1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142 
CASE STUDY COMMERCIAL COLLECTIONS
Page 34
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The managing director of Commercial Collections, Tony Sander, has been dellvering cars since 1960, and currently hauls for major dealer groups (such as lnchcape), auction houses and rental companies.
don't sub to other car transport companies," he says bluntly. "[If I did] my gates would be shut because of the long payment times."
Much like Minster, Commercial Collections was once a major ERF operator, but now operates Renault Premium and Mercedes-Benz Actros prime movers in a fleet that has been scaled down from 20 to 10 in recent years. It runs a mixture of drawbars, and, increasingly unusually, artics. The six/seven-car
capacity trailers better suit dealer deliveries, explains Sander. The Renaults "have been good apart from some suspension problems,' while the Mercedes "are expensive, but hold their value".
Most of his work comes from being well-known in an industry that he's served for 40 years — the concept of a company website does not find particular favour with Sander. "You just pick up waifs and strays," he reckons.
Sander operates from a wholly-owned site in Dunstable, but other than the GM joint venture van factory, much of the area's manufacturing base has closed. Despite this, Sander feels he's probably doing better than many of the larger firms in this sector which have, he claims, "fields full of parked vehicles".