Summer and demand is low
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USED TRUCK DEALERS are reporting low retail demand since the summer started. George Alexander, chief CV editor at Glass's Guide, said dealers are not banking on any imminent change.
"Although for those lucky few holding prime used stock, it's been business as usual," he explained.
The bidding process at auction has become "tortuously slow and, when provisional is called, further negotiations must commence behind closed doors". It seems only vehicles on the trade's most-wanted list sell outright, although Alexander said that online bidding is helping to push proceedings along as more dealers have decided that their time is better spent back at base, only taking time out to view the
specific lots that are of interest.
In the 7.5-tonne sector, late-year curtainsiders and boxes maintain some momentum with the best returns generated by smart looking dropsiders, tippers and skip-loaders or any specialist types, such as horseboxes and cherry-pickers. But the wider picture isn't great. "The 7.5-tonne market remains troubled with the number of used chassis available being well ahead of what the market can absorb, and the quality of the used stock that is being offered is typically poor as well," he said.
The tractor unit market is holding up well with interest for popular Euro-4 and -5 models destined for London Low Emission Zone work.
"Despite the trade in the export market dropping down a gear, every early-year Volvo, Scania, and Mercedes-Benz tractor unit continues to be searched out and will be destined for a sea voyage, as are big numbers of older flat and curtain-sided trailers," Alexander said.