Why vans wear wet belts faster
The interval in the handbook is the same for a van as for a car with the same engine, but the way vans are used is not. A Transit on deliveries can cover 30,000 miles a year, much of it at low speed, stopping and starting with a heavy load. That is hard on oil quality, and oil quality is what decides how long a wet belt lasts.
Long idling, short trips between drops and extended service intervals on fleet schedules all add up. It is common for a working van to reach the mileage limit years before the age limit.
What a failure costs a business
When a wet belt fails, the cost is not just the repair. There is the recovery, the days the van is off the road, the jobs you cannot get to and, often, a replacement engine. A planned belt change with a fixed price and a booked-in date avoids all of that.
Vans without a wet belt
Plenty of larger vans use a timing chain instead, including many Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and Vito models and some Volkswagen Transporter engines, while others use a conventional dry cambelt. A chain still needs the right oil and regular servicing, and the size or badge of a van does not tell you which it has. Always go by the exact engine and year.
Planning the job around your work
- Send us the registration and mileage for each van.
- We confirm the engine and give you a fixed price per vehicle.
- We book each van in on a date that suits you. Most are back within 2 working days.