{"id":8589,"date":"2016-04-08T13:34:18","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T13:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/?p=8589"},"modified":"2016-04-08T13:34:18","modified_gmt":"2016-04-08T13:34:18","slug":"drinks-wholesaler-raises-glass-to-super-reliable-sprinters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/8589","title":{"rendered":"Drinks wholesaler raises glass to super-reliable Sprinters"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’re running a van fleet, there are few things more frustrating — and costly — than unreliable\u00a0vans. This was the situation\u00a0that\u00a0Merseyside-based drink wholesaler Ale & Beer Supplies found itself in\u00a0until\u00a0it decided ti make the switch to Mercedes-Benz Sprinters.<\/p>\n

\"Ale<\/p>\n

The firm says\u00a0that its previous vans were the cheapest on offer.\u00a0Managing Director Chris Lawler\u00a0admits that this approach was not a success:<\/p>\n

\u201cThat proved to be a false economy. They were terrible \u2013 something was always going wrong. Not only were we were paying a fortune to keep them on the road, but it was also a huge job to meet our delivery schedule, and live up to the dependable service promise we make to customers.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The vans have now been replaced by\u00a0three long-bodied\u00a0Mercedes-Benz Sprinters, which Mr Lawler says are a revelation:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Sprinters are so much better, in every way,\u201d enthused Mr Lawler. \u201cThe price difference was negligible and they\u2019re proving far more cost-effective to operate, as well as promising the long-term reliability for which Mercedes-Benz is renowned.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The vans are\u00a020th Anniversary Special Edition<\/a> Sprinter 313 CDIs.\u00a0The 20th anniversary model\u00a0was\u00a0introduced to mark the van’s 20th birthday and just 1,200 units\u00a0have been made available.<\/p>\n

The anniversary models offer a generous specification that includes air conditioning, sat nav, driver’s Comfort seat with arm rest\u00a0and some chrome trim. The total cost is just \u00a3750, versus a usual list price of more than \u00a32,000 for these options.<\/p>\n

The vans are used to\u00a0deliver alcoholic and soft drinks to pubs, clubs, restaurants and hotels across the North-West.\u00a0Chris Lawler says that after six months of service, the firm’s decision\u00a0to switch marques\u00a0“has been vindicated”\u00a0<\/em>and that the new vans are popular with staff and have proved totally reliable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St Helens-based drinks wholesaler Ale & Beer has made the switch from cheap unreliable vans to Mercedes-Benz Sprinters. Boss Chris Lawler says the switch has been a major success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[1935,157],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8589"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8591,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8589\/revisions\/8591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}