The second-hand king Andy Boyle has spent a lifetime buying
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used vehicles for the company he started more than 40 years ago Words: Steve Banner Andy Boyle started his Herefordshire haulage business in 1972 with two second-hand Seddons — both knackered — after taking in payment of a debt. More than 40 years and an OBE later, ABE L,edbury's founder, owner and MD still prefers to buy used trucks, but anything that is well past its sell-by date is a definite no-no.
"I tend to go for what I would describe as slightly second-hand. Quite often they are ex-dealer demonstrators, although they're probably the minority of what I buy," he says. "I know a lot of people say that the problem with buying used rather than new is that you can't get the exact specification you want, but while that's valid as far as rigids are concerned, it's not so much of an issue with tractor units. With a unit, I want either a 6x2 or possibly a 4x2, a sleeper cab and rear air suspension, and the driver wants lots of goodies," he continues. "If you buy one of Daf's demonstrators, for example, you can have all of that — although they do tend to come in a horrible shade of yellow. Going for lots of extras would make an already-pricey new truck way too expensive," he adds.
"All manufacturers load their demonstrators up with every extra known to mankind," he says. "So if I have one, that means I get a higher level of specification than I would if I had bought new."
The Daf demonstrators he refers to are typically about 12 months old when they are offered for sale, and the one he has just bought has clocked up 66,000km during that time.
"I source the demonstrators through four Daf franchised dealers — Ford & Slater, Harris Daf, F&G Commercials and HTC — and I've bought one from each of those four during the past 12 months. It's the blokes who sell the trucks who matter, as far as I'm concerned, rather than the dealerships.
"Thinking about it, the truck I had from Matt Hammond of Harris Daf was an HP snatch-back rather than a demonstrator. I like Dafs — despite the fact that their electronics have been less than good, but then so have everybody else's," he adds. Almost all of the 30 trucks he operates — "half units, half rigids" — wear Daf badges, aside from a Mercedes-Benz, a Foden and an Iveco Daily 6.5-tonner.
Farm work The used units he buys are 460hp CFs rather than XFs. "Our work regularly takes us on to farms so I don't want anything that's too big, and the CF gives us 0.4mpg to 0.5mpg more than an XF, because it's pushing less wind out of the way," Boyle explains.
"Remember that we run regionally — we don't need a truck that's designed to go to Moscow and back.
"All the CFs I take happen to be Space Cabs — there is more standing room in a CF Space Cab than there is in an XF Space Cab," he says. "You have to buy a XF Super Space Cab to get the same internal height." How big a saving does buying a demonstrator offer, compared with the price of the equivalent new model?
"Between 15% and 20%," he replies. "Possibly nearer 25% as far as I'm concerned, because if I bought new, I wouldn't specify all the toys you get on a demonstrator."
It is not all about cash savings, however, he stresses. "I don't cut corners and the main thing is that the kit must always be suitable for the job," he explains.
As Boyle indicated earlier, finding a rigid built to the specification he requires can be more problematic, and that means he is sometimes obliged to buy new.
"Last year I bought a new Daf LF 18-tonner because I wanted a particular wheelbase, body length and body height and I knew that if I looked for it second-hand, I probably wouldn't be able to find it," he comments. "About three months later, Hammond took a similar 18-tonne chassis into stock and I ended up buying that too."
Has he thought about buying a used chassis and having it altered to his requirements?
"I've done that," he replies. "Second-hand rigids above 75 tonnes and going up to 18 tonnes are as rare as rocking-horse droppings, and I happen to be a fan of 15-tonners.
"They've got the same footprint as a 7.5-tonner but, instead of having no payload to speak of they can carry 7.5 tonnes to 7.75 tonnes with a curtainsider body and a tail-lift."
He doesn't buy trucks solely from franchised dealers: he purchases from independent dealers too. "I've had quite a few from Wye Commercials in Ross-on-Wye," he says. "In fact, the Foden I've got (and that I'm now looking to sell) came from them. I also buy kit at closing-down sales."
Longer-trailers trial The units primarily haul curtainsider trailers, but Boyle also operates fridges, tankers and a small number of flat-beds. They too are almost all purchased second-hand, although he has just bought a brand-new 14.6m, built by SDC as part of the government's ongoing longer-trailers trial.
"The used trailers I buy tend to date from 2008 onwards, although I sometimes buy older ones if they are in good condition," he says. "I bought a 2004 trailer the other day, for example, which was exceptionally tidy."
How old does a truck have to be before he decides to sell it?
"I've recently sold vehicles with 51, 02, 52, 03, 53 and 55 registration plates, so I'm on my way out of Euro-3s; but a lot of the rigids I've got are still 02-registered," Boyle says. "They're on local collection-and-delivery work for Palletline, stay within a 50-mile radius of L,edbury and are perfectly fine for that sort of work.
"Almost all my units are Euro-4 or newer because of the London Low Emission Zone. I've got Euro-4 rigids that can go into London too, but I've still got a Euro-2 CF k ABE Led bury has unit that has to be the definition of perpetual motion," he been buying used trucks adds. "It's Y-registered, utterly reliable and should remind for 40 years everybody of what things were like when manufacturers made good trucks.r •