Haulier enjoys new Lease of Life
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With cost savings in mind, one Leicestershire-based general haulier has replaced its 24-strong fleet with ex-leasing vehicles.
Words: Kevin Swallow LEICESTERSHIRE-BASED general haulier Ritchie Transport has replaced its 24-strong fleet with ex-leasing vehicles.
Ricky Morris. managing director of the Melton Mowbray haulier. says the deal to bring in 22 06-registered, Euro-3. 6x2 430hp Stralis AS trucks and two Eurocargo rigids was all about keeping costs down.
"We decided to go secondhand to keep the costs down." he says. "They are all 06 onwards, with low mileage — around 200,000km on the clock, all with full service history.
-1 talked to a lot of other lveco operators and not one of them had a had word to say about them. We bought four initially and ran them for several months with no problems.
The second-hand trucks were half the age of Ritchie's outgoing ERF and DAE vehicles. Some of the ERFs had more than one million kilometres on the clock.
Morris says the drivers love the vehicles and the fuel returns have improved even on maximumweight work, The DAF fleet average was 7mpg and the [yews are delivering 8.3mpg. he adds. Independent Iveco dealership Sherwood Truck and Van supplied the trucks. and Ritchie Transport will maintain them in-house.
Morris says the deal is a short-term measure: "We will replace the fleet again in two to three years' time with more second-hand vehicles, only next time they will be around 12 months old".
Phil Salmon, group used sales manager based at Sherwood's Blackwell, Derbyshire, headquarters, says the deal is a substantial order,
-Through David Palmer at D&D Transport, we became aware that Ritchie Transport required a fleet change. It is testimony to our abilities to provide first-class support service that helped clinch the deal." he says.
Air freight specialist Saints Transport also recently went down the second-hand route, taking 60 used MANs (CM 15 April).