Castelan Group has replaced it's entire fleet of commercial vehicles with the new Trafic panel van from Renault.

• Castelan Group replaces its entire commercial fleet with 80 Renault Trafic panel vans
• Trafic chosen over five rival vehicles
• Economy of Twin Turbo diesel engine and availability of enhanced Business+ specification contribute to order win
• Award-winning vans come with four-year/100,000-mile warranty

Castelan Group, one of the UK’s leading providers of warranties, insurance and claims handling solutions to the retail sector, has once again chosen Renault as the sole supplier of its commercial fleet vehicles with an order of 80 Renault Trafic panel vans.

The award-winning Trafics replace the company’s previous generation models, Castelan opting for the new Trafic after putting the order out to tender and considering light commercials from six manufacturers. 

Castelan selected the Trafic based on its unrivalled package, the van impressing with its fusion of advanced design, efficiency, driving experience and value.

As part of its management of 3,000 furniture and electrical claims each week, Castelan’s new Renault Trafics will be used by its Furniture Network Care Technicians to visit customers in their homes to rectify issues with varying types of furniture and flooring. 

Such is the vast spectrum of products covered, the Trafic’s space-optimising design is particularly beneficial to Castelan with ample room for the spare parts, consumables and cleaning machines that are necessary for its technicians to resolve many issues on a first-time fix basis.

Castelan ordered its short wheelbase, low-roof Trafics with the ENERGY dCi 120 1.6-litre Twin Turbo diesel engine – the refined power unit’s fuel economy of up to 47.9 mpg being a key factor in its purchasing decision. Another significant influence was the availability of the Business+ trim line, Castelan specifying this equipment level as it incorporates features that it considers essential in its vehicles, such as air conditioning and rear parking sensors, as standard.

Building on the Business specification, which already offers DAB radio with Bluetooth, ESC (Electronic Stability Control) with HSA (Hill Start Assist) and Grip Xtend, electric front windows and remote central locking; the Business+ trim level also adds a smartphone dock, passenger bench seat with underseat storage, fold down middle passenger seat with detachable A4 clipboard and laptop storage, body-coloured front bumper, door rail and rear tail light column, full steel bulkhead with load-through facility, and wide view mirror.

Castelan’s Trafics have been further enhanced with the R-Link integrated 7" touchscreen multimedia system, which includes sat nav, Bluetooth, DAB radio, and reverse parking camera system. Castelan also ordered the additional factory options of a 68mph speed limiter and metallic silver paint.

Leased via Days Fleet and supplied by City Motors, Bristol – one of 40 nationwide Renault Pro+ dealerships that are specially equipped to cater for the requirements of business customers – the Trafics come with the reassurance of a four-year/100,000-mile warranty and four years’ roadside assistance. 

Castelan will also benefit from the Renault Business Quality Commitment – the manufacturer’s 13-point plan provided to corporate customers that guarantees the very best service.

Martin Napper, CEO, Castelan Group, said: “We were very happy with our previous Renault Trafics and after looking in detail at alternative replacements, the model yet again proved to be the best for our requirements. 

Not only was it a new design and competitive on price, but it also offered excellent fuel economy and a level of equipment that provides our technicians with what we consider to be ‘must have’ levels of connectivity, convenience and comfort.

“With our technicians in the vans for an average of four hours a day, it’s vital that they have Bluetooth to keep in touch with customers and head office, while the option of a good quality, built-in sat nav is another essential – something that we found wasn’t available with a number of competitor vehicles.”

He continued: “Our operatives who trialled the Trafic for a week were also very positive about the drive, and when we attended a commercial vehicle test day where we were able to experience it against rival vehicles in quick succession, the Renault again came out very favourably.”

Darren Payne, Sales Director, Groupe Renault UK, said: “We are delighted to strengthen our relationship with Castelan and the way this order was decided clearly underlines why the new Renault Trafic was recently voted the Best Medium Van by What Van? magazine for the second consecutive year.

“The adaptability and innovation of the Trafic have had a major impact on securing this order and it is these and the many other strengths of the extensive Renault LCV range that more and more business customers continue to find so appealing, 2015 being confirmed as the best ever year for Renault van sales in the UK.”

Available with a choice of four efficient turbo diesel engines, the Renault Trafic is available in Panel Van, Crew Van and Passenger bodystyles. Trafic boasts fuel economy of up to 50.4mpg (NEDC Combined) and CO₂ emissions as low as 149g/km (Passenger version), and is priced from £18,475 excluding VAT.

Renault’s UK van sales reached their highest ever level in 2015 to 25,458 vehicles – up 40 per cent compared to 2014 and significantly outpaced the UK van market which grew by 16 per cent.

The strong UK result contributed to Renault being the best-selling LCV brand in Europe for the 18^thconsecutive year. In a market that was up 11.4 per cent, Renault’s LCV sales rose to 16.9 per cent – equivalent to the sale of 29,000 additional vehicles across Europe.