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Out of the frying pan...

Setting up your own dealership takes money,

knowledge and verve. Steve Banner visited Bolton-based Trucks 2 Go to meet its driving force, Chris Hart.

SLining up as an independent used truck dealer after working for a leading franchised dealer for more than 1 1 years is a brave step. Chris Hart took that step last October, and so far hasn't regretted it.

The managing director of Trucks 2 Go, based in Blackrod,Bolton, certainly isn't short of experience. He joined MercedesBenz dealership Ciceley when he was just 19, eventually taking charge of all the company's used vehicle activities, Before he joined Cicelev, however, he spent a brief period with James Hart, his family's business, so the world of independent used truck retailing isn't totally foreign to him.

In fact it was his family background that prompted him to strike out on his own. "It has always been in me," he admits.-If s always been something I've wanted to do. It's certainly no reflection on Ciceley and I didn't leave there on bad terms," he stresses. "In fact I do a lot of business with them."

Not that Hart is entirely on his own: his business partner, Phil Martindale, is an old friend."He doesn't have a truck industry background," says Hart. "He's not involved in the day-today running of Trucks 2 Go, but he's a 50% partner."

Martindale runs an unusual business of his own. If there's a major accident —an explosion, say — in which all the windows in your premises are blown out and you file an insurance claim, your insurers might arrange for your windows Lobe replaced rather than sending you a cheque.

And that being the case there is a good chance that your new windows will he sourced from Martindale and installed by one of his teams of litters.

"I've known Phil for many years through our motor-sport activities and I've always supplied him with his vehicles,Hart adds.

Trucks 2 Go is based at a site occupied by Martindale that even has vehicle workshops. "He runs around 100 vehicles himself —mostly light commercials, but with some 7.5-tonners— and the maintenance is handled in-house," Hart explains.

Great location

The shared base, on a main road not far from the M61, is ideally placed as far as Hart is concerned. There is plenty of space for now, although the business might have to relocate in due course if it really takes off.

Teaming up with Martindale has another advantage: his suppliers need vans and trucks, which represent a potential source of sales for Trucks 2 Go.

Hart supplies UK and overseas customers with everything from light vans to heavy haulage tractor units.

"At present we've got a couple of double-drive V8 Mercedes Actros 2648s on steel suspension and dating back to 2003," he says. "On 52 plates, they have design weights of up to 80 tonnes and we're asking £41,500 for each of them.

"We've grown quickly," he adds. On average we're selling 30 to 50 vehicles a month, including trade and export as well as retail, -Vans account for about 60% of what we do, with trucks making up the balance. Local people after a van or a 7.5-tonner know where we are our national advertising is beginning to pay off too and so is the website. In fact we're planning to improve it. One of the things I want to do is generate finance quotes online."

The site — www.trucks2go.ltd.uk — already carries details and photographs of Hart's stock.The name was chosen with the idea that it would pop up quickly if anybody began scouring the web for second-hand wagons.

"We're starting to offer our vans with delivery to anywhere in the country included in the price," he says. "That has attracted quite a lot of business from the South and from places such as mid-Wales. We've got our own transporter and we can take two vans at a time."

So does that mean some customers buy light commercials from the Trucks 2 Go website without travelling to Blackrod and inspecting them? "Yes, they do," Hart confirms. "It has happened on a number of occasions, and one reason for this is that we describe them accurately. We also photograph them correctly.

Covering all angles

"If a chassis has a beavertail body, for example, we'll show one picture with the beavertail up and one with it down, as well as shots of the rest of the vehicle from different angles."

Hart's recent background, plus the fact that so many of his customers are aware of his Mercedes connections, explains why 75% of his stock bears the three-pointed-star. Most of his retail stock is no older than 1999/2000 vintage, although older trucks are sometimes bought for export.

get my stock from a mixture of sources," he adds. "Some of it comes directly from Mercedes-Benz's Wentworth Park operation. some from main dealers who ask us to underwrite vehicles, some from contract-hire companies, and some is bought at auction."

Depending on age and condition, partexchanges are either retailed or traded on.

-As far as the UK is concerned, there's always a market for a 7.5-tonner priced at between 14,000 and £8,000 the sort of amount a guy can write a cheque forand we sell quite a few 75-tonne dropsiders to scaffolders," he says.

"There's plenty of interest in something just that little bit different too a 20ft curtainsider with a tail-lift, for instance and we've recently been selling 2001 Y-registered Mercedes A tego 815 7.5-tonners to that specification for £6,950.

"Demand for run-of-the-mill 7.5-tonne box vans is currently slow, but we've converted one or two of those chassis into horseboxes.

"We've done quite well with Daf LF 7.5-tonne curtainsiders with sleeper cabs because despite the presence of a sleeper they can still carry the weight," Hart reports.

We took a close look at a 53plate 2003 LF 45.170 7.5-tonne sleeper with a 20ft curtainsider body and 280,000km on the clock. Bar a few stone chips and the odd spot of rust on the bumper it was in good condition, with the cab interior valeted to a high standard. It even had an 'as new' smell to it rather rare in a used truck.

The engine ticked over nicely, with no black smoke:The only drawback we spotted was its colour-an unattractive green.

Price? "We're retailing it at £15,950," says Hart.

At the lighter end of the scale we checked out a 2004/04 longwheelbase Sprinter 311CD1 3.5-tonner with a Ken Rosebury beavertail body, a winch, and a tachograph in case it had to tow something. The body showed signs of working for a living but no more than you might expect, and the cab was immaculate inside and out.

With 77,000km on the clock it was priced at £12,950.

Uniroyal Fun Cup

Hart and Martindale are involved in the Uniroyal Fun Cup. a UK and European motor-sport series that involves racing Volkswagenpowered cars styled to look like Beetles in events lasting between three and 25 hours. "They're televised, which is good advertising, and our involvement has given us the idea of producing trailers and rigid bodywork for racing teams," says Hart.

And there is, of course, no reason whyTrucks 2 Go can't supply the tractors to haul the trailers, or the chassis for the rigid bodies... •