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Thinking creatively
Page 61
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Used vehicle dealers will have to become more imaginative when it comes to selling stock if they are to counter the predicted economic slowdown.
If the used truck market starts to slow over the next few months thanks to high diesel prices and worries over the economy, dealers will have to become a lot more imaginative when it comes to promoting vehicles.
Independent dealership Hanbury Riverside has been quick off the mark with an ad telling anybody who selects one of its £39,000 2004-vintage 54-plate Daf XF95 430 Space Cab units and wants finance that, subject to status, a deposit will not be required. It will pay six months' road tax on the operator's behalf, too.
It is the sort of deal that could appeal to a growing number of hauliers. Funding for used trucks may become more difficult to obtain on acceptable terms over the next few months as the credit crunch that is bedeviling the banking sector starts to bite.
"In some cases, finance houses are asking for a 20% deposit and we've not seen that for a while," says Hanbury Riverside director Lee Smith.
"They are also looking more closely at certain applications that would have gone through almost immediately last year. Increasingly, the attitude seems to be 'we need to think about it'.
"That said, we're still very busy, and I think that situation will continue. I remain optimistic."
There is little evidence that significant numbers of finance proposals are being rejected, though. "We're not seeing that, although the interest rates being charged are creeping up a bit," says Paul Prewett, general manager, used sales, at Scania dealership TruckEast.
Elsewhere, Maritime Transport is continuing to offer work if they want it to operators who buy second-hand drawbar combinations from its used truck operation at www.secondhandtrudo.co.uk.
"The used market remains buoyant as far as we're concerned," says general manager, fleet sales, Matt Heath.
"We're in a situation where operators have to wait ages for new vehicles when they need them right now, not in 18 months' time. By contrast, we've got late-registered vehicles available immediately."
At the time of writing these included Daf XF105 Super Space Cab 6x2 460bhp tractor units registered last year on 07 plates. •