SALES REFLECT PENT-UP DEMAND
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Strong used truck sales are in part a reflection of the release of pent-up demand, says Lee Smith of independent dealership Hanbury Riverside. "The credit crunch has prompted many operators to keep running their existing vehicles for longer than they would do normally; sometimes for an exl two years," he says. "They now realise that it's time to move on and that they'v got to replace them with something newer."
Later-registered vehicles are likely to offer better fuel economy and be moil reliable than those that have seen many years of service.
Such improvements should help boost profit margins. Yet even with that assistance, some dealers say the sad truth is that many hauliers would b better off shutting up shop for good because their profitability is so pool It is not an option they are all willing to take, however, says Paul Prewett of Scania dealership TruckEast, even though they may have little real confidence in the future of haulage.
They say to me that if they packed it in they wouldn't know wha to do with themselves because they've been in transport all their fives," he observes. "They don't know anything else."