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Commercial Motor will be covering the new and used truck

25th November 1999
Page 52
Page 52, 25th November 1999 — Commercial Motor will be covering the new and used truck
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

and trailer business in more depth from now on. So if you're opening a new site, expanding your existing business (or taking one over), offering new services, changing jobs – or just want to express some views on the trade in general, then ring Steve Banner now on 01778 343268; or fax him on 01778 345057.

Di cabs are scarce

• Clean, high-horsepower, used tractor units with big cabs and late registration plates are becoming as scarce as a British steak in a Paris restaurant. "There's something of a shortage developing. There's no way the market is awash with tasty, late registered, stuff," says George Alexander, commercial vehicles editor at Glass's Guide.

"If you've got a used 400hp Mercedes-Benz Actros, for example, you should be able to place it with a customer with just one phone call if you're a Mercedes specialist, and it will go for decent money." By late registered, he means 1996 onwards.

"P registration is where the interest starts," he says. "A good Nplated vehicle might be OK, but L and M are too long in the tooth, they would have to be exceptional."

Independent trader Robert Reynolds agrees that powerful and desirable tractors are hard to come by. "It can be difficult to locate just what we want in that line," he comments.

"One reason is that three or four years ago there weren't that many 45ohp to 47ohp tractors sold in the first place. And if they weren't sold new, they're not around to be sold used."

So far as he's concerned, any truck of this type that he sells has to be more than 18 months old, and offer the customer at least a /15,000 saving on the equivalent new model. Younger vehicles have less of an appeal because heavy discounts offered by manufacturers mean operators will be tempted to buy new.

No matter what age they are, second-hand trucks have to be prepared to a high standard these days, Reynolds believes. While in the past a dealer might have been willing to display a vehicle with a tatty interior, a broken wing mirror, and other blemishes and minor damage, today these defects have to be rectified before it goes on show.

lilt's not spot-on, then the customer will go elsewhere," he says.

This could be a manufacturer's opera

tion selling manufacturer-backed approved used trucks, he agrees.

"Those operations are not there to produce profits, but to limit losses," he argues. "If they've got a truck in the yard that's worth £15,000, and they sell it for 112,000, they've had a good day; but an independent dealer has to sell it at more than f15,000 in order to survive.

"We wouldn't last two minutes if we dealt the way they do," he says. "We're not competing on a level playing field."

Despite these reservations, he admits trading conditions are healthy at present. It's a view shared by George Alexander—" the market is a better place than it was a month back"—and by franchised dealers too.

"Things are buoyant," says Ged Stringer, dealer principal at Liverpool Mercedes-Benz dealership Road Range. "Operators are more willing to accept Actros, and it's the more powerful 2540 and 2543 6x2s that are getting the interest."

Ron Holmes, managing director of Hatfield, Herts, Mercedes dealership S&B Commercials, agrees: "Things aren't bad at all. There's far more stability in the truck market than there is in the passenger car market, and forecasts suggest that 2000 should be pretty good."

But ERF dealer council chairman Paul Mead sounds a note of caution. "Things are patchy around the country," he says. "Some ERF dealers are doing very well, but some are struggling."


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