Gear Profile: Dave & Matt Vans
Editor’s note: In early 2023, Dave & Matt Vans announced that the lifestyle vans company will be moving from Gypsum to Rifle, Colorado to support the rapid growth of their business. There they will have a 40,000-square-foot facility that will allow them to continue to manufacture, sell and rent RVs to adventures in Colorado and across the nation.
Matt Felser and Dave Ramsay
Increasing interest in “van life” has only accelerated in the time of COVID-19. The pandemic resulted in a surge of career shifts and remote workers, offering the freedom to move from a stationary home to a mobile one and hit the road.
Dave & Matt Vans is a lifestyle vehicle company that builds and rents vans out of Gypsum, Colorado. The company exclusively builds out RAM ProMaster vans, with a focus on keeping each project as cost-efficient as possible for every client.
“No matter the activity, environment or condition, Dave & Matt Vans are purposefully designed and built to offer folks the freedom to pursue their personal passions,” shares Matt Felser, co-founder and CEO. “We actually call our vans ‘lifestyle vehicles’ for this exact reason — because your life defines how they’re used, rather than the other way around.”
Felser’s friend and now co-founder, Dave Ramsay, began the company together out of the personal passion they shared for van life. Now while helping others access this passion, Ramsay and Felser are bringing awareness to a lifestyle that can be for either a weekend traveler or for a full-time van lifer.
The tight housing market can be hard for renters and buyers right now, so the company has messaged how a lifestyle van can be an alternative housing option for full-time living. For those who are saving money for a down payment on their first home, financing for the vans is available as low as $629 per month — substantially more affordable than renting a home or even just a bedroom.
The base build-outs of Dave & Matt Vans feature “everything you need, and nothing you don’t,” as stated in the company mission. Their vans are built with the key necessities most people are accustomed to at home and feature creative solutions for optimizing small spaces that don’t break the bank.
The intentionally open layout displays a minimalist approach that still checks all the boxes.
“Most vans we encounter are over-built and make an already small space feel even smaller,” says Felser. “By leaving the space open underneath our platform bed system, we provide ample storage for whatever accessories your lifestyle would want to bring on the road.”
Extra features are always an option. Beyond the living space, kitchen and electrical built into every van, custom upgrades include more storage, a compostable toilet, shower system, power boosts, a cabin heater and more.
The team at Dave & Matt Vans works in close collaboration with each prospective owner through every step of the process. From their initial “van builder” application to assess their intended usage and unique needs to their personal “New van day!” pickup date, the team walks each customer carefully through all customization options to ensure they’re getting the vehicle best suited to their lifestyle.
“Our foremost goal is to create a positive experience for each and every customer,” explains Fesler, “to help provide them with the life-changing opportunities our own team has had through van life.”
Their Eagle River Valley location provides some challenges with supply chain and manufacturing, says Fesler, but it’s all worth it to have home and work in such an amazing place.
“We love being based in the Rockies, particularly in Western Colorado,” Felser shares. “Inspiration is everywhere here, and the access to the outdoors is second-to-none, which fits hand-in-hand with our mission of making van life accessible to everyone.”
At time of publication, Dave & Matt Vans start at $64,982 with various sizes and upgrades available. Learn more at dmvans.com.
Photos courtesy of Dave & Matt Vans.
Originally published in the Fall 2021 issue of Spoke+Blossom