Th e recession saw many operators delay replacement cycles for vehicles
Page 31
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
– but manufacturers have always warned that costs can increase steeply after the fourth or ifth year of use. In the Texaco Lubricants-CM research published recently, the average age of leet vehicles had risen to 7.1 years; and medium leets were predicting four times as many contract extensions for vehicles in 2011 as the year before, with the larger players also predicting slightly more than a 30% increase.
There are basic rules that must underpin our sense of useful vehicle life: the irst is the type of vehicle and application. Rigids have always been granted a longer irst life than tractors; and stop-start or off-road applications will always wear more heavily on brakes and gearboxes.
Tony Pain, marketing director at DAF, says: “When you go past ive years, there is little depreciation but repair and maintenance costs start to pick up. Replacing a clutch can cost £1,000 and brakes will wear out after three-four years. But we design for a 1.6 million kilometre life; 90% of the trucks should do that without major repair.”
Double and triple shifts
He says the design life of trucks has had to be pushed up in the past few years as operators now work them harder than ever before, with double and triple shifts. “People who have traditionally changed at ive years, may now well ind they can change at 5.5 or even six years for the same cost. And that extra six months can make a big difference in terms of cash low.” Good maintenance is essential though. “If you have good maintenance policies, good quality fuels and you change air and fuel ilters regularly etc, it can pay dividends,” Pain says.