It’s all gone a bit wrong!
There has been a bit of drama over the last few days in relation to my new van order, Nissan/Renault have halted production briefly at the factory in France for an unknown reason and this means I was informed that there would be a 3+ month delay on my new van order!
This is something that is frustrating to say the least and I don’t really want to wait until the end of April at the earliest to get the new van for a couple of reasons.
1) I have planned the changeover and already arranged for my current van to go back to the lease company on the 23rd of January and it would be a hassle to extend the lease further.
2) If I did extend the lease on the transit I would be hit with a £2k plus bill soon as that would mean the next service at 100k would become due in that time and it would need a wet belt (timing) change, regular service, rear discs and pads and the brake fluid flushed as they will all be due then. Plus MOT. That is a bill of well over £2k and to pay that and then hand the van back a month or two later does not make financial sense when currently I can just return the van before all those become due and put that money into the deposit and conversion for the new van.
So what are my options, with it not possible to get the van I ordered in time.
Option 1 – Keep the transit, do all the services and then extend the lease for a year or two. Not what I want as the transit is out of warranty and will need repairs at some point due to age and mileage and part of the reason for changing is to reduce running costs for fuel which is a big expense.
Option 2 – try to source a second vehicle that is in the country and built that meets my needs and specifications either new or almost new via the lease company. This would preferably be a Nissan Interstar still ( The 5 year warranty is important) or possibly the Renault Master which is the same van pretty much (Only 3 year warranty). However I did not want to add costs either as the Nissan is by far the best deal and when I ordered it it was on a cheap lease deal and most other similar vehicles are at least an extra few hundred pounds a month. I don’t want to suddenly have to budget for much more money.
The plan agreed with the broker was to try for option 2 with option 1 as a last resort.
My original order was a Nissan Interstar L3 H3 (tallest roof), in Agave Blue, Tekna (top spec), 150hp with the 9 speed auto gearbox.
The biggest sticking point with finding a similar vehicle in stock is the high roof which is usually a factory order and rare for them to be sat at a dealer for sale. Combined with the top spec and auto mid power engine means this is a tall order.
The lease broker went to all the dealer groups looking for a similar vehicle in stock somewhere in the country, maybe a cancelled order or similar.
A couple of days of searching and there is only one vehicle in the country that is even close to requirements.
An L3 H3, in Urban Grey with the right engine and gearbox combination but the lower Acenta spec level meaning I would not get all the features I wanted.
Compared to the Tekna Spec it would be missing…
- Heated windscreen – I really wanted this but can live without it.
- Surround Parking sensors and rear view camera, it will still have rear parking sensors and they can fit an aftermarket rear camera. I can fit aftermarket front sensors if needed.
- Automatic climate control – It will just have manual air con/heater
- 270 degree opening rear doors – not really worried about this, 180 degrees is fine.
- 12v socket in the rear – again not an issue – easy to fit one if I need.
- Lumbar support on drivers seat and different cloth – not worried too much.
So not a major difference, though the heated screen was something I really wanted as it’s been on my Transit and some previous vehicles and does make a big difference in winter but none of those things are a deal breaker.
The Urban Grey is my next favourite colour anyway and the same as my smaller Nissan Townstar.
Accepting the lower spec seems to be my only option to get a new van anytime soon.
I am just waiting for the Lease company to re-do the finance agreements and check that it can be done for the end of Jan and secure this one for me.
It will cost about the same money including adding a rear camera and tow bar package which I was going to have to do on the new one myself or pay extra to the dealer for.
Hopefully it will be confirmed in a few days and sorted!
A few photos of the possible new van below from the dealers website.
Lindley
