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Delivering New Vans!


Chausson le mor

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Recently returned from S Devon and on joining the A38 near Ashburton was aware of a silver coloured van coming behind me at a fairly brisk speed on the dual carriageway heading towards Exeter.

On pulling back into the inside lane van overtook me with its trade plates stuck on the rear. Another brand new Murvi on its way somewhere? My speed at the time was 70mph the Murvi disappeared into the horizon!

I then thought about the hurry to deliver a brand new £55K+ van to its new owner. How many other van convertors deliver new vehicles in this way? Am I naive to think they all get delivered by carefully loading onto low loaders or similar or is the norm driving like a bat out of hell by a contract driver. Yes I know vehicles are built differently today but in my handbook my Renault Master conversion advises" Up to 900 miles (1,500 km), do not exceed 2,500 rpm or approximately 54 mph (90 km/h) in the highest gear.

After completing this mileage you may drive faster, although you may only expect top performance after approximately 3,600 miles (6,000 km).During the running in period, do not accelerate hard while the engine is still cold and do not let the engine over-rev".

I suppose the vehicle may have been being used for demonstration purposes but don't think many people taking out a brand new van would test it at 75+mpg on a dual carriageway!

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Guest JudgeMental
well its a pretty common sight!lol And all depends on what you pay and what sort of delivery method you agree to....
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I witnessed same thing a few weeks ago on the m6 brand new cb on trade plates doing 80mph. Trade plate drivers are paid per mile about 35p i think is the current average so they rush to get next job as its 1st come 1st served, most i believe have many points on there licence. Even if an engine needs a good ragging now and then i for one would be less than pleased if it was my van being delivered.
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duetto owner - 2013-06-16 2:43 PM

 

i was told that a motorhome needs a burn up every 6 weeks or so to keep the flters clean, i presume fuel filters. never thought too much about it till i read this thread. any expects come in and advise if this is moody or not.

 

I think it's the DPF (diesel particulate filter) that benefits from a good clear-out every so often. It only really has a bearing if you do a lot of stop-start urban driving, as this tends to clog the filter.

 

Known as an Italian tune-up in some circles - go out and cane it for 50 miles or so. :-D

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Guest JudgeMental
hughman - 2013-06-16 4:06 PM

 

duetto owner - 2013-06-16 2:43 PM

 

i was told that a motorhome needs a burn up every 6 weeks or so to keep the flters clean, i presume fuel filters. never thought too much about it till i read this thread. any expects come in and advise if this is moody or not.

 

I think it's the DPF (diesel particulate filter) that benefits from a good clear-out every so often. It only really has a bearing if you do a lot of stop-start urban driving, as this tends to clog the filter.

 

Known as an Italian tune-up in some circles - go out and cane it for 50 miles or so. :-D

 

and for this to work it has to be at a constant speed apparently...

 

 

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Guest JudgeMental
ips - 2013-06-16 4:06 PM

 

Flamin well would be if it was my brand new van and i really do not believe that you wouldnt have a problem if it was yours

 

but if you don't pay for a trailer delivery this will be what happens! You only notice it because it is a large whit box, cars are delivered like this all the time..and again, how is 80 harmful

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No worse than taking your Ferrari in for a service, then having some pillock who thinks he's a racing driver write it off whilst giving it a 'test drive'. !! If I was buying a 'New' Murvi, i'd go down to the works and pick it up myself. AND I would expect it to have 50 or less miles on the clock,otherwise i'd expect a price reduction. But then thats me, Ray
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I'm sure I read it somewhere, possibly on this forum, that new vehicles have their mileage zeroed at chassis PDI time, having up to 99 miles knocked off. So unless you can see the mileage before PDI time then maybe don't be too sure your new van hasn't been hammered up a motorway. (^)
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everhopeful - 2013-06-16 8:34 PM

 

I'm sure I read it somewhere, possibly on this forum, that new vehicles have their mileage zeroed at chassis PDI time, having up to 99 miles knocked off. So unless you can see the mileage before PDI time then maybe don't be too sure your new van hasn't been hammered up a motorway. (^)

 

I'd guess that's right. Certainly, the van we just bought in German came with zero mileage and I can't believe it hadn't done some, even if just around the dealer's grounds and so on.

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Guest JudgeMental
hughman - 2013-06-17 10:14 AM

 

everhopeful - 2013-06-16 8:34 PM

 

I'm sure I read it somewhere, possibly on this forum, that new vehicles have their mileage zeroed at chassis PDI time, having up to 99 miles knocked off. So unless you can see the mileage before PDI time then maybe don't be too sure your new van hasn't been hammered up a motorway. (^)

 

I'd guess that's right. Certainly, the van we just bought in German came with zero mileage and I can't believe it hadn't done some, even if just around the dealer's grounds and so on.

 

Thats because it was not driven to dealer..but delivered by low loader.

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Back to the OP, the van was apparently a Murvi. Also, it was on trade plates, so presumably had not been registered. It therefore seems unlikely it was being delivered to its new owner. That apart, doesn't one collect Murvis, so that they complete the handover at their premises? I thought they were all direct, factory, sales.

 

So, why a low flying Murvi? Most likely, it was being taken to a show somewhere, and may get taken to numerous shows. It may have had a quite high mileage despite the trade plates, if it is a Murvi show van that they choose not to register. I would imagine it will eventually be registered, and then put up for sale with whatever mileage it has accumulated, probably towards the end of the season.

 

All conjecture, or course, but so is pretty much everything else said so far, apart from the fact of its existence, its speed, and that however many motorway miles at 80MPH in sixth gear is hardly going to blow it up. It'd be doing what, 2,500 rpm, with a probable red line at what, 4,500? Just jogging, really, IMO.

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Hi.

I picked up a new Autotrail on the !st March a couple of years ago and went and had a couple of weeks in Devon and clocked up over 100 miles, called back at the dealers on the way home to have a small problem fixed..

On setting home from the dealers I looked at the mileometer and it was reading about 3miles I turned around and returned to the dealers and they told me they can clock back up to 200 miles at PDI and the mechanic had thought it was a new vehicle so had reset it..

So dont think that your new vehicle has not been driven because of the mileage it reads.

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But why would that matter? I'm sure 200 miles in the hands of a complete idiot could wreck the entire van, but would any dealership retain a member of its staff who consistently wrecked vehicles? Would any manufacturer tolerate a dealer who continually entered warranty claims for vehicles that showed abuse on its logs? Surely, there has to be some measure of trust and common sense?

 

Motorway cruising in UK is restricted to 70MPH. Of course some delivery (and other :-)) drivers exceed that speed, but modern diesels are only in their mid ranges at those speeds. It is in the lower gears, especially on hills, that serious revs are liable to be used.

 

The old ideas on running-in are basically dead. Now, all one is being advised to avoid is fully stressing the engine (+ tyres etc) for the first few hundred miles, by not using max revs, or full throttle, or letting the engine labour at low revs. It just needs to be kept spinning freely in its mid range without high load. Basically, that is what most of these engines will be achieving in top gear at 70-80MPH on a motorway. They're not being worked particularly hard in that way.

 

I do understand the point, but equally I think it is all a bit of a storm in a teacup. What was seen was undoubtedly illegal, but I really don't think it amounts to "van abuse"!

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