Oven Cleaning Van Search - OvenGleamers

Oven Cleaning Van Search

By Graham Rogers

Citroën H Van

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I'm currently looking at vans to choose one to for my business so that I can recommend a van to people who are looking to buy an oven cleaning franchise from us. I have found a supplier who can deliver me the van all fitted out and sign written and it is just a case of choosing one. So my list consists of the following vans:

 

Citroen Berlingo, Fiat Doblo, Nissan NV200, Renault Kangoo.

 

Really what surprises me is how bad dealers are at selling vans. When I bought our Citroen last year, from City Motors Bristol, all I did was make sure they could get one go into the showroom and pay the deposit. I didn't bother with a test drive as I we had had the older style Berlingo since 2006 with only a couple of small problems with it. Before buying it last year I went into the VW dealer to look at the Caddy – they were pretty helpful. I went into the Renault garage on more than one occasion the showroom was completely empty so no service. The Kangoo they had on the forecourt advertised at £7500 + VAT but was a deal that wasn't available as you had to get the standard spec, without the sides doors, and by the time you had added the doors etc the price suddenly had jumped to £12500, so a big increase just for two side doors!

 

This year we went out on a Sunday to look at the vans. The Nissan dealer was pretty helpful this time and show us the van and went through all the main points. The Nissan NV200 to us still looked like a big van but it is very good on fuel averaging 55 mpg.

 

The Renault garage, the same one as last year, there was two ladies who were very helpful in showing me the Kangoo vans. Unfortunately they didn't have the standard model available just the Kangoo Compact and the Kangoo Max. But I still took the measurements that I needed. 

 

At the Fiat Dealer they had lots of salesmen but as they had a special, separate office for commercial sales, which was closed on a Sunday, they were unable to show me a Doblo van. t back in the week a couple days ago, and really the new Doblo is a great quality vehicle Fiat have really improved it. I really liked the fact that the fuel consumption was listed at 58 mpg if you go for the Euro 5 which has the button that allows you to switch the engine off if you are stationary in traffic – a press of the clutch and it starts again. Also I noticed it had that thing where if you are going to do a hill start the engine will stop you from rolling back – that is you can take your foot off the brake and it won't roll back. Also we liked the safety features of the van and especially the air bags, including the side air bags in the cabin.

 

So after all my looking have I come to any conclusions, which van would make a great oven cleaners van? Well all the vans, surprising, are very much the same size and the quotes I have been given mean that they are all very much the same to buy. Of course I like the fact that they have quoted high MPG on a couple of the vans but I will believe it when I see it, as the weight of our fitted equipment will bring the mpg features down a bit.

 

Well the Doblo is a great van but it still looks pretty dam ugly but is a 'maybe' as I can get it with a tailgate and two side doors which is our ideal arrangement. The Nissan looks good and is also a 'maybe'. I have ruled the Renault Kangoo out as I didn't like the build quality in the cabin, and now storage space, and also if I don't get any response when I go to the garage to try and buy one what will the service be like if I've got a problem? And after my problem with City Motors Bristol last year – really they were just crap sorting out the problem with my Berlingo (I do another post on it) I bought off of them – I don't really want to do business with them again whether it's at their Renault or Citroen garages.

 

I've started noticing the Nissan NV200 on the road and I think if we do it right the sign writing will look fabulous on this van. I am going to look out for the Dublo too and I think the next best thing would be test drive them both.

 

 

 

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About the Author

Graham Rogers Started OvenGleamers as one man in a van in Taunton in 2004. The business grew to a five van operation by 2007. OvenGleamers first franchisee started in October 2010. OvenGleamers Became An Associate Member of British Franchise Association in 2012. Now growing National OvenGleamers Network. OvenGleamers are AGA and Big Cooker Cleaning Specialists. Graham writes on this blog and films videos and has a podcast.