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[Lorrelau]

I'm planning on travelling Europe, starting in the Netherlands.
Together with my dog Amber.

I'm at the stage now where I am planning on selling my small polo and buying a bigger vehicle. But.... The Netherlands is one of the most expensive countries for owning a motor vehicle.
Road taxes are based on weight and type of petrol.
Owning a van on diesel is very expensive, so I have been considering getting a smaller, less comfortable car to live in to save costs.
But then... I will not be on the Dutch roads... So I called the tax office, but since I am signed in in the Netherlands, I will have to pay road taxes. They do not understand the concept of living and travelling in a van, so couldn't advice me further on this.
How do you guys do this?
What if I buy a van in a country, such as Germany, where road taxes are much lower?
Will that work?

Thanks for the help!

I hope I'll be on the road this spring!

[kryten]

You have to be road legal in your own country even if you're travelling elsewhere in Europe. Failure to do this will invalidate your insurance. If you don't have an address in another country or know someone outside the Netherlands then you will have to pay up. From what I remember of when I lived in the Netherlands, vehicles, or at least cars, over a certain age were/are exempt from tax. If that is still the case then you could try and find an old van, but that won't be easy and then there possible issues with older vehicles. The other option is the one you mentioned, which is a small van, similar to the ford transit connect being converted by oneawesomeinch (youtube), or even an mpv vehicle like the one being used by http://relaxedpace.com/van/