In praise of Volvos
Page 48
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• If Volvo's FH tractor unit tad a fan dub—thinking about it, it probably does—then Hanbury Riverside general manager Lee Smith would undoubtedly be a member.
The Essex-based independent dealer rates it very highly. "If I were an operator, and my work wasn't weight-sensitive, I'd choose an FH rather than an FM," he says. "We sell a lot to small hauliers. It's a good all-rounder, it's got presence on the road, and it can tackle a mul-/ titude of jobs. It's reliable, and it's good on fuel—the FM is really a beefed-up FLIo."
Despite the move towards higher power, Smith believes that the FHI2 at 38ohp is sufficient for most operations within the UK. "We've had one operator, who hauls containers out of Felixstowe docks, take II 380s from us, and they're averaging 8.9 to 9.1mpg," he says.
FHT2 420s are finding buyers too. Hanbury Riverside has just sold two, both left-hand-drive, lowheight, 4x2 tractors, 19 96 on a plate, with with Globetrotter CD cabs, for in excess of f2o,000 apiece.
The standard FH cab has a good level of specification but the Globetrotter commands premium prices. "You can be talking about a £3,000 to £5,000 difference," he says. Some dealers say that tractors five to six years old are proving increasingly difficult to sell, but Smith remarks: "If a nice 1994 FH with a Globetrotter cab came up, somebody would still buy it."
Big, well-equipped cabs are proving popular because drivers want them, and hauliers want to attract and retain drivers because they're only too well aware that there's a shortage, says Smith. "Operators are always saying to me, 'I'd buy a couple more trucks, but I haven't got the drivers to put in them'," he reports. "Drivers are a vitally important part of any haulage company, and are very under-rated, not to mention under-paid. And they expect a standard FH cab as a minimum. Very few people want FLIos or P cab Scanias because the cabs are too small."
Hanbury Riverside is surrounded by franchised outlets, with Scania, Daf, Renault, and Mercedes all represented. So how does it compete?
"I always feel that franchised dealers do a good job, but people can get just as much from an indepen
dent dealer like ourselves," he replies. "There is still a bit of a myth that you get a better deal from a main dealer. I wouldn't want to knock them, but I don't think it's true."
Main dealers, he points out, are often in a position where they're obliged to take in used tractors at buy-back prices set three years ago. "But we can buy in what we want," he adds.
Smith is in search of late, clean, 6x2 tractors—Volvos, Scanias, and Dafs—in batches of six to TO. "We're in buying mood," he says. Dafs are currently doing particularly well for the firm. "We had 13 400hp 85 Series 6x2 tractors, all 1996 on a P-plate, and we've sold all but three of them," says Smith. "They fetched over f2o,000 each."