111 Buying property could be a pension plan. A look
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at the back pages of CM will reveal an increasing number of established hauliers selling their fleets by auction. Nothing unusual about that considering the state of the industry you might think, but according to Robert Reynolds of auctioneers Malcolm Harrison, much of it is being driven by the high prices that haulage yards are commanding in the property market.
"Those operators who had the good sense to buy their plot 50 years ago when prices were a fraction of today's values are now finding that they can rent out the yard for more money that they can make operating the vehicles," he says. "Many who are close to retiring are choosing to take the 125,000 a year rent rather than go on with the hassle of running the vehicles—and that's why they are getting out."