Rental giants 'set trailer hire rates'
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A leading trailer dealer claims UK hauliers are paying 35% more to hire trailers than they ought to because there's too little competition in the market place.
Barry Sadler, a director of Bidfordon-Avon, Warwickshire-based General Sales, and a Samro distributor, argues that this is because so much business is in the hands of rental giants who care busy buying up their smaller competitors. "They're taking an awful lot of money out of the transport industry, and they've been laughing their heads off about it for years," he says.
in a bid to counter their alleged activities, General Soles is now offering an unusual deal on Samro 13.6m triaxle curtainsiders on air called Trailblazer. Hire one of the French-built trailers for five years at £125 a week, or £135 for one with a sliding roof, and you get to keep it with nothing more to pay once the five years are up. "All we ask for is
a £3,000 deposit," says Sadler. "We've put the package together because it's so difficult for owner-drivers who want to buy a trailer to get finance," he explains. "It's less of a problem for them to get finance for a truck because the manufacturer will guarantee the residual value. "One advantage is that if work suddenly dries up two years into the fiveyear deal, you can simply return the trailer to us."