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Testing the water
Page 68
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Three used Volvo FL6 1 8-tonners helped Edwin C Farrall try out the pallet market with minimum risk.
Buying three four-yearold Volvo FL6 I 8-tonne curtainsiders has turned out to be one of the best decisions Edwin C Farrall has ever made. Based not far from Chester, the company has been operating them for around two years on delivery work for Palletforce, and they've had almost no mechanical trouble at all.
"On one occasion a pre-heater solenoid stuck in the on position on one of the vehicles, but that's the only significant fault that's occurred," says director Mark Farrall (above).
It was the decision to sign up with Palletforce that prompted the firm to acquire the sleeper-cab Volvos in the first place. Unsure of how things would pan out it didn't want to commit to expensive new vehicles in case its new-found relationship with the pallet network turned sour.
"So we went for the FL6s at £13,000 apiece," says Farrall. "The bill rose to around £15.000 once we'd got them painted and lettered we put new curtains on them too -but we reckon that was still a good deal given the price of brand-new ones.
"Fitted with 24ft bodies, they were all ex-BRS.They came with full service histories so we knew they had a good pedigree."
Personalised ECF numberplates have helped disguise their age, and the fuel consumption is "pretty good ":"We use an onboard computer to monitor it," he adds.
Cocking up around 60,000 miles apiece a year, the 18-tonners supplied by Volvo dealer Thomas Hardie's Middlewich depot range as far afield as Llandudno and Anglesey and up to Birkenhead. Occasionally they're dispatched to the Palletforce hub overnight if the trunker has more to carry than it can cope with.
It's the roads of rural North Wales that provide the toughest test, however. "We often have to go down narrow lanes where it's difficult to manoeuvre," Farrall explains. "Although glazed cab doors help the drivers see what they're doing, the bumpers still get a bit damaged sometimes.The F1L6s have got steel bumpers, so we can fix them ourselves if they get bent. Fibreglass bumpers would simply shatter."
Laurels for Hardie
The Volvos are serviced by Hardie's Deeside workshop. "Running costs seem quite reasonable and we get superb back-up,he reports. "On one occasion we had a clutch go in an FH at 5.00pm the dealership ha( fitted a new one and had the truck back in our yard by 3.30am."
When it's not working for Palletforce, Edwin C Farrall hauls foodstuffs and plastic beads that are turned into everything from buckets to surgical gloves.
So how long will the FL6s stay in service? We usually keep our trucks we run 20for up to 10 years," he says."We just sold one on an M-plate."
The fleet is split 50/50 between Volvo and Mercedes."But our next buy will almost certainly be Volvo," Farrall concludes.•