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A winning formula

12th August 2010, Page 56
12th August 2010
Page 56
Page 57
Page 56, 12th August 2010 — A winning formula
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Keywords : Truck, Vehicles, Warranty

If anybody knows what a haulier wants from a second-hand truck dealership, it has to be Glyn Davies.

Words / Images: Steve Banner Having been the linchpin of two hugelysuccessful transport companies Russell Davies and Hanbury Davies Glyn Davies now occupies much of his time with West Thurrock, Essex-based dealership Hanbury Riverside. After the sale of Hanbury Holdings in 2008 to Wincartton, Hanbury Riverside was bought back from the distribution giant by Davies and the other original Hanbury shareholders. Working alongside him is widely-respected used truck sales expert Lee Smith.

Expectine, to sell 250 vehicles this year, slightly up on 2009's performance, but some way behind the prerecession 2007 total of some 350. Hanbury Riverside specialises in late-registered tractor units. DAFs.Scanias and Volvos dominate its stock book. Many of them are sourced from its own contract hire fleet, so their history is known from day one. The presence of the 500-strong fleet also makes the dealership a little less vulnerable to the stock shortages plaguing many of its competitors.

Davies places great stress on a high standard of used vehicle preparation to reduce the risk of component failure, because he knows from his own experience the complications that can ensue if a truck breaks down.

"We know we're not necessarily the cheapest in the market and we're aware that a customer might be able to find a truck that costs f.:1,000 less than one of ours." he says. "However, we believe that the value we deliver in terms of presentation and follow-up compensates for that.

"Anything mechanical that looks doubtful usually we're talking about the clutch or the brakes is sorted out and anything cosmetic is attended to as well," he continues. "If a hole has been drilled in the dashboard for a phone cradle for instance and the cradle has been removed, then we have that hole repaired:" Should the customer wants bigger tanks fitted. additional lights and various other pieces of ancillary equipment, then that can be arranged as well,

Warranties

The trucks are serviced and will typically have at least nine months of their MoT left to run. They will usually be covered by at least a three-month driveline warranty.

"We don't buy in insurance-backed warranties," he says. "Instead, we run our own warranty book."

That way the customer is able to deal direct with Hanbury Riverside rather than having to argue the toss with a potentially unsympathetic insurer. This makes it easier for Davies and Smith to be flexible over a justified claim. "We've just received one on a truck that arose nine months after the operator bought it from us," says Smith. "We got the manufacturer concerned involved and as a consequence the owner ended up paying nothing."

The fact that Hanbury Riverside buys new trucks as well as selling second-hand ones gives it more influence with manufacturers in these circumstances than many independent dealers can hope to enjoy. Its willingness to get involved in this sort of situation when there is no obligation for it to do so however is what really counts.

"Once we've done a deal. we live with that deal," says Davies. "A lot of people might have told the customer that it was a used truck when he bought it, he'd had it for nine months, so go away."

Hanbury Riverside does not take that approach -"we take the risk out of buying a used truck," he says one reason perhaps why so much of its work is repeat business. Around 80%-90% of the vehicles it sells have not been inspected by the customer prior to purchase. says Davies. That is often because they have bought several from the firm before, been satisfied with them and do not as a consequence see the need to visit Thurrock to examine the latest one.

"We get a lot of referrals as well.he says. "We get a lot of testimonials too and we put them on our website."

Part-exchanges are usually traded out. "We retail the odd one, but generally they are five, six or seven years old and as a consequence end up being exported after we've disposed of them," says Davies.

Emissions standards

Front January 2012 onwards. trucks entering the London Low Emission Zone will have to comply with the Euro-4 particulate emission standard if their owners wish to avoid being linancially penalised.

"Some operators are starting to realise that they've got to do something, if only because their Euro-3 vehicles are going to he worth less and less as the deadline gets nearer," Smith says. "There's already a big price gap between a 2006 Euro-3 and a 2007 Euro-4.

1f they're going to replace their trucks, then now is the time to do it," he continues "New truck prices have increased by 15% to 18% in some cases, so it's only a matter of time before used trucks follow suit.

-In fact, prices are already starting to rise and it would not be unreasonable to suggest that they will go up by 5% to 10% over the next six months.

Recent low new vehicle registrations look set to support this trend over the next two or three years. If a truck has not been sold new then clearly it cannot he sold second-hand, a situation likely to make the used vehicle stock shortage even worse.

Anticipating a healthy second-hand market during the rest of this year. Hanbury Riverside is increasing the amount of stock it holds. "Historically, we've tended to carry around 30, but we're increasing that to between 40 and 50," Smith says.

"We're convinced that the premium used tractor unit market is well on the way to recovery," says Davies. "Our enquiry levels are high and the conversion rate into actual sales is very encouraging."

"Because of the recession many people have run their vehicles for longer than they would have done normally and they're aware that the fuel consumption of newer trucks is likely to be better than what is being achieved by whatever they're running at present." Smith says. "As a consequence they've got to think about acquiring replacements." si


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