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A fresh approach
Page 40
Page 41
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Can truck dealers learn anything from the way used car supermarkets set out their stalls? Yes, says Alistair Wood, procurement and services director at contract hire, rental and fleet management specialist Fraikin.
Words: Steve Banner
There are pa ra Reis that can be drawn
between the outlets run by the major-league second-hand car retailers and Fraikin's recently-opened used truck emporium on the outskirts of Birmingham.
Similar to the car supermarkets. Fraikin has opted for a high-profile location.
Sitting on a busy main road Bristol Road South it occupies approximately three acres of the former MG Rover plant at Longbridge: is five minutes from the M42, and seven minutes from the M5. A banner proclaims that it is open to the trade and the public.
Then, of course, there is the choice of vehicles offered. "At present we've got 260 on display," says Fraikin procurement and services director Alistair Wood.
-Typically, we're talking about vans and trucks that are up to four or five years old," reveals Fraikin head of used vehicle sales Chris Butcher.
He adds: -lhe stock includes a number of 06and )7-registered vehicles, along with the odd 08-registered
example, and everything is prepared ready to be viewed and sold immediately."
To make it easier for customers to find what they are looking for, different types of vehicle are grouped together; the sort of approach that might be taken by a car retailer. All the boxed-bodied 7.5-tonners sit next to one another for instance, as do all the tractor units.
"As well as 7.5-tonners and 4x2 and 6x2 units, we've also got everything from fuel tankers to 18and 26-tonne curtainsiders," says Butcher. "That's in addition to a selection of Moffett Mounty truck-mounted forklifts, and steam-cleaning machines."
Leasing available
Fraikin can offer trailers, too. Over the next six months, it will be remarketing a significant number of twoto four-year-old Gray & Adams dry freight double-decks.
Where Fraikin's Longbridge site parts company with car retailers is in the lack of availability of a full suite of finance packages. Leases can be set up, but Fraikin is not as yet offering HP deals "We've also yet to finalise our warranty arrangements," says Butcher.
Longbridgc is not the company's only used vehicle outlet. It runs a smaller site in Leeds, two minutes away from Junction 5 on the M621, which typically stocks 65 to 70 vehicles. The vans and trucks Fraikin retails are ex-contract. That might suggest that Longbridge and Leeds are in danger of suffering from stock shortages given the number of operators asking to extend leases and hang on to their existing vehicles rather than dispose of them and commit to new ones in an uncertain economic climate.
For the moment, though, shortages are not an issue, says Butcher. While some vehicles are being retained by fleet customers, others are being made available for retail as a consequence of firms having to terminate leases early thanks to a downturn in business, or having gone bust.
"We're quite happy to see leases extended and, in fact, extensions are something we actively offer," adds Wood. "They're not something we shy away from."
Fresh sites
So might Fraikin consider opening a third sales depot? And if so. where'?
It might, says Wood, and it would probably be in South-East England, rather than in the West Country or Scotland.
He is in no great hurry to establish another location, though, despite the fact that if Fraikin moves quickly now, then it might be able to lease a site at competitive rates given the desire of landlords to find tenants for vacant commercial property.
This desire is, however, more apparent than real, Wood reckons.
"While there are a lot of empty premises, not many landlords are willing to drop their prices for fear of setting a new, low, rate that will be treated as a benchmark for future negotiations," he says.
Used vehicle prices are no longer falling, says Butcher, and he and his colleagues are being kept busy by inquiries.
Not surprisingly, many of them arrive through the company's website. "We've got a number of regular clients," he says.
Looking two or three years ahead, he believes the second-hand market could start to get "very interesting?
If vans and trucks are not selling new now, then they will not be appearing on the used market from 2011 onwards.That could lead to major issues of availability and price. •