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Buyers take a break
Page 68
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Sales teams across the country are kicking their heels as they wait for operators to return from sunnier climes. But there's still a profit to be made for those who work hard, as Steve Banner reports.
phones at used truck dealers nationwide are accumulating dust and cobwebs as customers jet off on holiday."It's seems really quiet at the minute, and has been for a while," says Dave Welton of Thurcroft, Rotherham-based Extra Commercial Vehicle Sales.
This point is echoed by Phil Holmes, used sales manager, eastern region, at Scania dealership Keltruck:"Phone calls are few and far between at present, but we're still getting a lot of leads for used business coming in via our new sales department."
"There are some serious buyers out there, but most of them are taking it easy," says Paul Banks, sales manager at Manchester Mercedes-Benz dealership Truckworld. "There's not an awful lot happening, but we've budgeted for a downturn and we expect things to pick up again in September.
"We're busier this year than we were this time 12 months ago, though," he adds.-Back then sales suddenly stopped dead— it was as though somebody had switched the lights off As for what's in demand, we're enjoying some success with 7.5-tonners, and sales of 10 and 15-tonners to ownaccount and specialist operators."
George Alexander, chief commercial vehicle editor at Glass's Guide, reinforces this point:"Prices paid at auction to secure the cleanest 7.5-tonne chassis have seldom been better, but inevitably it is the higherpowered vehicles with wellpresented bodies that stand out from the crowd."
According to Nigel Ball, co-owner of Birminghambased Junction 6 Commercials: "Business isn't so much quiet as up and down.We can be selling 10 vehicles one week, and none the next.
"Overall, though, things aren't too bad prices certainly aren't too bad but you have to work hard to make a profit. There aren't the margins in used vans and trucks that there used to be, and it's hard to find decent vehicles to sell."
When the market does go quiet, dealers have to be particularly cautious about what they stock. "As far as tractor units are concerned, we're picking and choosing it's a volatile sector with a lot of competition," Banks reports. "At present taking a unit into stock can be quite dangerous unless it's got a big engine and is well specified."