeah.
I was looking at I was looking at, I think,your Instagram or something.
I followed you on your Instagram, by the way.

(50:38):
I don't know if you've won a bunch of followersover there.
But, anyway, I followed it, and you said youyou said your number one job is to annoy the
people you work with, your team.
That's me.
I was like, oh, that's funny.
That's yeah.
That would be me too.
That would be me too.
My team is Mola, but, you know, I mean, I knowher.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, hey.
It's it's, you gotta keep it lighthearted.

(51:00):
You gotta fun.
Business is serious.
Things are serious.
We wanna make sure we do right by ourcustomers.
But, hey, at the end of the day, gotta keep aheart of a child.
And, man, I I try to live that to my fullest.
Yeah.
And everyone I've ever met on your team isawesome, by the way.
I always enjoy, like, meeting your folks outthere.
There's a lot of them.

(51:21):
I always notice it's someone different,depending on where we are and all that, but
they've always been really, really, reallycool.
So
Yeah.
Good.
You need to come back out.
We need to get you in a van.
Absolutely.
I would love to I would love to actually, causeI do a series called, like, van swap where we
borrow other companies' vans and things likethat, or even other people if they if they

(51:43):
volunteer them for us to actually go out thereand live with that van for some period of time
and then report back to folks like, what is itactually like to live in this van and go
somewhere and drive it around and all that.
So, let's get back let's get back to the, youknow, to the move.
I can run-in pictures, or we could just talkabout the the vans in general.

(52:05):
What's the advantages or disadvantages of this?
So for example, you guys having that extrudeextruded aluminum, frame inside, is that making
the van stiffer?
Is it lighter, heavier?
Like, what's the, you know, how does all thatsupport for people who, you know, who haven't
seen this before?

(52:28):
So so okay.
So hit on the the key point of weight andstructure.
So we we do not use any wood.
We do not use any of your typical We do not useany of your typical building products.
We do utilize in the context of marine grade,you know, we use your plastics, your polys, a

(52:56):
lot of now what we're using are a lot of,composite panels.
So different type of things that say, like, oneof our components that we use is it's called
ACM.
So it's an aluminum composite material it'sbasically two faces of aluminum with a
composite in between.
Okay.
Well, I'm saying all that to say we usematerials that are much thinner and Strange,

(53:24):
but they also are much heavier.
Having said that, as we calculate our buildsand we use, like, the the aluminum foundation
We use the lemon extrusion.
Yes.
It's heavy.
There's there's no I'm not gonna argue with youany, that the materials we use are heavy.

(53:44):
But because of how purposeful we are and howand where we use them, then always being very
microscopic and cutting weight and things likethat where we don't need it.
If you took our build and compared it to yourstandard, you know, like your standard MDF type
board cabinets and things like that.

(54:04):
I am going to say that anything that we've evercompared ourselves to actually physically on a
scale, we have always come in underway.
Mhmm.
Because we only put the materials where theyneed to be, and we only use the thicknesses
that we need.
So instead of it being a half inch 3 quarterinch plywood.
I mean, we're using a plastic panel that's an 8inch 8 inch thick.

(54:26):
And so that is where Yes.
Our outfit, is very industrial grade, strongmaterials.
Which in most cases does correlate to heavier.
Not always.
We use some aluminum honeycombs, and we useplastic honeycomb to get that thickness.
But it drops the weight out.

(54:47):
Yeah.
But in most context, what we use, it's heavy,it's strong, it's durable, but in the total
build out, we come in typically far lighterthan most.
Yeah.
I think I understand that.
It's logical to me.
You know, obviously, it's gonna be a it's amore density.
It's a metal, right, versus, let's say, a wood.
But because of the strength, you don't need asmuch of it to get that strength or stiffness or

(55:13):
whatever you need in the van as you would needif you're using wood.
Right?
In a lot of places, you're gonna need to usemore wood and, and, you know, and just add more
to it.
So I think that makes sense to me.
Obviously, building, if building somethingyou're gonna live in is gonna add weight.
I think there's probably also a benefit, fromdurability, you know, or its ability to last

(55:36):
over time, right, because aluminum is not goingto hold mold, for example.
Right.
Yeah.
You you know, especially with like are just ourhistory with the live and do models, utilizing
the headliners that Ford Hank.
It's all plastic panels.
The headliners are a foam foam with basically afiberglass backing.

