GLENSIDE COMMERCIALS Iveco franchise award to herald era of stability
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A safe pair of hands The MD of Glenside Commercials, which has just been appointed lveco's main dealer in South Wales, tells CM how the company will continue to build on its 10 years of service to the marque These are turbulent times in the truck business — particularly so for Iveco in South Wales, where the main dealer franchise has changed hands five times in the past 10 years.
However, the latest appointment probably represents the best news possible for the marque in the area. Glenside Commercials of Caerphilly is well established (it was founded as an independent workshop in 1993 by MD Mark Lovering, whose background is in truck rental with Dawsonrentals and BRS) and it has a decade-long connection with Iveco.
"It's been frustrating for us, as an Iveco-authorised repairer, watching the main dealer franchise change hands," Lovering admits. "Now we have the full franchise, we are masters of our own destiny at last. We know that every Iveco truck we sell here represents five years of parts and service business. It's a double opportunity."
Glenside's commitment to the new venture has been in evidence for two years, since the company bought the plot of land on which its new £1.6m premises now stand.
"We cleared the existing building, then commissioned the new one to be ready for when the lease on our old premises ran out," says Lovering. "Although we had no idea that we would get the Iveco franchise at the time, I made a new vehicle showroom a key part of the building's design."
Other features of the new building include four drive-through truck workshop lanes (one of them an authorised testing facility), tachograph calibration facilities, three van service bays, and extensive stores for Carrier Transicold and Iveco parts. The offices are situated upstairs.
Long workshop hours Lovering is quietly confident that Glenside will succeed where others have failed, pointing out the almost unrivalled breadth of Iveco's range and the technical quality of the new trucks.
"With vans, we have a huge advantage over the products marketed by car manufacturers because we offer CV standards of service," he says. "If you are a sole trader with a van, then getting that vehicle serviced can mean the loss of a day's work if you have to use a car workshop that opens at nine and closes at five.
"Our workshop opens at 6am and stays open until midnight, so it's perfectly possible for the tradesman to get his van serviced with minimal disruption to his working day.
"We service a lot of other makes of van because of this, which presents us with the opportunity to convert customers to Iveco."
The heavy truck business is very different from the van sector, and here Lovering is confident that success will be driven by the quality of the product.
"Light vehicles and Eurocargo are where Iveco's traditional strengths have been," he admits. "We have to put great focus on building up confidence in the product at weights over 18 tonnes.
"We've got quite a lot on our side. Since 2008 people have delayed replacing heavy trucks, which has been a good thing for us with aftersales, but the point has come for many, particularly with the onset of whole vehicle type approval and Euro-6, that they are going to have to make buying decisions very quickly.
"The new Stralis heavy truck is European Truck of the Year, and we will shortly have a distinctive wrapped demonstrator on the road for people to try. While South Wales isn't huge tipper territory, there are enough quarries for us to expect to sell some Hi-Land Trakkers to as well.
"The big issues are finance and confidence. To address both we've got Iveco Finance's Flexihire contract hire, which is on offer for the heavy trucks. There are flexible two-, threeand four-year terms available on a deal with full R&M and that can even include tyres and road tax.
"On the lighter vehicles, Iveco's complete bodied vehicle programme is giving us an edge: we're already doing very well with the 3.5-tonne tipper."
Lovering sees Glenside's record in aftersales as key to success in selling new and used trucks. "Our performance as a service provider was carefully monitored by Iveco across targets ranging from first-time test passes to roadside breakdown response, and it was this record that won us the new franchise opportunity.
"We are not just another new dealer appointment. We're stable and committed. We've been here for 20 years and already have 10 years' experience with Iveco." •