COMMERCIAL MOTORS (WALES)
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New dealership gathers pace
Staying in the
business
Newport-based Commercial Motors (Wales) has joined the ranks of the Isuzu Truck (UK) network and is now selling new vehicles
Words / Images: Steve Banner A decade has passed since Norbert
Dentressangle acquired well-known Welsh haulier Sheddick Transport, but Roger and Gill Sheddick have not been idle since then.
Still with close connections to the haulage industry, together with their colleague Robert Manchip they have built Newport-based truck dealership Commercial Motors (Wales), which was acquired three years ago, into a thriving concern. Last December the MAN parts and service outlet became an Isuzu Truck dealership too, adding new vehicle sales to its portfolio.
“After we inished with Sheddick Transport we did some consultancy work,” Roger recalls. “But we wanted to do something else. We’ve known Rob for a long time, and we knew he wanted to get involved in his own business, so we all decided to get together and look for something.” With Roger and Gill’s experience running trucks, which gives them an insight into what operators want, and Rob’s dealer background – his career has included 23 years with Euro Commercials, Mercedes-Benz dealer for South Wales – buying a dealership made sense for the three directors.
“It took us quite a while to ind the sort of thing we were looking for,” Roger continues. “And when we did it was the start of 2009, which wasn’t the best time to begin a new venture, given the inancial climate.”
MAN operators
Purchasing a irm that represented MAN suited the Sheddicks because they had previously been MAN operators. It also held an LDV franchise, however – LDV was on the verge of closing down – and in addition they found themselves with a business supplying parts for Rovers, which they have retained.
“We sell Rover parts right across South Wales and into Bristol,” Roger says. “It’s a diminishing market but, nonetheless, still quite a signiicant one.” LDV’s demise prompted them to look for another van franchise, but there were no suitable openings. “However, an opportunity came up with Isuzu Truck, so we took it,” he says. The Isuzu dealership is based in the irm’s van centre, which is right next door to its MAN activities. Between them they employ 35 people.
While there is no denying that the trading climate has been tough, the Sheddicks and Manchip are pleased with the progress the irm has made. Concentrating on providing service and parts, during a period when operators were not acquiring new vehicles and attempting to keep the ones they had already got running instead, turned out to make sound inancial sense.
“It’s interesting that we’ve survived for nearly three years without new vehicle sales, even though we had them in our business forecast,” sales director Manchip observes. “The arrival of Isuzu should take us to the next level.” Indeed, the franchise has got off to a lying start, with an order for 11 vehicles from Monmouthshire County Council. “We’ve got two going to Brecon Council as well,” he says, “7.5-tonne tippers with lockers mounted behind the cab.
“Our total Isuzu sales target for our irst year is 60 and I’d like to think we’ll surpass that,” he adds. Mitsubishi Fuso’s Canter and Nissan’s Cabstar are among the key competitors, with operators running traditional makes of 7.5-tonner (Mercedes-Benz Atego, Iveco Eurocargo, and so on) potentially willing to look at an Isuzu if the work they are on is payload-sensitive because of its low unladen weight.
While leet business from local authorities is important, most potential Isuzu customers in the area are smallto medium-sized businesses, says Manchip. MAN parts and service customers also tend to be the smaller hauliers.
“There aren’t all that many major truck leets around here,” says Roger. “If you’ve got 10 to 12 trucks, then you’re a big operator.” New vehicle sales should generate some part-exchanges, and that should help the business realise another ambition: the development of a used truck business. “There’s a shortage of good-quality used vehicles at present and they’re fetching premium prices,” says Manchip.
Rising demand
MAN’s sales success in Wales over the past 12 months should ensure demand for service and parts continues to rise.
“We’re inding that operators like the ixed-price maintenance packages we offer,” adds Manchip. This is because it makes it easier for them to predict their operating costs. “Trucks are becoming more complex and it’s becoming more dificult for operators to look after them themselves,” says Roger.
Commercial Motors (Wales) has the necessary kit at its 1.5-acre site, plus technicians with the ability to use it. “Nonfranchised repairers are inding the increased sophistication of trucks dificult to deal with because they don’t always have the equipment and diagnostic skills,” he says.
That is not to say that independent repairers do not pose competition. In fact they are more signiicant rivals than other local franchised dealers.
“We also come up against the ‘man-in-a-van’-type mobile repairer from time to time, especially where trailers are concerned,” says Roger.
With a total of 11 bays and an annual throughput of 5,000 vehicles, the site’s workshops open from 7am to 11pm on weekdays and 7am to 12.30pm on Saturdays. As a former haulier, however, Roger is well aware that trucks can need attention at any time, day or night.
“We’re willing to tackle jobs outside those hours if needs be,” he says. “We’re pretty lexible.”
The workshops continue to see quite a few ERFs. “A lot of people wish they could still buy new ones,” says Gill. ■
ATF? NOT FOR NOW
Roger has no ambitions for the company to become an authorised testing facility (ATF). ATFs are already in place at a number of locations in Newport and Cardiff, so he doubts the return on investment would be worthwhile.
What is worthwhile, however, is for operators to have their trucks prepared by Commercial Motors (Wales) before being submitted for test. “Our average first-time-pass rate is over 95% and we hit 100% over the last quarter,” says Roger.