Manheim Auctions is still planning to set up a heavy
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truck auction in southern England after an attempt to purchase an existing truck auction site fell through. "We're looking at locations along the M3/M4 corridor," says Jeremy Martell, newly appointed to the position of commercial sales manager, HGV and plant. "There's a huge gap in that area of the UK and we intend to fill it."
The amount of space trucks and trailers require is an obstacle, however, because of the high price of land. "In Basingstoke it costs 2600,000 an acre," Martell reports. Obtaining planning permission can also be a problem. "One of the three sites we are currently looking at, however, does have planning consent, and we should have a location in operation during the next seven to nine months," he says.
Life might be a little easier if all trucks could be auctioned over the Internet, and Manheim is aiming to provide just such a service. Martell doesn't put a date on it, but sees it as an alternative to conventionally run sales rather than a replacement. He believes manufacturers with vehicles to dispose of will find it appealing.
The idea is that the manufacturers and Manheim will agree a realistic reserve before the trucks appear on the Manheim web site. Purchasers will be able to bid electronically—photographs of the vehicles will appear alongside the specifications—with delivery possible in as little as 24 hours after a bid has been successful. If the trucks fail to reach their reserve Manheim will dispose of them through its conventional sales.
FENGATE COMMERCIAL SERVICES Peterborough Mercedes-Benz dealership Fengate Commercial Services has introduced a mid-lift axle conversion calculated to appeal to independent dealers anxious to transform slow-moving 4x2 tractors into more popular 6x2s. Installed on a Mercedes Actros, and using a Hendrickson axle with key components designed and built by Fengate itself, the conversion costs 27,000. 'We've been inundated with inquiries, and we've received a lot of cooperation from Hendrickson," says group managing director Philip Biddlecombe.
The conversion is about 20kg lighter than Mercedes-Benz's own mid-lift; it can be completed in around nine days on a 3.9m-wheelbase chassis. The price includes wheels and tyres; the package may also be marketed on the Continent.
EURO WISE TRUCK Following his success in selling day-cab Scania PI13 320 tractors converted into 4m3 cement mixers, Euro Wise Truck boss Peter Hassan is now supplying batching plants to go with them.
Vehicle and plant can be leased as a package for 2229 a week. "The basic plant will do 15m' an hour, which means it can keep three or four mixers busy," he says.
The initiative has been prompted by mergers among several of the companies that employ mixer operators as subcontractors. Hassan believes that some subbies will be cut loose as a consequence, and supplying them with a batching plant as well as trucks will enable them to offer a lot more than contract transport.
"Hopefully we'll get in with these people on the ground floor," he explains. "After all, the construction industry is doing quite well at the moment and there is plenty of work out there."
KEL-BERG
Kel-Berg is arranging maintenance contracts using Continental dealerships for international hauliers who buy its grey import trucks.
They spend more time on the other side of the Channel than they do in the UK, so it makes sense for them to have their vehicles looked after over there, says Kel-Berg executive Simon Hall.