Most car owners I know, especially younger drivers, seem to get nervous if their cars are old enough to be out of warranty or have more than about 60,000 miles on the clock.

Many commercial vehicle operators also like to run a new fleet — and there’s no doubt it gives a smart impression and saves on a certain amount of hassle.

However, it wasn’t always like this — the constant drive to replace perfectly serviceable vehicles seems to be part of the ‘newness’ culture that prevails today: no one wants anything if it isn’t new.

Yet many vehicles can deliver far more service than we’ve been conditioned to expect.

Take the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. Bed retailer Dreams is currently in the process of replacing its 10-year old fleet of Luton-bodies Sprinters. These vans have seen some use — according to Shaun Bullock, Dreams’ Distribution Controller:

“Some of our older Mercedes-Benz vehicles have clocked-up well in excess of 400,000 miles, yet they’re still going strong. Indeed, they have proved over the last 10 years to be brilliant workhorses and we’ve every confidence that our new fleet will be just as reliable and cost-effective to operate.”

Yes, that’s 400,000 miles. Admittedly the kind of usage Dreams vans get is probably relative easy — weights are low, the vans don’t do courier-style multidrop work, and they don’t get the kind of hammering they’d get in the construction business, for example.

Even so, Dreams’ experience suggests that many vehicles are disposed off well before the end of their useful, reliable life.