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Greetings,
Two weeks ago I took delivery on a new Metris cargo van that I will upfit to use to support my handyman business. I hope to share my experience because I have learned so much from the contributors to this site and might, possibly, have some insight or solution that could be beneficial to someone else.
A little backstory: I live and work in Minneapolis, Minnesota where it can get cold in the winter...and hot in the summer at times. My background includes engineering so everything I have done has been carefully researched and designed. This will be the ninth year I have been doing handyman work as a profession. I have been using a 2004 Grand Caravan but numerous issues have pushed me to replace it. I hope to get a couple more weeks of service from it but the transmission is going fast.
As it turns out, the Metris was the smallest van I could get that had all of the features I needed: able to carry a sheet of plywood on edge or load a couple sticks of conduit at ten feet or a couple pieces of trim up to twelve feet all with the back door closed, driver-side sliding door to get at my stuff, hitch receiver to mount a vice, roof rack for the big ladder, able to make a U-turn in the street in front of the hardware store. There were contenders but the plywood requirement or the driver-side door eliminated every one.
And it wasn't that much more expensive. A Dodge (without the sliding door) was 12% less and a Ford (without the plywood) was 18% less.
Once I decided to go with the Metris, I checked in with the local dealer but they didn't have a unit with all the options: sliding door, winter package, hitch, roof rack, cruise control, backup cam. And I didn't want white. Every other trade-guy drove a white van. I wanted something different.
The sales guy was very patient with me. He did a search and found one but it was RED, screaming RED...ALL OVER. I just couldn't drive a RED MERCEDES. That would simply send the wrong message. He found a black one but it was black on the inside as well. That would be like driving a tomb on wheels. Nothing in gray or silver. Jeez, back to white.
Nothing in white either. The sales guy told me for the twelfth time I should just order one. But that would take three months probably, five realistically, and the transmission on the old van had just started to grind. Told him I'd take the red one but it had been sold.
Jumped on Google. Put in all the features and 0.72 seconds later I had links to five vans that had most of what I wanted. And, wouldn't you know, the one with nearly everything was RED, but this time with gray bumpers, so at least it wasn't red all over. It was in southern Texas. With a cold weather package. What on earth were they thinking?
The sales guy probably sighed when I sent him a note but he checked it out and I could have it! Two weeks later it was here.
The story will continue in fits and starts as I get the work done.
Two weeks ago I took delivery on a new Metris cargo van that I will upfit to use to support my handyman business. I hope to share my experience because I have learned so much from the contributors to this site and might, possibly, have some insight or solution that could be beneficial to someone else.
A little backstory: I live and work in Minneapolis, Minnesota where it can get cold in the winter...and hot in the summer at times. My background includes engineering so everything I have done has been carefully researched and designed. This will be the ninth year I have been doing handyman work as a profession. I have been using a 2004 Grand Caravan but numerous issues have pushed me to replace it. I hope to get a couple more weeks of service from it but the transmission is going fast.
As it turns out, the Metris was the smallest van I could get that had all of the features I needed: able to carry a sheet of plywood on edge or load a couple sticks of conduit at ten feet or a couple pieces of trim up to twelve feet all with the back door closed, driver-side sliding door to get at my stuff, hitch receiver to mount a vice, roof rack for the big ladder, able to make a U-turn in the street in front of the hardware store. There were contenders but the plywood requirement or the driver-side door eliminated every one.
And it wasn't that much more expensive. A Dodge (without the sliding door) was 12% less and a Ford (without the plywood) was 18% less.
Once I decided to go with the Metris, I checked in with the local dealer but they didn't have a unit with all the options: sliding door, winter package, hitch, roof rack, cruise control, backup cam. And I didn't want white. Every other trade-guy drove a white van. I wanted something different.
The sales guy was very patient with me. He did a search and found one but it was RED, screaming RED...ALL OVER. I just couldn't drive a RED MERCEDES. That would simply send the wrong message. He found a black one but it was black on the inside as well. That would be like driving a tomb on wheels. Nothing in gray or silver. Jeez, back to white.
Nothing in white either. The sales guy told me for the twelfth time I should just order one. But that would take three months probably, five realistically, and the transmission on the old van had just started to grind. Told him I'd take the red one but it had been sold.
Jumped on Google. Put in all the features and 0.72 seconds later I had links to five vans that had most of what I wanted. And, wouldn't you know, the one with nearly everything was RED, but this time with gray bumpers, so at least it wasn't red all over. It was in southern Texas. With a cold weather package. What on earth were they thinking?
The sales guy probably sighed when I sent him a note but he checked it out and I could have it! Two weeks later it was here.
The story will continue in fits and starts as I get the work done.
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