ROUND-UP Sales war hits
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DIVERSIFYING + East Anglian trailer builder Raven is diversifying into the truck trade. It's added a Renault VI franchise to its new site at Ipswich, a former crane factory not far from the A14.
LEASING + Many traditional secondhand truck buyers who acquired new trucks under cut-rate leasing agreements during the past two or three years are switching back to used vehicles after getting their fingers badly burnt, says used truck dealer Malcolm Harrison.
"They've discovered that some of these leases aren't as flexible as they thought they would be," he explains. "Excess mileage charges in particular have hit them hard, and they've found too that it's not always possible to extend leases."
"They've concluded that they're better off buying a truck on HP," he continues. "At least when they've finished paying for a vehicle it belongs to them." Harrison is glad that such deals are declining in popularity. "They were hitting us hard at the end of last year."
Harrison's views on low-cost new-vehicle leases are shared by Chris Hodge. "Hauliers are moving away from these deals," he says. "They can be very badly affected by them because they can't get out of such agreements when things go quiet"