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• Quite a few truck manufacturers would be happy with the annual sales of Glasgow-based independent Philip C Smith Commercials. But then 500 trucks and trailers a year is enough to make managing director Philip Smith one of the biggest independent used truck dealers in Britain, never mind Scotland.
A stroll through the company's yard underlines the fact that it's more than just your average used dealer. The company specialises in refurbished municipal vehicles including tankers, road sweepers, gritters and tar sprayers with up to 20% of its output being exported.
"We're reasonably fortunate in that we've got a very strong customer base so we're not totally reliant on the general haulage market," says Philip. "Export is a fairly regular business—we've supplied vehicles as far afield as the Caribbean and equipment to the Falklands and Ascension Island!"
Meeting that broad customer base means that at any one time the chassis in the company's main depot might range from a humble 7.5tanner to a 150-tonne heavy haulage tractor. And at the nearby tanker yard there are some 40 examples from low-loaders to boat trailers and vacuum tankers.
"With such a large variety of trucks, trailers and equipment there are always markets," reckons Smith, who also buys a lot of the equipment which is used in waste transport, such as hooklift eight-leggers and skip loaders.
Many municipals are now wanting to buy a secondhand vehicle rather than pay a high price for a new gritter that might stand Idle for much of the year.
Smith will buy a haulage chassis from a national rental or contract hire fleet then refurbish it extensively before mounting a new gritter box on the back. "Savings on such a vehicle can be in the region of up to 50%," he says. "We'll have refurbished chassis from 17-26 tonnes ex-stock." Typical production time for a refurbished gritter is four to six months.
Smith admits the market has hardened somewhat on general haulage and distribution. Specialist buyers are less affected by the vagaries of the UK market but "you've got to have backup and good workshop personnel and facilities where repairs and refurbishment can be properly carried out. Having been in the business for almost 25 years, these are strengths that will see us through." he says.
David Bennie, managing director of ERF Strathclyde, agrees with Smith: "Times are hard but we're relatively busy." However, according to Bennie: "The fun's gone out of the game—it's become more competitive, more serious." And problems within road haulage continue to have a knock-on effect when it comes to used prices. "We have to get rid of the cowboys so everybody is batting on the same pitch," says Bennie. "The decent haulier isn't getting a fair rate for the job so the dealers can't get a fair price for the truck." The used vehicle industry is also changing, he points out. "The days when you could say 'Here's a truck, it's twenty grand and don't come back!' are gone. You need to specialise in your own product. We don't have a problem selling our own make—if it's got an ERF badge on the front," says Bennie, who adds that the advent of the EC range "made people more aware of ERF".
ERF Strathclyde is aiming to sell around 70 used vehicles of all makes this year although Bennie reports that he hasn't been buying a lot of vehicles lately: "Only stock on trade-ins. And if I had to liquidate my stock tomorrow it wouldn't worry me." Looking at 1996 Bennie says there are "definitely signs that things are tightening". Talk to any used dealer in Scotland and the one name that tends to crop up in the conversation is Scania main distributor Reliable Vehicles—hardly surprising considering the geographic spread of Reliable's network north of the border. And the fact that it's one of the most successful used Scania dealers in the UK, especially in 14-litre tractors.
However, Jim Kearney, Reliable's used vehicle salesman at Renfrew, hardly betrays any enthusiasm when he says the market is "steady, steady. We're surviving. Used normally has its ups and down. We've had more ups and downs this year—it's a strange market." Despite that uncertainty Kearney has no doubts that Reliable will "easily do more than a hundred" although he won't be drawn on how good or bad that is compared to 1994. "It's not been a good back half of the year," is all he'll volunteer.
Ideally Reliable will retail vehicles. "That's our aim," says Kearney. Like other Scottish used dealers Reliable uses refurbishment as part of the retailing process. "We put a lot of work into them," he says. "Many of our customers are owner-drivers. They're all three-month warranties and virtually all reconditioned to MoT. The trend down south is to take it as it is," says Kearney, who sees the growinc demand for extended two and three-year warranty packages as weT as maintenance-backed contract hire 'driving future used vehicle quality and prices ever higher.
"The time is going to come when it will be like selling used Mercedes cars," he concludes. "If it's got a full service history it will get more." David Bennie of ERF