"Exactly. Some of our vans are on the road before dawn and after the last evening class. I don't want a low purchase price if a broken component leaves a vehicle sitting for three weeks because nobody has the replacement part." Anna made another note. "I'll look at preventive maintenance intervals, roadside response provisions, parts availability, and warranty coverage for the mileage you're putting on each unit. I also need to see your average annual distance, not just the advertised schedule."
Calvin Brooks, the fleet maintenance manager, joined them carrying service logs in a weathered binder. He was a compact man in his late fifties with thick hands and the habit of pausing briefly before answering a technical question. "Gloria says you're here about vans," he said, and nodded toward Anna's dealership jacket. "I hope you're not going to tell us every model is maintenance-free."
"If I did, you should throw me out," Anna replied. Calvin gave a short, delighted laugh and sat down beside the route map. For the next hour they discussed service intervals, brake wear on repetitive stop-and-go routes, common replacement parts, diagnostic equipment, overnight repair windows, and how the dealership handled commercial vehicles that failed away from the home depot. Anna never pretended to know an answer she did not know. She marked the question and promised to verify it with fleet operations.
At one point, Calvin opened a service record for an older van whose transmission had failed on a Thursday evening. He showed Anna the seven-hour interruption that followed, including the time needed to arrange a replacement driver, shift passengers to another route, and contact the college's transport office. "This is why Gloria worries about service," he said. "The repair itself was manageable. It was all the people waiting at bus stops who paid for the delay."
Anna studied the record. "Can I have a copy of this with any student information removed? I'd like to use it when I speak to the service director, so we build the proposal around a real incident instead of a sales promise." Calvin looked at Gloria, who nodded. The request was exactly the sort of thing he had hoped to hear from a salesperson for years. He handed Anna a redacted version and watched her place it carefully in her folder.
Before they returned to the office, Emma suggested that Anna ride a short section of one campus route in a spare shuttle with a qualified driver. Gloria agreed, and they spent twenty minutes on roads that changed from broad arterial streets to narrow campus lanes crowded with bicycles and students carrying backpacks. Anna noticed how often the vehicle stopped, how much time the driver spent checking mirrors, and how difficult a particular turn became when a delivery truck occupied half the curb. By the end of the ride, she had added a note about maneuverability to the top of the specification sheet, above the line for color and interior trim.