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.

A U.S. judge has rejected the first "Bellweather" case over the ignition failure from GM vehicles.

A U.S. judge on Wednesday rejected General Motors' bid to dismiss the first so-called "bellwether" case over defective ignition switches in its vehicles, clearing the way for a Jan. 11 trial.

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan said the plaintiff, Robert Scheuer, presented enough evidence to justify letting a jury decide whether an alleged ignition-switch defect in his 2003 Saturn Ion caused or enhanced his injuries from a 2014 crash.

Furman also refused to accept GM's argument that Scheuer's claims arising solely from the Detroit-based automaker's conduct following its 2009 bankruptcy failed as a matter of law.

These claims included GM's alleged failure to properly warn Scheuer about the defect, and were the only claims that could expose GM to punitive damages, the judge wrote.

Scheuer sued GM after another vehicle forced him off an Oklahoma highway on May 28, 2014, causing him to crash head-on into two trees. His Ion's front airbags did not deploy, which he said resulted from a defective ignition switch.

Bellwether trials are sometimes used in product liability litigation in which hundreds or thousands of people have similar claims. The outcomes can help parties determine whether to keep litigating or to settle. Six bellwether trials are scheduled in the GM litigation for 2016, court records show.

Furman's decision "paves the way for the jury to have an unfettered and full view of GM's behavior in covering up this defect," Scheuer's lawyer Bob Hilliard said in a statement.

GM spokesman James Cain said in a phone interview: "We are fully prepared to go to trial, and introduce evidence showing that the ignition-switch issue did not cause the injuries in this accident, or cause the airbags not to deploy."

An ignition switch defect on Ions, Chevrolet Cobalts and other GM vehicles could cause engines to stall and prevent airbags from deploying in crashes. 

GM in February 2014 began recalling 2.6 million vehicles to fix the defect, despite being aware of a possible problem a decade earlier.

In September, GM agreed to pay $900 million and enter a deferred prosecution agreement to end a related U.S. criminal probe. The defect has been linked to 124 deaths and 275 injuries, which generated out-of-court claims of $594 million paid by GM to victims through a fund administered by attorney Ken Feinberg.

REPORT HERE

USA - GM announces the death toll has risen from the defective ignition switch issues.

The death toll from General Motors' defective ignition switch has risen by seven more fatalities from a week earlier to 74, the administrator of GM's compensation fund said yesterday.

The office of attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who is overseeing victim compensation on GM's behalf, had approved 74 death claims and 126 injury claims as of March 20, according to an update released today. 

The deadline for victims to file claims was Jan. 31. Feinberg's office is expected to continue processing them until late spring or early summer.

GM hired Feinberg to compensate victims last year amid its recall of the faulty switch, which can be jarred out of the run position, cutting power to the power steering, brakes and airbags. A person seeking compensation must prove that the airbag did not deploy, and must show that the defective switch was the primary factor in the crash.

A GM-backed investigation last year found that several engineers and attorneys were aware of the problem for as long as a decade but did not elevate the issue to the top levels of the company.

Feinberg's office had received 4,342 claims as of March 20. Of those, 200 were deemed eligible. Another 1,326 still are under review.

GM estimated that it will pay out $400 million to $600 million in compensation through the Feinberg process.

REPORT HERE

Warrenty Direct makes a frankenstein car out of its worst Warrenty claiments.

Costing an average of £550 when it breaks down every other month, this is the UK’s ‘nightmare’ car, according to Warranty Direct.

The automotive specialist analysed its 50,000 live policies to concoct the monstrosity, dubbed the Horrific 40RR0R, by combining the worst-performing cars from each of the categories measured by its unique Reliability Index (www.reliabilityindex.com).

With the suspension of an Audi, the gearbox of a Jeep and the electrics of a Mercedes, the fictional vehicle is a Frankenstein’s monster of the least reliable parts, ‘created’ just in time for Halloween night.

The Reliability Index calculates the trustworthiness of vehicles by measuring average cost of repair, frequency of failure, age and mileage. While the average car scores 100 in the Index, with the lower the score the better, this grim creation would be five times more unreliable, with an RI figure of almost 500.

The ‘body parts’ of the ‘Horrific 40RR0R’

Make and Model	Car part	Range
BMW M5	Engine	(04 - 11)
Audi RS6	Axle and Suspension	(02 - 11)
Jeep Grand Cherokee	Gearbox	(06 - )
Mercedes-Benz R-Class	Electrics	(04 - )
Fiat Multipla	Braking system	(99 - 05)
SEAT Alhambra	Air-conditioning	(96 - )
Chrysler 300C	Steering system	(05 - )

Overall, the Reliability Index shows that two in five vehicles need some form of repair each year and, while the average repair costs just over £350, some garage bills can spiral to a scream-inducing £35,000.    

Warranty Direct managing director, David Gerrans, said: “The Horrific 40RR0R is a bit of fun that will, thankfully, never be built, as it stitches together the cars that perform worst in each of the mechanical categories we measure.

“This large variety of vehicles that goes into the concoction proves how typically reliable cars can be dragged down by one poorly-performing part.”

Almost two fifths of Audi RS6s require a trip to the workshop to repair axle and suspension components each year, while three in every 10 Mercedes-Benz R Class vehicles report electrical faults.

Gearbox problems are rarer, but still more than one in ten Jeep Grand Cherokees will report gearbox problems annually.

A quarter of BMW M5s require repairs to their engines, while the same proportion of Fiat Multiplas will experience braking system faults.

Chrysler’s 300C is not renowned for its agility in corners but, even so, more than ten percent will require repairs to their steering systems. The same number of SEAT Alhambras will need their air-con fixed during a typical year, so drivers who like keeping their car cool should beware of the big SEAT’s asthmatic ventilation system.