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Used price gap en axles starts fading
Page 56
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• The second-hand prices of threeyear-old 4x2 and 6x2 tractor units are drawing closer together as 4x2 values harden and 6x2 values soften. That's the view of independent trader Martin Rhodes.
"A while ago the gap was around £6,000-k,000," he observes. "Now it can be as narrow as £2,000-L3,000."
He admits, however, that its difficult to be categorical about prices at present.
"They're all over the place," he observes. "Some trucks make the money you expect them to, yet others struggle—and there's no rhyme or reason to it.
"If you're buying, then it's very difficult to know if you're paying the right price or not."
This degree of volatility means that independent dealers need to turn their stock over quickly to avoid being caught out, he says. "You've got to sell vehicles as rapidly as you can, even if it means accepting a smaller margin," he remarks.
Something that's definitely affecting the market is an absence of good quality stock. Long lead times for new trucks could be an influencing factor, he suggests.
"Delivery times are still being counted in months rather than weeks, and obviously operators aren't letting their existing trucks go until they can get hold of the new ones," he observes.
Even if they've got new trucks, they often prefer to hang onto their old ones until the New Year to help cope with the bulge in traffic in the run-up to Christmas.
There certainly aren't all that many decent-quality 7.5-tonners around, he says.
"One or two-year-old Mercedes and Oaf 7.5-tonners—and they're the ones that buyers want—aren't at all easy to get hold of," he comments. "That's especially the case so far as curtainsiders and dropsides are concerned, and they're making particularly good money.
"There are still too many boxbodied examples about though."
No matter whether it's a 7.5-tonner or a top-weight tractor unit, condition is more important than it has ever been, he believes.
"If a vehicle isn't in good condition, then you'll struggle to sell it," he says. "Customers don't want sheds on wheels and they don't want anything that's been abused.
"Condition is king, no question about it."