1917 : The Agent's Year Article III.
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The Deficiencies of Accommodation at Private-car Garages.
By the Editor.
• It was remarked, in the course of Article II of this series, that one of the flaws in the arrangements of present-day motorcar agents, as regards their equipping themselves to participate in heavy-motor business, is frequently found to be that they do not possess the right class of premises. This first ooint —of four which were mentioned then—is one that may well be treated in some detail. The correctness of this statement concerning inadequacy can be vouched as one outcome of visits to not a few private-car garages in course of one' g driving about the country. The initial failure on the part of owners of motorcar garages in the direction of grasping what is sequired for commercial-motor service concerns the sizes and weights of business vehicles. Access to the average garage is too cramped, in regard to the general approach, the width of the entrance, or—and this is the most important point of all—the headroom. A loading gaur of 15 ft. in height is quite common. As to providion to cope with the maximum weight of commercial Motors as they are now used, those garages which are floored with cement almost 'invariably meet demands, but this can be by no means stated of garages with wooden floors.
" Combined size and weight are reflected in the angle of lock and the wheelbase of commercial motors, with the result thatthey require more space for their drivers to manceuvre them intoand out of position. It is not too much, on. the average, if a garage owner is to cater for commercial vehicles at large, to allow an average of 150 sq. ft, of area per unit to be received and stored. This average is applicable to a roadside depot for service to vehicles on long-distance trips, embracing the higher load capaCities, which vehicles are usually " put up" for the night. Experience proves that 200 to 250 sq. ft. per vehicle is necessary, if sections for overhauling and washing i
are added. It will be obvious that, n the case of specific local undertakings the percentages of oneton and smaller vans which are accommodated will affect the averages by lowering them. • The capital expenditure upon suitable covered and closed shedding is bound to be material, but garage proprietors will do well to remember that commercial motors are great consumers of fuel and lubricants. These relatively-high consumptions are due to the lower gear ratios which are common in such vehicles, as compared with private vehicles, one result of which is higher average r.p.m. : it may be taken, roughly, that the same h.p. engine in a commercial motor will have double the fuel consumption per mile run 'as it would in a private-car chassis. Whilst the heavier typesof commercial motors are fitted with solid-rubber tires, there are many light categories of inotorvans for which the owners have regularly to purchase pneumatic tires. The petrol, oil and tire consumptions, once they are secured to a local garage proprietor by reason of his ability to give service of the right kind to owners of commercial motors, add up at a rapid rate, and to considerable amounts of turnover. A capital expenditure of 21750 is enough, apart from war conditions which at present exercise an adverse influence, and in the• absence of any expenditure on levelling, to cover the cost of a building which is suitable for the handling of not fewer than 50 large commercial vehicles, say, 10,000 sq. ft. space of floor area-. Interest, sinking fund and maintenance on that capital expenditure should certainly not exceed .2200 annually, which is the equivalent of 24 per annum per vehicle-space. Those figures are lo* enough to show that the capital outlay can, quickly be recouped, that the question of capital expenditure is not serious, and that it should not be allowed to stand in the way of developments which cannot be ensured without it. Not every agent can avoid capital expenditure, but many, of course, can tent and adapt existing sheds, stables, mills, or other buildings. Each can satisfy himself as to incidence of rent, rates and taxes. Some garage proprietors will not wish to cater for steam wagons. This class of heavy motor, however, now that it FrO largely runs on rubber tires, is found to be less-generally based upon one depot than formerly. Rubber-tired steam wagons are, in point of fact, very likely to become as general on the highways of this country as are petrol wagons, which new feature in the situation should be heeded. There must be more than the usual ventilation facilities in any shed or storage building which is used by steam wagons, in order to satisfy firing-up requirements: There must also be good watering facilities and stocks of laoth coke and Welsh steam coal. Grease and lubricating-oil requirements will be covered in the ordinary run of business, and the only other likely supply to which attention might be drawn is that of paekings for glands. All commercial vehicles, and steam wagons most of all, are ravenous consumers of. cotton-waste, a stock of which should always he carried at any depot in which they are housed. Petrol and steam, vehicles do not" mix."
Business with owners of commercial motors will be found automatically to divide itself into two sections: (1) catering for vehicles employed on longdistance journeys; (2) supplying (in all senses of the word) local owners. The Commercial Motor Users Association, whose offices are at 83, Pall Mall, S.W., has for some years past been extending a wellthought-out scheme for the registration of approved depots. This Association's second handbook of
approved depots is now in the Press, and its publication, a few weeks hence, should have the effect of rousing agents and garage proprietors throughout the country to the magnitude of the business developments which lie immediately ahead of them. Somebody will get this business. It is for existing garage owners to decide whether they will have it, or will see it pass to newcomers. The C.M.U.A. scheme lays down a moderate schedule of storage (night) prices as below :— UNDER COVER.
(a) Heayy petrol lorries and steam wagons 1s. 6d. each per night.
(b) Motorvans and pareelears (below two tons. unladen) Is. each per night. (e) Trailers Is. each per night.
NOT UNDER COVER.
(a) Any motor vehicle, with one trailer 1s. 6d. each per night.
(b) Additional trailers 6d. each per night.
The C.M.U.A. scheme also lays it upon the proprietor of the approved depot to give such assistance as is within his power in the matter of indicating where drivers can obtain bed and breakfast at reasonable rates ; it is found in some eases that the owners of the depots will themselves provide both bed and breakfast on their premises. It will probably be to the advantage of not a few readers of this article if they communicate with Mr. F. G. Bristow, F.C.I.S., Secretary of the Commercial Motor 'Users Association,• at 83, Pall Mall, S, W., and apply for a copy of the application form in connection with the Association's official list of approved depots, to which list numerous additions are now being made each month. " Supplying" local owners of commercial motors is undoubtedly the larger branch of coming activity. An earnest has been given already in the matter of
supplying" vans of the Ford type. There May or may not be an initial commission at the-date of purchase of the: vehicle, but the wise agent or garage proprietor will not allow the non-collection of an. initial commission to blind him to the money-earning possibilities which the charge and maintenance of . any such vehicle opens to him. The average threetonner consumes from 40 to 50 gallons of petrol a week, and approximately 11 gallon Of lubricating oil : such a vehicle, if given the usual weekly length of trip (between 300 and 400 miles), will generally require ten new tires annually ; its mechanical maintenance will approximate £100 annually, on a c01.tract basis • there will, in addition, be the reouirements incidental to lighting and cleaning. A fuller examination of the essentials to such catering for local owner must be reserved for later articles of the series. These will appear weekly.