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Hot demand buried by the icy-cold snow

10th March 2005, Page 72
10th March 2005
Page 72
Page 72, 10th March 2005 — Hot demand buried by the icy-cold snow
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Billowing sleet has deterred many prospective buyers says Steve

Banner. But dealers say the demand will come with the crocuses.

HEAVY SNOW has hit used truck sales in parts of the country as customers think twice about battling through blizzards to visit dealers "The last thing people want to do when its cold and miserable is stand in a yard and look at a truck," says Lee Smith. a director of West Thurrock, Essex, independent dealership Hanbury Riverside. But the underlying sales trend remains healthy, he adds:"We've had a good year so far. Prices of new trucks are rising and customers are having to wait a long time for delivery, and that's undoubtedly helping the second-hand market. Used prices are very steady.

"We're still buying with confidence, and we've just acquired a number of 530hp Daf 95XFs on 04 plates."

Hassan agrees that there's a buoyant market beneath the snowdrifts: "In fact apart from the weather things are far better than we could have ever anticipated.We're about to take delivery of half-a-dozen 18-month-old Volvo 460 XL Globetrotter 6x2 tractor units with Prestige cabs.A number of our customers know they're coming and we've already received over 25 enquiries.

Significantly, the operator who ran them from new has hung on to them for longer than planned because he had to wait longer than expected for delivery of their replacements.

"There's plenty of interest in 8x4 tippets too," Hassan reports."We've had several alloybodied examples in at 340-380hp. We're mainly asked for day cabs. although I'm aware that there's a move towards sleepers.

"There's a waiting list for late-registered 18tonners — there aren't many about — and what we've been selling is mostly five to six years old. People mainly want curtainsiders rather than boxes; an 18-tonner with a box body can be worth less than one bodied as a dropside. The 7.5-tonner market is a bit flat though."

"We've had a good start to the year, and we're very busy at present," says Joe Woodhouse, used truck specialist at Telford-based Renault Trucks Midlands."We're getting a lot of interest in Magnums — customers are more than happy to take W and X-plated examples— and Renault's decision to end the cut-rate finance scheme doesn't seem to have made much difference to sales of used Premiums."

"We can't complain at all," says Jamie McDonald of Eye, Suffolk dealership Roy Humphrey. "business is buoyant."

"We're selling a lot of 4x2 95XFs up to two or three years old —Space Cabs and Super Space Cabs — to Irish operators," says Nigel Sharp, used truck sales specialist at the Sheffield and Leeds outlets of Daf dealership Chatfields."Mostly they're at 480hp, although we've been asked for the odd one at 530hp.

"At the other end of the scale we're getting plenty of enquiries for 7.5-tonner curtainsiders —I get a call at least once a day — and for sleepers at that weight too."


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