GRAHAM MONTGOMERIE INVESTIGATES HOW HIRE FIRMS SPECIFY
Page 75
Page 76
Page 77
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
OW DOES a rental cornmy decide what vehicles to urchase? Petrol or diesel ngines in the light vans? our, five or six-speed gearoxes in the 7.5-tonne
mchines? What extras or ariations from the standard ehicle do the hire firms go )r to suit their particular pplication?
I spoke to three of the major )ntal companies operating in le UK and found that in the lain the standard bread and utter machine is the one they hoose. Major variations in oecification are few and far etween.
So far as BRS Truck Rental is oncerned one of the major ems on its list of vehicle aquirements is driver comfort. must confess that I was a bit urprised at this, but the aasoning behind it is that BRS 3els the driver has a tremenous influence on the choice of ehicle.
By catering for this BRS lopes that a favourable report rom the driver on the particular 'ehicle will lead to repeat :ontracts. ,An example of this is liven by the BRS specification >f a radio as standard. This is Jot, as it happens, merely to )lease the driver.
Various operators have
ound that the radios have )ecome a useful aid to fuel :onsumption for the very sim)le reason that with the average evel of noise in a truck cab, the Inver has to ease back on the hrottle to be able to hear the -adio properly.
Another interior refinement. 3s far as BRS is concerned is :he fitting of dual passenger ;eats.
On the mechanical side BRS s very conscious of one of the "lain problems facing a rental :ompany -you can't specify Nhat the customer is going to Jse the vehicle for. This in itself demands a certain amount of oedging in the initial specification to cover the different :onditions of possible vehicle J se — from stop/start urban delivery to motorway work.
The non-hgv 7.5-tonne cate
gory is a case in point. With the Ford D series, for example, a zhoice of both engines (four or six-cylinder) and gearboxes (four or five-speed) is available. BRS tends to go for the six-cylinder engine and the four-speed gearbox — the engine as it is more amenable to motorway use while still retaining enough flexibility for urban stop/start work and the
four-speed gearbox because it bears a closer resemblance to that found in private cars. The last point is of course aimed at the daily rental rather than the contract hirer.
Rather surprisingly in view of the foregoing comment on gearbox choice BRS goes for diesel power throughout in the light van sector of the market.
In this area the extra durability and fuel economy outweighs the possible disadvantage of the casual customer putting five gallons of four star into a diesel tank.
At the opposite end of the scale BRS has standardised on the AEC Mandator for its simplicity and the Scammell Crusader. A comparatively recent addition to the fleet is the DAF 2200, which has proved to be exceptionally popular with drivers and operators alike. These are quite standard vehicles which are not altered because of the nature of their work At the end of October this year BRS had the following percentage breakdown by weight area (weight being defined as payload rather than gross) = 1 ton vans — 8% 35cwt vans — 11% 4 tons (7.5 tonnes gvw) 27% 5/6 tons — 7% 8 tons — 16% 10 tons (16 tonnes gvw) — 9% artics — 22% There are no six or eightwheelers because of a total lack of demand from the customer., Thus it can be seen that the most popular category is at 7.5 tonnes (7.38 tons) gvw, which is of course the heaviest truck which can be driven by someone without an hgv licence.
The 32-ton artic section is in a strong second place and this has been the big growth area for BRS during the past year.
With the rigid trucks as opposed to the light vans, the BRS policy is to standardise on body lengths by having one wheelbase for each category. On the bodywork side the usual option is between a standard boxvan and a triple dropside which can be converted into a flat. The BRS rigid fleet is almost equally split between Ford and Leyland.
Within the company there is an open market situation as regards vehicle nationality. It is "simplya question of the right tool for the job although at the moment the fluctuating currency situation will have a
Far left: Vauxhall Bedford operates its own in-house rental system. At least this means that there will be no problem with vehicle specification!
Left: The change in the laws relating to hgv drivers' licensing has resulted in a great deal of interest in the 7.5-tonne category.
considerable effect on ir,nported vehicles.
With the added customer incentive of Green Shield stamps Avis is represented in all the usual rental areas. In the opinion of the Avis engineers the very nature of the rental business is extremely hard on vehicles — in 18 months the vehicle has the equivalent of two to three years in a more "regular'. occupation. Because of this the Avis method is to go for durability coupled with a relatively short-term vehicle change-over period of 18 months to two years,
This policy has caused Avis some embarrassment on occasions as the rental truck has often been far newer than the other permanent trucks in the customer's fleet, so causing a few driver mutterings. Sometimes "we try harder" could be interpreted as "you just can't win!"
