Good Enough Is Never Good Enough

Before I joined Pendulum Vans, I led teams across well-known SaaS companies, major media outlets and Big Tech—developers, marketers, social media experts, content creators, paid search strategists, product and project managers—you name it. In the tech world, you see a lot of big, shiny things: 200K square foot office 'campuses,' million-dollar commercials... It all makes you feel like they’ve got the most amazing teams creating top-notch products. However, when you dig a little deeper, you realize just how many of these companies are fueled by mediocrity. Many folks are doing the bare minimum, looking for the easiest, fastest way. That doesn’t always cut it. A bad product is still a bad product, no matter how slick the marketing. I've quickly realized the adventure van industry isn’t all that different.

While we’ve been busy building our own model van, we’ve been brought in by other van companies to fix their issues. We’re working on vans that ran into trouble with other builders, handling the tricky stuff like A/C and electrical, delivering quality fit/finish for builders that don't have that expertise and solving a lot of problems along the way—more than you’d think. Several van owners have us fixing Sprinters from other well-known companies, and the issues we've found in their builds are, to say the least, quite concerning.  Do your homework when you buy a van at this price point; there are just as many incredible builders out there as there are shoddy. Remember, Instagram can filter subpar van work, too.

Seeing what’s come through our shop over the last few months made us commit to one thing: “good enough” is never good enough. The stories our techs share about other shops delivering vans that fall apart on the first adventure—well, it’s shocking. Imagine paying $200K or more for a van, only to have it fail, and worse, no support from the builder. What's even more troubling: some of the van builders aren't even in business anymore - and some of these vans were delivered to the customer within the last year, leaving owners high and dry when it comes to addressing their van problems.  Before you get too discouraged, there are several incredible, innovative van builders out there - we've seen them, we've stanned them - and we're partnering with them. When choosing the right builder, pay attention to how they keep their shop, how they respond to your inquiry - it's a peek at how they'll deal with your van, too.  If the shop's a mess and the team won't respond to your needs right away - run.

Build quality is a core part of our mission.  We're building and installing components that last. We sat down, hashed out a plan, and created our warranty. Every Pendulum Van comes with a 5-year warranty on every component we install. Plumbing leak after a gnarly off-road trip to Sedona? We’ll fix it. Pop-up outlets not popping up as they should after a week with the grandkids? We’ll handle it. Air compressor goes out? We’ve got that covered too, for free. We only use top-tier products—no sketchy eBay finds or cheap knock-offs. Every part is carefully selected, tested, and built to last.

However, we didn’t stop there. We wanted to take it up a notch. At various points in your ownership, we’ll bring your van in for a full inspection. We’ll fix anything that’s bothering you, and we’ll also replace and check for anything that might give you trouble down the line. The list of included periodic inspections will be up on our van specs soon. We’re here to make sure your van stays in peak condition for years, not just for those first few months on the road.

Something else bothered us, too, and we wanted to seal this into our promise. We've heard horror stories about critical van work scheduled out months in advance, leaving customers with no choice but to do without while they wait for service.  That's unacceptable to us: if something important breaks and you need it fixed ASAP, we’ve got you covered. Pendulum Van owners get priority next-day service, no exceptions. We’re not kidding when we say we offer the most solid van warranty in the industry. We want your adventure van experience to be worry-free, every time.

Good enough isn’t good enough for us. We’re building the most durable, luxurious Sprinter vans out there. If you're ready for a custom Sprinter van, reach out—our vans start at $175K.