An IVECO Daily used for Kebab Factory operations has comfortably exceeded 1.1 million kilometres.
Kebab Factory Owner, Akin Sezgin, purchased his first Daily in 2005 and achieved 800,000 kilometres of trouble-free running before it was involved in an accident.
His next purchase, a 2013 model 50C17 did even better, having recently travelled an impressive 1,100,000 kilometres without incident.
As a producer of kebab meat products, Kebab Factory distributes its goods from its Sydney facility to outlets as far afield as Northern New South Wales and South into Central Victoria, on routes that regularly see the 12m³ Daily cover 3,000 kilometres per week.
The van works hard often maximising its 2,700kg payload, however the driveline combination of 3.0-litre turbo-diesel engine (producing 124kW and 400 Nm) and 6-speed manual, has taken the work in its stride according to Sezgin.
“What I like about the Daily is that unlike a lot of the other vans, it has good power which makes it responsive and easy to drive on the open road,” he said.
“I’m also impressed with the fuel efficiency that we’re getting – if we were travelling these distances in a cab over truck with Pantech body, we’d definitely be using a lot more fuel,” said Sezgin.
“Another feature that’s great about the Daily is that is has a proper full-length chassis, which lets us carry the weight we need to get the job done efficiently.”
While many commercial vehicle owners trade-up to a newer model once the kilometres begin to rise, Sezgin said that he has achieved good results by keeping his vehicles for longer.
“So long as the van’s still going well, is reliable and doing the job you need it to, I don’t really see the need to update,” he said.
“The last Daily we had for eight years before it was damaged and it was still going well – this current model is showing no sign of giving us trouble.”
The professionalism of the van’s driver, Ugur, has played a major part in looking after the vehicle according to Sezgin who noted the Daily is exclusively serviced by IVECO Sydney using IVECO parts.
“We’ve stuck to the logbook servicing in terms of the work that’s carried out, the only difference is that where the oil change intervals are specified every 40,000 kilometres by the manufacturer, we go a bit earlier at 30,000 kilometres,” he explained.
“The guys at the dealership have done a great job at keeping the Daily running nicely.”