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Sales are slowing
Page 68
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The market is slowing down, say trailer dealers, but demand is high for particular specs. Steve Banner has been finding out what's hot and what's cold in the trailer market
Used trailer buyers are still biased against disc brakes. says Steve Clough, director of equipment sales at TTL Equipment Management.
"If you have two identical trailers of the same ageone on discs, one on drums-then the latter is likely to fetch up to 10% more than the former," he reports. -Buyers fear that if trailers with disc brakes have been left standing around for too long it'll be too expensive to get the brakes working again:That's why we ensure that the braking systems on all our trailers are regularly maintained.regardless of whether they've been moved or not:' Disc or drum, some customers are also cautious about acquiring trailers that are more than eight years old, again because they fear they will face steep maintenance bills.That's reflected in the prices trailers over eight years old fetch compared with their younger counterparts. Clough adds.
Many older trailers are exported, and some markets that used to reject 13.6m trailers on air are now increasingly willing to accept them, as the supply of 40ft trailers on steel suspension gradually declines. TTL. formerly known as Transamerica, keeps used rental trailers available at locations all over the country, including Leeds, Bristol, Glasgow. Wolverhampton and Chester. "Although prices have softened a bit over the past 12 months, the market has been relatively good,with plenty of demand for fridges and skeletals in particular,says Clough.
"However, it's slowing down now in the run-up to Christmas. As far as fridge trailers are concerned, customers tend to want single evaporators, although they'll accept dual, and there's still a demand for 4011 fridge trailers."
That demand extends to curtain-sided trailers, as long as they're built to standard, no-frills rental specification. "Customers are looking for box trailers as well," he adds,"but they favour triaxles rather than tandems, and they tend to prefer barn doors."
In his experience the established trailer brands do well in the used market, while lesser known alternatives tend to suffer."Utility is a case in point," he remarks.
Brian Parkinson, a sales executive with Liverpool-based Lawrence David Trailer, reckons demand for used trailers has slowed:"We are still moving curtainsiders, and there's a demand for box vans, but we're not as busy as we usually are at this time of year, and I'm sure that's true for other trailer dealers.
"There's been a bit of a downturn in inquiries and I suspect a lot of people are renting rather than buying."The trailer market has been lacklustre since January, he adds:"We've flat lined all year."
A spokesman for Stone, Staffordshire-based Brookside Trailer Sales confirms that view: "The market's really tough at the moment; prices are nowhere near where they once were, and we're certainly not setting the world on fire.The only things that are really selling well are fridge trailers,and they're selling like hot cakes. But its hard to get decent quality stock, not least when hauliers can get a belting deal on a new trailer: and they can do it on cheap finance."
Parkinson believes the sector is suffering from a glut of unsold equipment."Some dealers have been dumping trailers on the market in huge numbers and offering them for silly money," he claims"As a consequence, used prices have been driven down and they're coming under pressure from competitively priced new trailers. It's become increasingly difficult to maintain the price gap between new and used:The other problem we all face, of course, is that the customer base is shrinking."
What about discs vs drums? "In our experience, you won't necessarily get more money for a trailer with drum brakes, but you'll probably be able to sell it more quickly," he concludes.