(55:59):
So our concerns of moisture and mildew and moldare very minimal.
Extremely minimal, in fact, because almost allof our surfaces are cleanable, and, you know,
not to be gross or disgusting about it, but,you know, whenever you first get a mattress,
your mattress only weighs, you know, so much.

(56:20):
But as you sleep on that mattress, you sweatyour skin sale, all that.
A used mattress gets heavier in time.
Oh, yeah.
Wood.
Wood, composites,
all They absorb.
They absorb things.
They absorb.
You you got it.
Humidity.
All kinds stuff.
And they creature starts to live
in there.
Yep.
Yep.
Oh, yeah.

(56:40):
You gotta burn those things.
Yep.
So musty, you know, they get musty.
They they swell we don't have those issues withour vans.
And so, you know, something what we've done inthe new move model, that will kind of fall into
our other models in time is an indoor shower.
We've always Strange.
I've always struggled with water inside avehicle because of what it does moisture wise.

(57:03):
Not concerned with mold and things like thatbecause of what we do, but it's when you start
putting pounds of moisture in the air, yougotta be careful and cautious of what you're
doing, because then you have to worry about howmuch longer it's gonna take to cool it down.
It's gonna take, you know, if it's coldoutside, what's that moisture do?
And so, we've always stayed realistic, I guess,in in most cases to where you're not gonna put

(57:31):
your home in a van and be successful over moonumerous seasons.
You know, we're based in Missouri.
We truly get all four seasons here.
It can get below 0 for a few weeks out of theyear, and it gets above a 110 a few weeks out
of the year.
We have extremely humid times.
We have very dry times.
And so testing our units right here, we get allfour seasons, and that's, you know, We build

(57:57):
adventure vans.
We build camper vans.
We want people to take them to all climates,and building a vehicle to go to all climates
requires focusing on what things like mold andthings like that do, and I think we've done a
great job of it.
Yeah.
So you mentioned a shower, and I think one ofthe questions I get a lot when I when I do

(58:19):
videos with you guys is the bathroom.
So cassette, obviously, there's a cassettetoilet.
If you've been looking at the pictures, there'sa cassette toilet in there.
You know, some people need a bathroom.
I probably fall into that category because I'veHank, Crohn's disease for more than half of my
life.
Bathrooms really important, like an actualblack tank, etcetera.

(58:40):
Is that something you guys plan on doing in thefuture?
Is it something you do now?
You know, what's your perspective on that?
Well, Hank to be very fair with you and tellyou straight.
We never say no to anything.
But dealing with waste and tanks under vehiclesis one reason like, our owners love us because

(59:05):
we keep the winterization and we keep theheadaches away.
And so it's never a no.
It is always looking for that next best toiletoption that maybe keeps us away from ever
having to do a black tank.
Currently, we do not do a black Hank, and we donot foresee in the future of doing a black take

(59:28):
because of all of the good options out there,for cassette and other type style.
So we use dry toilets.
There's there's so many good clean options.
But like I said, there's never a no, but withtechnology, and the ability of of advancement,

(59:49):
our hopes would be that there's advancements inways where we can give you that full time
bathroom without the hassle of thatwinterization, because that's the biggest
thing.
We try to really keep if you go to our website,one of the key things you'll see is just trying
to keep the hassle away from the owner.
That's that's such a big I
think it's fair.
I think it's fair.

