There is a growing demand for used Euro-4 trucks Stock
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availability is showing little sign that it is going to improve in the coming months, making it a particular problem for firms looking for trucks that comply with the Euro-4 particulate limits so that they can enter the London Low Emission Zone from January 2012 onwards without attracting financial penalties.
"People who, for example, buy new 18-tonners typically keep them for from four to seven years, so a lot of the Euro-4-compliant ones haven't come onto the used market yet," Matt Hammond, used vehicle sales manager at Hams OAF observes. "I think there's no escaping the fact that there won't be enough second-hand Euro-4 rigids around to satisfy requirements."
"Anything that's Euro-4 is in great demand," agrees Paul Evans, director, used vehicle operations at Iveco.
"If you don't buy soon, then you're not going to be able to buy one at all," Hammond contends. "The only choice left may be to think seriously about purchasing a new one. If you've been used to buying used, then the price will come as a shock."
Not that used prices are standing still. "They're continuing to rise and we've got to pay more to buy in the vehicles we want," says Day.
"Prices keep increasing," Evans agrees.
"A three-year-old Volvo FH unit is around 2.8,000 more today than the equivalent model would have been this time last year," says Jonathan Bownes, sales executive at Volvo dealership Thomas Hardie's Middlewich, Cheshire used truck centre.
Paying more to buy in stock is one thing, says Mackay. Persuading retail buyers that they've got to pay more too is quite another. "That's proving to be a challenge," he observes.
However, lveco is determined not to give vehicles away, says Evans. 'People say to us 1 can buy one of those cheaper down the road', to which we say, 'go on then'. They leave; but after a little while they return and purchase ours instead."
"Dealers are increasingly inclined to hold out for the money they want," Bownes says. 'They need to because once the truck concerned has gone, it's gone, and the stock situation means that it's going to be difficult to replace."
"I believe that used prices are holding steady," says Smith. "They're not increasing, but they're certainly not going down.
"On the other hand, new truck prices are continually going up, and people are not comfortable paying 280,000 to £90,000 for a unit when they can buy a quality used one for half the price," he says, repeating the point made earlier by Hammond.
"Buy new and your finance payments are likely to be unacceptably high, unless you're prepared to put down a massive deposit," Smith continues. "There's also the point that in the current climate finance houses are likely to be happier funding a £45,000 truck than one costing £90,000."
Customers coming back into the market having hung on to their trucks for 18 months longer than they would have done when times were better are, as a consequence, offering part-exchanges that are older than they would have been In years past.
"Fortunately there's plenty of interest in, for example, box-bodied fiveto six-year-old 7,5-tonners, and export demand for older vehicles remains reasonable," says Hammond.
"We're certainly getting more export enquiries," says Evans.