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
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190 
A long clean sheet and just a little cash
Page 70
Page 71
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Armed with £6,000 CM went in search of a clean post-1998 7.5-tonne tipper — starting with our unequalled classified section...
Head for your nearest truck auction and you'll see plenty of 7.5-tonners with box or curtain-sided bodies rolling through. Some attract fierce bidding while others get a lukewarm reception at best and go under the hammer with 'provisional' added by the auctioneer as it fails to reach reserve price.
But finding a clean 7.5-tonne tipper can be difficult. And with £6,000 in your back pocket the chances are that the trade will out-bid you on anything that is clean and up to six years old. Instead we trawled through CM'S dealer ads and soon found our first target: an MAN 8.163 tipper on an S-plate (1999).The independent dealer wants £7,000 and isn't prepared to haggle."lean sell these all day long," he chimes down the phone.
He helpfully points put that we'll need to increase our cash offer significantly if we want something similar off his lot so we bid him farewell and look somewhere else.
We spy some three-year-old Renault Midlums and MANs at another Londonbased independent but his prices push and break £1 0000 (ex-VAT) — way out of our league.Taking the advice of the first dealer we decide not to waste time trying to haggle and continue the search.
No haggling
A Daf 45 150 with a tipper body registered in 2000 is up for grabs so we decide to callit's got low mileage, a steel body and is described as clean for £7,250 (ex-VAT). But the dealer concerned has already received two bids over the asking price.
He suggests going for older stock, perhaps even nipping down to Manheim Auctions at Leeds to see what they've got. "You can put an enquiry in if there's something you like," he says and bids us good day.
As if to confirm his point an Iveco 75E15 tipper on a V-plate (2000) comes into view,but at £10,500 (ex-VAT) it's way out of our league. It's a conversion too— the dealer's added a sub-frame and body. "It pays," he explains. "There are too many box and curtainsiders around and not enough tippers."
Going cold
Several three-year-old Mercedes-Benz Atego 7.5-tonne tippers with dropside are available — but only if we double our stake. So we decide on a little cold calling as there are no Isuzus up for grabs.The first Isuzu Truck dealer says: "Sorry mate, nothing in at the moment. Give us your number and I'll give you a shout. Trouble is they hold onto the bloody things rather than sell or do part-exchange."
The second Isuzu trader points out that even the first examples to arrive in the UK six years ago are worth more than £6,000 in clean condition unless you want one for parts. Back at Iveco we discover that, in theory, £6k will get you an N-plate (1995/6) model but it might not be in very good condition.
After more than a few hours phoning around we decide that the first port of call was the best. It proved the clear winner as no one else was even interested once they knew our budget was just £6k.
The MAN 8.150 tipper for £7,000 (ex-VAT) was the closest to our budget but £6,000 was never going to get us what we wanted— if we'd set up a contract with this budget the profit margin would already be evaporating.
The truth is that tippers are in demand.
If you want one you'll have to pay the market price. •