(01:00:09):
And I think, you know, I I have a black Hank,and I figured out how to deal with it.
I could deal with it pretty quickly andefficiently, but I have noticed when I go to
certain parts of the country, it's really notthat easy to even find a place to dump a black
tank, especially let's say, like, California,etcetera.
And then I know there's disadvantages to it.
And I think I would agree with you that there'sbetter and better technology out there.

(01:00:34):
Once you put that black tank in though, you'regonna lose a lot of modularity.
Right?
Cause you've got a set thing in a set position.
So I understand it.
You know, I think that's, that's a a fairanswer to that.
And the technology is getting better and betterall the time.
When I go to different shows, I see some reallycool things out there.
So then they're just expensive, but, yeah, sois a black tag.

(01:00:58):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
It it's, as, you know, give and take, man.
It's all about the give and take and what, youknow, what matters most to you and maybe giving
up a little modularity Mhmm.
Is going to make sense for you.
I mean, that's that's what we try to guide ourcustomers to best.
We try to do our best job of not selling, wecounsel.

(01:01:21):
We try to do our best job to find out what itis they need and try to match best to that
need.
We have, we built, handicap accessiblevehicles, we've built, vehicles for
the same.
Question to you, whether or not you can dohandicapped because I know someone, I'm
thinking about a particular person.

(01:01:42):
Who likes Van Duet and, you know, he'shandicapped.
So
Yep.
He needs to be
able to get a wheelchair in there.
Okay.
Mhmm.
Yep.
We have we've we've been fully successful withit.
Definite learning curve.
The, you know, individual that we've workedwith on it.
His name is Jeremy McGee.
He's been amazing to work with.

(01:02:03):
Mhmm.
You know, it's you know, being very open aboutit.
It's you just you just never, you know, we allwalk in our own ways of life.
Mhmm.
And that's probably the biggest thing I loveabout my job is just doing anything I can to
help assist someone else in their walk of life.
And, you know, and it could, you know, forJeremy.

(01:02:24):
It's how do we make everything accessible forhim from wheelchair and, a lot of Strange.
But it's it's honestly been exciting.
I'm not gonna say necessarily fun.
It's it's been exciting to find ways to makehim successful to where he can with, you know,
with changes in his life, he can still do thethings he's always loved to do.

(01:02:48):
Absolutely.
Okay.
So we're in the the final part here.
We're gonna start wrapping this up relatively,soon here.
I've got a question from Joy B.
It says, I'm just joining this chat, and I'mnot sure what the name of this company is as
Van Duet.
But are these vans cheaper than base vans, anddo they finance the vans, or do you have to

(01:03:10):
already have a van?
So I understand she just came in.
We touched on this.
A little bit, you know, in the earlier part ofthis video, but go ahead, Jared, and, cover
that again if you don't mind.
So, appreciate the question.
So we have when it comes to pricing, I'm notsure what you mean by basic van.

(01:03:31):
But we have We have options from pre ownedunits through used units all the way up to
brand new state of the art.
We range anywhere from about 55,000, dollarsin, a build that you can get your hands on all
the way up to.
We now, push a little bit about 240,000 on thehigh end.

(01:03:52):
We probably actually can push a little bit pastthat, but, when it comes to financing financial
options, we actually have a dealer, sellingdealer that's actually tied to us, to where we
actually work hand in hand with them to workoptions with you And so anything that you have,
we can take trade ins.
So anything you would typically see at astandard car dealership or RV dealership, we

(01:04:17):
take trades.
We do anything up to 15 year financing.
We do have other options that potentially canwork for you as well.
And when I mentioned trades, we take vehicles,other vehicles.
We take a lot of RVs, bigger RVs, who want todownsize.
We've actually bought quite a few half builtDIY builds for

(01:04:40):
both.
Oh, really?
Because they get they get too far in, and it'sour job to help take them out of headache.
Yeah.
But even recently, we took land in on trade.
We took a rental property.
This is from the past.
This is not a van dooet thing, but we actuallyhave traded for a horse.
So we have been horse Strange before.

