What's changed in the industry?
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It might seem as though the past decade has seen a raft of changes, but dig deeper and it's another story What were we writing about in CM a decage ago? Main stories included: Block Exemption, stopping truck manufacturers from refusing reasonable applications for parts and service agreements, was about to be introduced on 1 October 2003; speculation was rife that MAN and Scania would join forces; Vosa's online computer system TAN21 was delayed again; and it had been a month since the introduction of the Working Time Directive (VVTD).
There were a lot of used trucks but that went hand-in-hand with the number of operators running at the time. Much of what was on offer was two, three and four years old and a lot was advertised as Euro-2, offering an alternative to the new Euro-3 trucks that were available. Most of the 'quality' trucks were in the hands of the manufacturers' franchise dealers, and there were a lot of buy-back agreements in place.
So, exactly what has changed in 10 years? Block Exemption lives on, MAN-Scania are linked via Volkswagen, TAN21 is around as Operator Licensing Self Service, VVTD is here, and there are fewer used truck dealers selling to a diminished pool of operators.
Used truck dealers are trying to remarket as many Euro-5s as they can get their hands on before Euro-6 arrives, and franchisees, through lease and finance agreements (and a few buybacks), just about hold sway on quality.
Same as it ever was...