In the light vans Avis has both petrol and diesel versions. Until recently there was a distinct bias towards petrol engines — for example a couple of years ago you could only get a 35cwt with a petrol unit, But the fuel crisis of 73/74 gave the pendulum a bit of a nudge to swing more to the diesel side. Now the standard machine in this category is a diesel-engined Luton bodied Transit As the diesel model has a higher first cost, this is reflected in a two-tier rental rate, Avis experience shows that the customer with 80 miles or more to do chooses the diesel while for shorter runs the petrol model is more popular.
If a gearbox option is available for the light vans, Avis usually goes for the basic four-speed models.
In the 7.5-tonne area, which has become a sales battleground since the change in driver licence regs, Bedford and Ford have the lion's share, but a number of the Fiat OM range can now be seen in the red and white Avis livery.
Previous Avis experience has shown that the six-cylinder option is preferable to the four-cylinder for reasons of
Ryder is primarily Bedford oriented in the rigid field and has now added some TMs to the artics.
reliability with the Fords and Bedfords, although the Fiat is taken with the four-cylinder as there is no option with this model.
When specifying the transmission for its hire fleet Avis goes for the manufacturer's basic recommendation as far as number of gears and axle ratios are concerned. Areas in which the manufacturer's options are taken up include the supply of a spare wheel and carrier, larger fuel tanks in the over 35cwt models and the heavy-duty spring and damper combination.
A 4.3m (14ft) body is standard equipment on the 3-ton payload Avis trucks with the wheelbase option being selected to meet that basic requirement. With the 10-ton payload models the body lengths are standardised at around 20/21ft. Avis is very wary about having long-wheelbase models which can be driven by people with no hgv experience because of the danger of cutting corners.
One of the notable departures from standard on Avis trucks has been the addition of a cab roof mounted air deflector on certain vehicles in the fleet. This is still in the nature of an experiment with Avis trying variations to the basic shape although initial results based on operator reaction and fuel consumption have been extremely favourable.
At the moment the air deflector is available on certain trucks in the 7.5-tonne-gvw category only although Avis is considering trying the concept on the 16-tonners.
There is no extra charge for the deflector — the customer takes pot luck whether he gets a truck fitted with one unless he had put in a specific request.
In line with BRS thinking Avis trucks are normally fitted with radios although this does not usually extend to the light vans. Several of the Avis tractive units are in fact fitted with eight-track stereo cartridge players. The 32-ton section of the Avis fleet shows a distinct bias towards the importers with the Mandator being the only British model listed against the Volvo F86 and F88, Fiat 684 and 619 and Daf 2200.
Moving now to Ryder Truck Rental the same policy of going for the standard specification in the main is evident. The main options which are always specified are steering locks, dampers on the rear axle and larger fuel tanks. The standard rear axle ratio is always speci fied.
In the light van and fourwheel-rigid categories, the Ryder fleet is basically Bedford oriented although there is also a large number of Fords, The six-cylinder engine and fivespeed gearboxes are preferred for reasons of durability.
The wheelbase is very often related to the body type and /or the payload capacity. For example, the majority of the Ryder boxvans are on the medium wheelbase chassis (3.82m or 12ft 7in in the case of the Bedford). The 7-ton payload models are usually specified with the longest wheelbase option.
The preference of the rental companies for diesel power is again evident at Ryder where the majority of the light vans are so powered. This is true as far as the total number of Ryder vans is concerned, but if this were to be divided on a daily rental and contract basis, then there are far more petrol engined vans on the daily rental side.
Ryder is also in agreement with its competitors when it comes to fitting dual passenger seats. The question of supplying radios gets a mixed answer at Ryder. At one time all the vehicles had them but a lot "went missing". Now the contract side of the business can have radios, but Ryder would prefer the customer to pay for the installation.
There is a fair mixture of vehicle makes on the Ryder lists at the heavy end of the market with tractive units from Volvo, Foden, Bedford and Seddon Atkinson being available both on rental and contract.
None of the rental companies I spoke to fit any form of automatic chassis lubrication, preferring to operate their own
preventive maintenance schemes. Remembering the lack of lubrication evident on the hired vehicles we tested at CM a couple of years ago I wonder about this. Ryder did in fact go in for automatic chassis lubrication three years ago but, with the trend towards fewer lubrication points on the trucks, the system was dropped as an unnecessary expense.
I had hoped to include Hertz in my survey, but this proved difficult to do as the personnel of this company evidently need to get clearance from higher up before they can talk to the press! In spite of numerous telephone calls, the Hertz opinion remained reticent to be aired in public.