(01:05:01):
So Nice.
Nice.
The way we look at it is we wanna present themost value we can to you So don't be scared to
offer something to us and value to make thathappen.
Oh, cool.
That's probably the easiest way to say is like,look, if you got something that you things
valuable.
I mean, we collect bikes.
I mean, I don't know how many bikes we have inone of our barns.

(01:05:22):
We got a lot of bikes.
Really?
So, so being a family owned business Mhmm.
We just make sense of it.
And basically, like I mentioned earlier, Hank,there it's never it's just let us take a look.
Yeah.
Don't tell me stuff like this, man.
I'll come up with all kinds of things, youknow.
I can find a cow.
I live in cow country.

(01:05:42):
Hey, dude.
Bringing.
Couple cows.
Hey, I I I probably sold food to those cowswhen I work in Georgia.
So Oh, okay.
Alright.
Very nice I think that was a good question fromJoy B because I think you covered some things
that we didn't get to that it was good to getto.
But what I wanna do here before we get out Ireally do wanna have a conversation with you
about the future since we're, you know, at theend of 2023 here, not just the near future, you

(01:06:08):
know, 24, but what what do you see for thefuture of van life, class b vans, this thing
that we do?
Growth.
I mean, I think if I had to use A word, it'd begrowth.
We mentioned technology.
We mentioned everything that's coming with it.

(01:06:29):
We COVID did an amazing thing which was it itmade people realize we have an amazing
playground, with you know, the US, the world,but really for for, National Parks, it it's

(01:06:51):
been, such an eye opener that you can still getout, get away from your computer screen, get
away from your phones, and actually still enjoycountry side, but class bs, look, we all, we
run-in a crazy world.
We run with, you know, working probably way toomany hours up, up way too early, up way too

(01:07:12):
late, and the class B, economy, I guess youcould probably call it, gives that
functionality, gives that, it gives thatability to you, Hank, to be able to do this
show on the road.
Yes class a's other other, type bills do it.
Tow behinds do it.

(01:07:33):
But they don't do it in the way like I'll speakfor Van Duet.
Don't do it in a way that's versatile for you.
Class b is give you that flexibility to nothave to take that extra loan out.
Be able to replace a vehicle and go mobile withabout anything.
And for for Van Duet, it's just Lookingforward, it's all about continually finding

(01:07:59):
ways.
If it's advancements in technology, if it'screativeness, ingenuity, whatever the case
might be, it's being able to continually fitmore square pigs and round holes.
And trying to find ways to be able to get you,your family, and other people, you know, to to

(01:08:22):
gravitate in this direction and actually seethat I, you know, if I'm a person, I can travel
and I can do my job on the road.
Yeah.
And enjoy, and, you know, and it's plus plusplus plus plus plus.
It's a very short story.
But we have traveling nurses who own our vans.

(01:08:42):
And it's amazing because they buy a van do it,they are traveling or so.
They find the next spot that makes sense forthem, and they pick their next spot because
when they go from one job to the next, Theygive themselves about 2 to 3 weeks of travel
between the two areas, and they make sure thatbetween the two areas, they have amazing

(01:09:03):
travels along the way.
Yeah.
And, you know, now they get per diem.
So they just park in the hospital parking lot.
And people are starting to become so clever.
They're starting to be so clever with how youcan live in this crazy world.
With everything going on, but still getoutside, still be able to enjoy, honestly, the

(01:09:26):
fresh air, you know, enjoy all the things thatwe say, you know, our granddads, you know, did
with us, you know, we did with our with our,what I would call my kids lovey Poppy.
You know, be able to get out with them but youcan actually still do that in a class B because
it offers versatility.
With Van Duet, it's a it's a Swiss army knife.
You can take it anywhere.
You can do anything, and it's I see the futureonly growing in the class bs because they are

(01:09:52):
more affordable than your $1,000,000, you know,big class a's.
Right.
But they also have enough room and space andhonestly functionality to them to where you can
do all those things I just mentioned.
Yeah.
And and and you do it and you do it with alevel of success.
I think it's probably another way to say Yeah.

