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A sense of optimism
Page 52
Page 53
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Customers can get a lot of truck for their money, says Renault Trucks' Mike Finney, so it pays to be positive in the used truck market, since there are assets available at very affordable prices.
Words / Images: Steve ddfiner Mike Finney is an optitnist, and it isn't hard to see why. As general manager, used vehicles, at Renault Trucks, he is aware that the ex-contract newer-shape Premium 440hp 4x2 and 6x2 tractor units the company is now handling will typically retail for around £20,000; just the sort of price many operators after a used unit are willing to pay at present.
"They're already selling exceptionally well," he reports. "Customers recognise that they are getting a lot of truck for their money. The earliest of the 440hp units typically carry 06 plates, although there are one or two 55-plate examples about.
"Usually, the 06-registered examples have covered from 300,000km to 500,000km, and that means there's a lot of life left in them.
As part of the Truckplus approved used programme, Renault has recently been advertising 06-registered Premium 440 DXi units available through Renault Truck Commercials' wholly-owned dealerships under two-year contract hire with repair and maintenance agreements from £213 a week.
Fmney believes this sort of arrangement is a better way to boost second-hand sales than offering minimum partexc ange allowances under a so-called `scrappage scheme c believes that is because the gap between the exchange's modest value and what is actually g paid may add up to several thousand pounds. 11 that money has got to come from somewhere, and marty of the critics of this sort of deal contend that some — if aot all — is bound to be added to the price of the latef registered used truck the operator is purchasing. par bei
Th export market
Boti MAN and Renault's sister company, Volvo, have beep advertising scrappage schemes heavily in recent weeks. Scrappage programmes that apply to heavy trucks are iot receiving state grants, unlike those that apply to cars and vans.
" e'd only want to consider introducing one for trucks if government was prepared to support it," states Fin ey. "Otherwise,! don't think we'd want to do it." How about the older-style 420hp Premium units that are coming back in numbers? "They're appealing to people who are just starting out as owner-drivers and are on a budget," he replies. "Depending on their age and specification, they're retailing from £10,000 to £20,000.
"There's a large export market for them, too," Finney reports. "We work with a number of exporters, including Britcom — among other things, it's the Renault distributor in Kenya — and we're finding that Renaults are selling particularly well in Cyprus at present. Admittedly, the Russian market isn't as busy as it was, but we're still selling a few there, too.
"What's more, we've just sent quite a few Midlum 7.5-tonners over to Kenya, which is a first," he says."1 don't know of any other manufacturer that exports 7.5-tonners in anything like volume."
The appetite certain overseas countries still have for seven-to-eight-year-old trucks shipped out from the UK, despite the global recession, is helping to support part-exchange values, he says. Vehicles of that sort of vintage are the ones likely to be traded in against three-year-old examples on display on British forecourts.
"That said, anybody who bought a second-hand truck a couple of years back and now wants to part-exchange it may get a bit of an unpleasant surprise when they see the price he's being offered," Finney admits. Tha L's because he bought his existing vehicle at the top of the market; and values have fallen a long way since.
Finance provision
Finney adds:"If they bought it five or six years ago, then the price won't be quite such a shock to the system because of the way the truck will have depreciated."
Ex-contract vehicles account for 90% of the stock Finney and his colleagues handle, and units-mostly Premiums — dominate. "We dispose of quite a few former BRS trucks, along with an increasing number of finance house repossessions," he reveals.
"We've also started underwriting part-exchanges taken in against new Renaults."
While plenty of ex-contract tractor units and 7.5-tormers are cropping up, Finney could still do with a few more 18-tonners. Ex-contract multi-wheelers are an even rarer sight. "One thing we want to try to do is put a broader spread of vehicles out on buy-back agreements," he says.
With the credit crunch still biting hard, and even sound well-established businesses finding it hard to get funding, a greater number of used truck deals are being funded through Renault's own finance division, "Some of the lenders who were major players in the commercial vehicle sector in the past have simply lost the taste for it," he says."As a consequence, our Ainding division is involved in more than 40% of the deals we see, and that percentage is growing."
While retail prices are nowhere near the giddy heights they were once at. Finney believes they're starting to harden — perhaps indicating that demand is slowly recovering along with the economy.
"If you've got quality vehicles, you don't have to discount them," he contends."You don't have to take the first offer; those days are behind us You can hold out on price."