Demand rises for used trucks to avoid delays
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• More and more fleet operators are buying late-registered used trucks rather than waiting five or six months for new ones to be delivered, says Peter Hassan, who runs independent dealership Euro Wise of Aylsham, Kent.
"We've recently had dealings with three or four big multinational companies that usually buy new," he reports. "In the main we sell vehicles that are four years old, so we can usually meet their requirements."
That's especially the case if they want rigids. "We sell TO rigids for every tractive unit, and they're out of the door as fast as we can get them," Hassan observes.
"Perhaps the high price of fuel isn't having the impact on companies on local delivery work that it is having on hauliers running tractive units," he adds.
Hassan is still selling used 32ohp Scania tractors converted into cement mixers, but he says he's run into a snag. "The more recently built ones are equipped with air suspension, which isn't too suitable for site work, rather than steel," he says. "They've really got to be pre-s 995."
Finance isn't proving the problem for operators that some pundits predicted it would be after the withdrawal of General Guarantee from the commercial vehicle finance market, says Hassan.
However, he stresses that it is essential for dealers to qualify customers to ensure they can afford the truck they desire.
"There is no point in taking on business for the sake of it," he says. "You have to be certain that the haulier can afford to maintain the truck, tax it and insure it before you make the sale. If he cannot, then you can be
certain that the truck will come back to you in a cou ple of months' ti me because he won't be able to afford to keep making the payments."