(01:10:13):
I think, class b or Van Life is here to stay.
I don't think that, you know, it's I think it'sgonna grow and Strange, and Hank the vans are
gonna adapt as we go forward.
They may become hybrids, you know, they maybecome electric, whatever.
That technology has to work itself out.
Right?
Between the government and then what'spractical and what people can afford, that all

(01:10:36):
has to work itself out.
But I think they're here to stay.
Like you said, it's just it's just tooconvenient for way too many people and the
technology that exists and all that.
I'm doing this right now off of phones.
I don't I live out in the country.
I live out in the country.
People literally this is like, when you drivearound where I live, I'm at I live in Florida.

(01:10:57):
When you drive in the country, nor, theNorthern North Central part of Florida.
When you drive around here, folks have on theirtrucks, you know, it's beef.
It's what's for dinner.
So that's what you see around here.
And, the internet's pretty terrible unless I doit off of phones, but here I am doing it.
So yeah, I think that's here to stay.

(01:11:17):
Let me just get one quick thing in for Joy B.
She wanted to know, and I'm I'm assuming, thatit she she wanted to know, like, whether or not
you could bring the van.
I think if you go back to the beginning ofthis, we definitely covered that and and and,
we'll have answers for you there.
And I think the folks from Van Duet are inthere as well.

(01:11:38):
I would definitely recommend you guys reach outto Van Duet.
Do you wanna let folks know if they have morequestions?
They wanna get those answered?
How they can do it?
Yeah, the, probably, the best way is, you mightactually probably get a comment, so I don't
botch it.
But, probably, a good way would be to email,sales at vanduit.com.

(01:12:02):
Also you can go online.
You can fill out a contact form, and, you know,go through, basically, our standard lead
process.
That's gonna get you in the hands of asalesperson, a guru.
And so, and they'll help answer any questions.
If you leave a message, anything like that onInstagram, any of our social media forms, we'll
absolutely answer you there and get you in theright hands.

(01:12:23):
Yeah.
And check these guys out of the show.
I see them almost at every I Hank, OverlandingShow and there's a bunch of other shows that
Van Duet goes to.
So I would definitely say check them out there.
Before we get out of here, I wanna you know, ifI didn't wish you a Merry Christmas merry
Christmas to everyone, happy holidays, happynew year to all the folks out there, I think

(01:12:44):
I'm gonna do one more show here, but it's notgonna be a podcast because I need to do the top
5 coolest things that we saw in 2023.
And I think the fastest way for me to get thatdone is just go live and do it.
So you guys can look forward to that.
I also wanna thank Jared of Van Duet and allthe other folks at the team that helped put
this together and make it happen, you know, forI wanna thank you guys for doing that.

(01:13:09):
And I will give you the last words, Jared.
Yeah.
Well, Hank, I mean, I appreciate you having meon.
It's been awesome talking with you.
And, you know, the I would just say, you know,happy holidays to everybody.
And as we kind of closed out, I mean, campervans are a thing to hear to stay.
I hope you check us out.
You know, we, our whole goal as Van Duet istake care of you.

(01:13:33):
Take care of the customer.
Take care of you.
Find ways to fit your budget.
Find ways to fit, you know, what you'reneeding.
You know, please let us help you find a way tomake your dreams come true.
You know, you give us a chance, give us theopportunity, and you never know what's gonna
happen.
And so, you know, check us out.

(01:13:55):
Follow us, like us, whatever whatever you, youknow, you say, but, definitely appreciate,
Hank.
Appreciate the time, man.
Welcome.
And, you know, it's been a pleasure.
Absolutely.
You're welcome.
Stay right there, Jared.
We're gonna end it.
We'll see you guys on the next one.
We're out.
Peace.
Alright.