Crowing Dutch
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Plenty of used truck dealers run a successful business with a stock of 20 or 30 vehicles: any forecourt with a stock running into three figures is in the big time But Kleyn Trucks' customers can take their pick from a lineup of more than 1,000 CVs, which puts this Dutch dealer firmly at the top of the premier league...
Kleyn Trucks knows how to move metal. It recently shifted 1,700 used vehicles from its site over one wet weekend in February. It had to: its Vuren depot, alongside the busy A15 RotterdamNijmegen motorway is next to the huge dyke that stops the Waal river from turning the surrounding countryside into an inland sea. Two months ago, after weeks of torrential rain, the sea had risen to within a metre of the top of the dyke, threatening to flood hundreds of square miles of Dutch countryside
Kleyn Trucks' managing director Laszlo Benedek picks up the story: "We had to move everything, and I mean everything. We had 100 people driving trucks around. On the Friday we had a red alert so we started to move the most expensive pieces. On the Sunday we moved everything else."
The decision proved to be the right one, as Benedek explains: "On Monday the Government decided we ought to mover Fortunately the dyke held, the swollen Waal subsided and Europe's largest used truck dealer kept its feet dry. Walk around Kleyn's Vuren site and you start to understand the scale of its operation. In addition to more than 1,000 used trucks, stretching as far as the eye can see, there's row upon row of trailers, ranging from fiats to reefers. Warehouses are full of reclaimed engines, gearboxes and axles. A field is full of rigid bodies and the reception area buzzes with the sound of a dozen languages Yet the man who runs the operation does not have a haulage background. Four years ago Benedek, the son of a Hungarian emigre, was running a successful chain of restaurants. Then he met a member of the Kleyn family, which has been in the used truck business for 75 years, and his career suddenly changed directions.
"I've been an entrepreneur all my life," he says. "I got on well with Mr Kleyn and he must have seen something in me to run the company. So I sold the restaurants in 1991."
Benedek took control of Kleyn Trucks at the head of a management buyout team which holds a 70% stake in the company; the Kleyn family holds the remaining 30%.
After four years running the biggest used truck operation in Europe, if not the world, Benedek insists: "I still don't know anything about trucks or cars, it's really true, but it's not necessary because everybody else understands the truck business My job is to make the organisation run in such a way that everybody is feeling good, whether it's the customers, staff or investors."
That doesn't mean Benedek spends all day behind a desk. He's just as likely to be found outside amongst the hardware: "When a customer is around everyone is a seller— over half of the company is directly either buying or selling."
From selling food to selling trucks is quite a jump, although Benedek sees similarities: "Doing business is about understanding what your customer wants and trying to deliver it."
In addition to the main site at Vuren there's a specialist van centre nearby with close to 200 light commercials on display. Kleyn also has operations in Belgium, Hungary, Bulgaria and Chile. Last year it sold more than 8,000 trucks, trailers and light vehicles.
Eastern bloc
The collapse of the former Eastern bloc has pushed a lot of business Kleyn's way. The company has salesmen regularly touring through the former communist countries. "With modern communications it's ideal because my people can be all over Europe," says Benedek. "We're always interested in bigger lots" Last year the company ran an extensive advertising campaign on the international CNN cable news network.
The demise of communism has also created some unusual customers. Men with east european accents toting a suitcase full of hard currency and a shopping list for tractive units have been known to turn up at Vuren: "I tell them to go and put the money in the nearest bank," says Benedek, "and then come back and do business with us!"
Around 80% of Kleyn's stock is sold outside the Netherlands, and 70% of the exports are outside of Europe.
Along one wall of Benedek's office is a large world map. "I say to my people this is my sales region. If you can throw a dart there you can go there and sell a truck," says Benedek. He must be a pretty good darts player. "Customers come from all over the world—Russia, China, Africa...we have a guest house with 26 beds on the premises, we'll also show them the tulips and can make all their travel arrangements if they want. Sometimes there are over 10 nationalities in our guest house," But why go Dutch to buy a used truck? "Holland has the largest concentration of trucks in Europe," says Benedek. "If they come here they'll see our company, and most people want to see the bride before the marriage. For us basically the business is to export trucks."
Kleyn prides itself on matching the right truck to the right customer. "People in Africa like uncomplicated trucks," says Benedek. "We've developed the speciality of rebuilding a modern truck back to an 'African specification' like taking off the electronics, or EPS. For less than .£800 we can fit a mechanical linkage back on the gearbox."
World map
With the world map as its dart board has Kleyn targeted the UK? "In terms of the UK market we're looking at it for the parts side. However, for the heavier trucks there's a slight disadvantage of having the steering wheel on the other side of the cab. With an engine it's not that important, but the complete truck is. Conversion is often a cheaper option.
"If you buy in England you've got to sell in England," Benedek explains. "You must have a very good idea about prices and margins. But we're always looking for relationships with providers."
It's hard not be impressed by the number, quality and condition of the vehicles for sale at Vuren. There are plenty of late model trucks, all well presented with hardly a hint of rust or wear and tear, and all with the discreet yellow Kleyn badge on the bottom of the door. Kleyn buys 80% of its late stock (up to four years old) inside the Netherlands but vehicles up to 14 years old for export are bought in from all over the world.
Before a truck is sold by Kleyn it's put through a major mechanical test; at Vuren there's a workshop complex with over 20 fulllength inspection bays. "We want to deliver known quality," says Benedek. "It's not wrong to have something wrong with a truck but it is wrong not to reveal it. We say if anything's not working and ask, 'do you want us to fix it or do you want to do it?' When clients want a warranty we'll give them one—almost all our clients in Holland want one."
Given its premium quality you might expect a Kleyn truck. to command a premium price. Not so, says Benedek: "In percentage terms we're satisfied with a small margin on a small profit because we have the volume. We've still got to compete
against small companies so we can only do it where we can sell a lot of trucks. Professional companies want to do business with us, but only if we can pay a little bit more. And our buyers are only interested in low prices. The customer's not interested in what I paid for it."
Stock control
With 1,700 vehicles on the lot stock control and cash.flow takes some managing. Last year Kleyn Trucks turned over 200m guilders (£83m). "Generally speaking you must turn round your stock four times in a year," says Benedek. "Bankers used to look at a big stock as a big problem—I've managed to convince them that a big stock is a big opportunity. Every truck and spare part is on computer so we can follow it all, and so can our accountant!"
Regular review meetings keep track on any problem trucks. "You don't need a year to know something won't sell, so I say let's admit it's a mistake," he says. "It's only stupid to make the same Mistake twice. After a year every truck is mine and I can sell it for what ever I want!"
17 by Brian Weatherley