Joe Appleby
Supportive Member
looking for another rug pick up and delivery vehicle. What do you like or not like.
I don't care for the wasted space with that front end.Nissan NV 200
Passenger seat folds down so you can easily fit 10 foot lengths.
5 year/100 thousand mile bumper to bumper warranty.
In the minivans, the largest rug that will fit will be 9x12 or maybe 10x14
Something wrong with that? The price some of these guys charge, you only need one rug like that a day lol. Just thinking where Bryan is and the traffic and lack of parking. If you can get a 10 ft rug into a nv200, that's pretty good. They have a good suspension for a minivan, I think it's rated for 1800 lbs. What is the average rug size you are picking up?you mean one rug with one end laying on the dash board??
.L.T.A.
Got a friend with 20 Promasters. Says no problems
I had noticed in the past that most of the carpet cleaners and drapery cleaners that regularly bring rugs in to us were using various Sprinters. Our receiving desk crews told me they haven't seen a Sprinter in a long time.
I called a few regulars got the following responses. (Sorry, didn't think to ask what year, mileage or engine.)
Transit (3 companies): Bought because they were the cheapest (all took advantage of rebates). None of the issues or expensive repairs they had with Sprinters. Drivers liked them. Two had the largest, one had an extended with a lower roof. Only negative mentioned was tight space in the cab.
We had one with the X-Drive prototype in it. Driver loved it, mentioned the narrow cab required storing stuff that would typically be up front in the back. Didn't have it long enough to wear anything out.
Promaster(2 companies): Bought because of the walk-in floor height. Both had the extended high roof. One had his totalled at 35k and bought a new one to replace it. One purchased one and then the following year bought five more to replace his other Sprinters and a small box truck. Two negatives from that owner: broken slider door handle. headlight bulbs don't last long(?!). He said that compared to Sprinters, these weren't problems.
I think we still need more room than these vans provide, but a cutaway cab and 14-16 foot box on either vehicle might be the answer.
With these rules how does a truck rental company stay in business?All drivers of trucks over 10,000 GVW must be DOT certified and pass yearly physicals. And the vehicles must have a DOT inspection yearly as well.
I borrowed a Workhorse for a week to see if would be a good fit. (They build UPS trucks) Loved driving around in the summertime with the doors open but it was uncomfortable for drives longer than about fifteen minutes . Seemed very well built and I think it cost a little under three times more than a cutaway van. There's a really old one in use by a rug cleaner in the area, so the price might be worthwhile if your needs never change.Ever give any thought to the Grumman type of delivery vans used by UPS or FedEx? They are walk in height and seem to be available in very long bases.
Probably the big difference if maintenance isn't an issue, is that the sprinters with get better fuel mileage with their small diesels.Update:
Two guys I called earlier got back to me...
One has three Sprinters and one brand-new Transit. He said the earlier version of the Sprinter was great, and most failures that others complain about he was able to repair himself. He got really tired of brake work though. He really likes his newer Sprinters (under three years) other than the Bluetec system. Which fails at about 30k intervals, and since he no longer works on his trucks the $2300 cost to repair the injectors is irritating.
His Transit was purchased because it was so much cheaper than a Sprinter. He personally does not like the lower driving position in the Transit. His guys like it though, and he said if it works out OK he would probably keep buying them when the Sprinters wear out.
The other guy has a 15 year-old Sprinter as a rug delivery van, which is the largest dual-wheel model. He felt it did the job for him, but had no particular likes or dislikes. He's only put a total of 75, 000 miles on it, so maintenance hasn't been a problem.
Conclusion? None at all. Good luck Joe.