Top 5 questions when choosing a refrigerated van

Written by Jessica Fidoe on 09th January 2019

Refrigerated van

A refrigerated vehicle is key to a business that needs to transport goods at a certain temperature, whether that be for a one-off job or on a consistent basis. It doesn’t matter if you are a small or large company, choosing the right refrigerated van is essential so you don’t end up making a costly mistake! 

VMS Vehicle Hire knows what sort of van will be the best fit for all sorts of industries. Perhaps you are looking for a van for deliveries, weddings, large scale events, festivals or parties? Whatever you might be looking for, let VMS Vehicle Hire lend a helping hand! 

These are the questions you need to ask yourself before choosing a refrigerated van! 

1. What capacity do you need your vehicle to have?

How much do you need to transport? After all, you don’t want to get something that can’t cater to all of your needs! 

If you are looking at hiring a refrigerated van for a one-off party, you may only need something like our Fiat Doblo or Renault Trafic. Or maybe just a fridge trailer? 

If you are a business looking to do regular delivery of cold goods, you may want to turn to something like the Mercedes Benz Sprinter or Fiat Ducato. 

For those much larger companies, you may need the stomping power of the Iveco Daily or Isuzu N75!

2. Do you need the van to have compartments for different temperatures? 

This really depends on what you are looking to transport. Many refrigerated vans have the capacity to split the temperature within the van so you can keep all your goods at the optimum temperature. Ice cream, for example, needs to be kept at -20 whereas frozen meat needs to be kept at no warmer than -15! 

3. How long will the doors be open between drop-offs? 

If you need a refrigerated van for deliveries, you need to consider how many stops you’ll need to make and how long those doors will be open for as this will determine the power of the refrigeration unit. 

4. What wheelbase will you need? 

Do you need to transport pallets? The wheelbase will affect the depth of the loadspace available in the van. These lengths range from LWB (long wheelbase), MWB (medium wheelbase) and SWB (small wheelbase). 

5. How long do you need the van for? 

There are lots of options when it comes to the length of a contract for a refrigerated vehicle. You can choose anything from last minute daily hires to weekend, week and monthly hire to long term contract hire. As you’d expect, the summer months are the busiest times for refrigerated vans, so you need to get in there quick to avoid delay.

VMS Vehicle Hire ran out of refrigerated vans in 2018 due to the high demand from our customers!

Don’t be left out in the (warm) this year! Speak to one of the members from our central reservations team to pre-arrange your vehicle ahead of time!

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