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Euro-4 boosts dema for late-model Euro-3
Page 70
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Long lead times from manufacturers and the advent of Euro-4 are pushing some operators to consider investing in used Euro-3 truas.
0 perators who usually buy new vehicles are so concerned about the introduction of Euro-4 and digital tachographs that they are asking about the availability of late-registered Euro-3 trucks. That's the word from independent dealer Peter Hassan of Lympne, Kentbased Eurowise Truck and Van.
"We're getting enquiries from people talking about batches of five or 10," he says.
Operators's choices may also be influenced by a continued shortage of new vehicles from some manufacturers, Hassan believes: 'They're still quoting long lead times.They seem lobe struggling to get chassis out of the factories."
As well as the usual healthy level of interest in big-cab, high-horsepower tractor units, Eurowise is fielding a lot of calls about 18-tonners. "In the main, operators are after curt ainsiders with sleeper cabs," he says. "There isn't so much interest in boxes, probably because there are rather too many of them around. In fact we've been looking at convert ing some box-bodied 18-tonners into flats or dropsides, maybe with a grab on the back. "We're getting a lot of interest from the scaffolding companies. They seem pretty optimistic about their prospects for this year."
Independent dealer Martin Rhodes of Rhodes Truckworld agrees that Euro-4 and digital tachographs could stimulate sales of late-registered trucks, but believes that the impact of this trend isn't yet being felt.
In the meantime he reckons the secondhand market is struggling.
-There are a few pockets of the trade where business is good, but all in all it's pretty flat, especially regarding two-tofour-year-old tractor units. Times are difficult, nobody is buying, there's not enough business around, and prices are highly erratic," he adds. Values are falling, and 18-tonners are certainly a lot cheaper than they were six months ago. "Stock isn't turning over as quickly as people would like it to, and although things might get better. equally they might get worse. I think we're in for an indifferent year."
Chris Hart of Blackrod, Bolton-based independent dealershipTrucks 2 Go agrees: "We're getting lots of enquiries for everything from 7.5tonners to tractors, but we're not converting them into sales at the rate I'd like to see."