From Renauli to Mercedes
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• Richie Rainford is switching franchises, and moving from used to new. He's moved from Renault dealership J DS, where he sold second-hand vehicles, to sell new Mercedes-Benz trucks on behalf of Liverpool dealership Road Range.
Used sales are being hit by the competitive leasing deals available on new vehicles, he explains: "It's difficult to persuade a customer to buy something that's four years old when dealers are offering brand new ones on lease for £220 Or SO a week."
Rainford is impressed by what he's seen of Mercedes but admits there's plenty of work to do to convince operators that Actros is a problem-free bet.
"Some of them had the early demonstrators, and weren't too happy with them," he says. "But changing the cliffs and rear axles has resulted in better fuel consumption. I've got one customer who is getting 9.5mpg, and he's over the moon. There are hauliers who
reckon they don't like the box, but to be honest a c could use it."
Scania is the main rival, is offering some extrer competitive deals on th■ Series, he reports: "We cl up against Volvo too, MAN occasionally, but don't often find we're con-, ing against Daf, or ERF, that matter."
So far as Atego is concer strong residuals allow dealer to put together attra( leasing deals, says Rainf especially on i8-tonners. 7.5 tonnes Daf is the big c petition; but MAN is con on strong," he reports.