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One-stop swap shop
Page 68
Page 69
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Trailer manufacturer Lawrence David has set up a used-trailer sales arm to handle returning products. But as Kevin Swallow discovers, man cannot live by part exchange alone.
Trailer manufacturer Lawrence David is hardly a new name in this industry. A company based solely on net\ sales, its second-hand trailers were re-marketed by other manufacturers' agents or independents, and any partexchange stock was handled by Transamerica.
To expand the business MD Laurence Marshall and sales director Chris Curzon recruited Lawrence David's Transamerica link,Brian Parkinson, to handle the necessary part-ex trailers.This is how Lawrence David Trailer Sales was created.
The set-up recently moved into new premises at Kirby, Merseyside, and is run with Julie Pitchford and sales administrator Sam Abernethy.
No other way Parkinson explains: "There was no way of avoiding part exchange if Lawrence David wanted to expand... so why not keep it inhouse? Control it more efficiently and more commercially, and make it profitable.
As every dealer knows you can get burned with part-ex,so it means getting tough with new deals-If we're forced into the route of part exchange and buying trailers over market value we will walk away,says Parkinson.-1 have the final decision."
The part-ex timetable isn't consistent —rental businesses and finance houses re-stock fleets over longer periods, and some keep r.iltkr trailers too. Since the company was set up in April 2005 it has handled fewer than 20 trailers through part exchange, equating to just 6% of total sales. Since Christmas, however,deals with Bayliss and Clearway look set to deliver 160 part-exchange trailers to Parkinson's hard standing behind the offices.
The core of the new company is remarketing trailers, regardless of the manufacturer.
Parkinson has more than 20 years' worth of industry contacts to call on,although he was out of the loop for six months before starting up again with Lawrence David.And developing the business proved harder than he had expected.
The run-up to the festive period was a turning point, with the groundwork starting to translate into sales. With closer ties to rental companies such as Hill Hire and Dawson,and to finance companies including Alliance & Leicester, Parkinson is looking to define Lawrence David Trailer Sales' reputation when it comes to remarketing.
Although the 'one-stop shop' tag comes into and out of fashiot more often than Dale Winton, it nicely sums up Parkinson's approach to offering refurbishment on returning trailers to me the needs of the customer.
"Everybody has to have a nicl in the market. People associate Lawrence David with a quality product:what we're endeavouring to do is the same in the second-hand market,he says.
Lawrence David builds the trailers, offers finance and rental options, refurbishes trailers to 'look like new' and includes live This, says Parkinson, allows customers to do it all in one stroke.
The signs are that Trailer Sales is proving a successful addition to the Lawrence David portfolio:"Turnover has reached£1.5m already.I'llbe disappointed at the end of May if we haven't had a good year from a financial point of view. We set our stall out to get a decent return."
Mainstream yet diverse The mix of stock, while mainstream. is pretty diverse in terms of age and manufacturer.
Parkinson puts trailers in three groups:10 years old, which is the bottom end of the market:5-10 years old, which will reach a different type of customer and can be refurbished; and new.
For the middle group,one of the main issues for buyers has been the braking system. "There are issues over disc brakes. Most customers have a fear factor with secondhand trailers, and the first question in every phone call is: Disc or drums?"
Ultimately there can he only one solution:"People are going to have to get used to the fact that if you buy a trailer that's four or five years old,it'sgoing to be on discs. Between 1999 and 2001 everybody was saying must get discs',so that's what they did — and in a short space of time people were having problems."
When the trailers come in they will he serviced: broken or worn discs will be replaced. "There's a 10-year warranty on the body and paint from new from Lawrence David — and that in itself is a strong selling point," he says. • • Contact: 9151 548540th wvm.1(Itrailersales.muk