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be covering the new and used truck 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 0178 343268: or fax him on 01778 345057.
Big cabs and 360hp sells tractive units
• Careful buying of stock for resale is more important than ever if dealers are to make headway in the used tractor unit market, says Steve Smith of dealer Smith Brothers Services near Widnes in Cheshire.
"We're doing OK, but it's hard going," he reports. "There's a lot of stock about, but a lot of it is undesirable, and you have to cherry pick."
Smith's customers want 6x2 tractors on air with big cabs and at least 36ohp/38ohp on tap. And anything that's pre-1993 is difficult to move on," he adds.
"Occasionally we'll take in lowerpowered tractors because we need to maintain a good relationship with a particular customer, but it's hard to find a home for them."
Harry Williams, of Merseyside dealer Williams Truck Centre, says: %pas are dead, and 6x2s have to be a bit special. "If they are 1995-registered or older, then forget it; and buyers want high horsepower." "Registered tractors from 19 9 6/ 97/98 are what people want," says one well-known Midlands dealer. "They want to smell the newness on the m1 9 9 3 / 9 4 / 9 5 models are a lot harder to sell. Remember that, despite the way in which new trucks are discounted, there's still quite a price difference between late used tractors and new ones. A twoand-a-half-year-old tractor may be half the price of an equivalent new model.
"What all this means is that fiveyear-old 34ohp tractors are now extraordinarily cheap, and great value for money.
"OK, they're not over-powerful, but you can have two for the price of a big-engined one.
"We're talking about 18,750 to £9,750 for a 1995 example. So if you've got Lioo,000 to spare, you can buy yourself a small fleet!"
Long waiting lists for new chassis mean operators who usually buy new are now willing to consider used; especially if they've just taken on another contract, and need vehicles immediately. Smith says: "They are aware that if the warranty the vehicle has had
from new hasn't expired, then they should be able to extend it, and that gives them some reassurance.
"But the truck has to be clean, low mileage—it mustn't have been to the moon and back—and have a full service history. Some of the late' registered trucks that we see are not always that well maintained."
Chassis with specialist equipment can often fetch a healthy price. "We recently sold a lateregistered Scania 4 Series 8x4 hooldoader for very decent money," Smith says.
That suggests that dealers who have avoided the mainstream tractor unit sector may be in a happier position than some of those who haven't. "We've stayed away from tractors as far as possible, and we're finding our used stock is moving, albeit slowly," says Alan Pugh of dealer AR Pugh Commercials of West Malling, Kent.
The firm specialises in rigids equipped with everything from skip or hook-loaders to tipper or beavertail bodies.
It has just sold three out of the io 199 6 N-registered Renault Maxter G34oTi 8x4 alloy-bodied tippers it has acquired. "They didn't fetch book money, but we still sold them at a profit," Pugh says.
Twelve months ago every dealer in the country was after 17-tonners with grabs, but Pugh laments the lack of interest now.
He says: "They were being bought by firms laying cables for TY But all the cables seem to have been laid now. There's still a good demand for hook-loaders though."
The specialist equipment sector is increasingly being squeezed, too, says Williams.
"The whole market is feeling the pinch," he says.