What oil change interval works best for a small van fleet?

[Savannah27]

I’m looking at the maintenance schedule for our small fleet of vans and wondering if I’m being too conservative with oil change intervals. The manufacturer says 10,000 miles, but with all the stop-and-go delivery driving we do, it just feels too long. I’ve heard some guys in similar operations changing at 5,000 or 7,000 miles to be safe.

[Adam.S]

We run a small fleet of delivery vans in city traffic. We change oil every 5,000 miles and rarely push it farther. It’s a hassle to schedule, but the drivers say the engines run smoother after a change and we dodge unexpected oil wear on short trips.

[Paul_L]

We gave 7,000 a try with synthetic in a couple of vans. It held for a while, but we started seeing darker oil around 6k and decided to go back to 5k for consistency.

[John19]

I keep wondering if the interval is the real bottleneck. Maybe the fix is air filters, tires, or how long the engines actually idle in our routes. The interval feels like a blunt instrument.

[GraceYS]

Not sure if 10k is too ambitious or just right for calmer fleets. If we’re idling a lot and doing short hops, shorter changes seem sensible, but I worry about wasting money. Has anyone tracked hours or miles against oil life?