Van Hunting
This morning we were feeling pretty pumped about the idea of getting a van, we were happy with our research and ready to hit the ground running.
A Revealing Day
Expecting this to be an exciting part of the process we decided to take a day trip around local van dealers to have a look at what was on offer. We also hoped that Ben would get a sneaky chance to sit in some of them as due to him being 6′ 4″ and 3/4 he has very long legs, which often leads to trouble fitting in and safely driving most cars, this has always proved to be a little tricky when hiring on holiday.
The first places we tried didn’t have any vans and directed us to their other branches that were 30 miles away. Not dissuaded we had a quick look on google maps and found that there was a place local to us via a quick trip down some country lanes. We chatted excitedly on the journey there. On arrival we pulled in and got out. This is where anything good about this place stopped.
Customer Service?
There appeared to be nobody around so we strolled around looking for someone and glancing over at the vans. Suddenly a guy came running out of a nearby building and grumpily ask ‘what do you want?’ We were both a bit taken back by this rather gruff ‘greeting’, Ben politely explained to the guy that we were looking for a van and asked if he had anything that met our requirements.
The guy just stood there staring at Ben glancing back at our car and looking at Ben again, refusing to even make eye contact with me. He replied saying he had no vans as we awkwardly stood among them. Ben asked him if all the vans, some 20 or so had been sold and the guy replied with ‘Are you going to buy one right now, I’ll show you if you buy today’. We stated that we would need to look at and test out any van before we would agree to purchase anything and the guy just said ‘nah’. We were both stood there in total shock at his behavior, he was totally uninterested in helping us and didn’t even acknowledge any of the questions I asked. He made it quite clear that he couldn’t be bothered to show us around unless we guaranteed a sale, it’s no surprise that between his rudeness and lousy behavior we walked away.
This whole experience was quite a downer on what we thought was going to be an exciting adventure and I certainly hope it doesn’t happen very often. We had much of the day left and decided to carry on the route we were which lead us to a place in Ashford. The guys at this yard were extremely helpful! No pressure or rudeness, answered my questions and Ben finally got to sit in the drivers seat and venture into the cargo space of both a Mercedes Sprinter and a Ford Transit van.
The Verdict
We found the headroom in the cargo area much the same in both the Transit and The Sprinter, with Ben being able to stand between the roof ribs in both. Sitting in the drivers seat however made the decision. It turns out that Ben does not have enough room to drive a transit van… The steering wheel did not go up as high on the transit like it does on the sprinter and therefore turning the wheel caused it to hit Ben’s knees, not a safe or comfortable way to drive. Having experienced long drives on our previous road trip we knew this ruled out the transit. So there we were, decision made…. It will be a Mercedes Sprinter after all.