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Used but not abused
Page 72
Page 73
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Franchised dealers are at the heart of manufacturer's used-truck schemes; CM dropped in on Renault Trucks Chiltern to check out some of its previously owned bargains.
When you're a franchised dealership that's virtually next door to the UK HQ of the manufacturer you represent; when the manufacturer happens to own you; and when said manufacturer is keen for its dealers to develop used vehicle sales, then you'd better start getting stuck into the second-hand market.
That's what Dunstable-based Renault Trucks Chiltern has been doing of late, and its efforts are starting to pay off especially where Premiums are concerned:-We sold over 60 used Premiums last year, up from 40 in 2002," says used sales manager. Rob Murphy.
"A lot of the Premium tractor units we stock are ex-contract -we rarely go out into the marketplace to buy vehicles and from two to five years old," he adds. "Most of them have the Privilege cab. Around 80% are 6x2s, but at present a lot of people are asking for 4x2s."
Although many used-truck pundits contend that buyers of second-hand tractors want well in excess of 400hp on tap, Murphy says he has little trouble selling Premium 385s:"Often the buyer would prefer to have over 400hp to play with, but doesn't want to spend the extra money. 11 Many Premiums are supplied on a 1.9% finance deal over three years with a 20% deposit, and customers come from all over the country."A lot of them are based in or near Northamptonshire however," Murphy reports:We pull them in because we happen to have a service outlet in Wellingborough.We aim to sign buyers up to a repair-and-maintenance contract whenever we can.
"The part-exchanges we get vary a good deal, and in a lot of cases of course there isn't one involved. Many hauliers prefer to dispose of their old tractors themselves. If we get a good one in however a Volvo or a Scania, say -then we'll certainly retail it. We don't have a problem there."
Rare birds
Some used Renaults simply aren't readily available and so Chiltern has struggled to sell them but that looks set to change soon:"We only did a few 18tonners last year because there weren't that many to be had, but we should be seeing more this year than in previous years."
The dealership only sells a handful of Magnums annually. but Murphy is confident that volumes will soon rise."We'll be dealing with a lot more in two or three years' time because of the number that are now being sold new," he predicts."Owner-drivers love them."
Second-hand eight-wheelers remain a scarce commodity at Chiltern,but ex-contract Midlums are increasingly thick on the ground, with 7.5-tonners at 150hp predominating. It's a marked contrast with the situation in early 2003, and Murphy's pleased to see it."A year ago we were really struggling with Midlum because we didn't have the stock," he explains:111e situation is far easier now and the truck is becoming much more widely accepted by customers.As a consequence we sold six in December."
Chiltern isn't allowing this success to go to its head; Murphy's pursuing what he feels is a realistic target:"We hope to do 30 used Midlums this year, and we're having a bit of success with lveco and Mercedes operators" Most of the Midlums the dealership sells are up to two years old, ex-contract, low mileage ("less than 100,000ktn") and a healthy mixture of boxes (some with tail-lifts), curtainsiders, and dropsides."We should have some tippers coming back this year too," says Murphy."It's a better mix than we had in 2003, when for the most part only boxes were available."
How are sales of used Masters going? "We don't do all that many: around 20 to 30 annually," Murphy replies "They're usually up to two years old or thereabouts, pretty well looked after, and will have covered no more than 60,000 miles. For the most part we've been selling the 115hp 2.8-litre dTi diesel long-wheelbase high-roof van."
With a dozen or so Masters on its books Chiltern's rental fleet is a handy source of used stock.
Not surprisingly Ford Transits figure highly among the partexchanges, as do Citroen Relays: "Whether we retail them ourselves or trade them out depends on their quality."
Used Mascotts are rare at Chiltern, but that doesn't make the dealership unique by any means."You don't see many second-hand ones around anywhere because so few are sold new," Murphy points out.
Any owner-driver after a truck that looks the part,but who doesn't really need something with over 400hp on tap, could do worse than look at the special edition V-plated Premium 385 4x2 tractor Chiltern has on show. With an impressively clean interior it boasts a walnut dash and a light bar on the roof.
Try your luck
Dating back to 1999, it's finished in silver but a small patch of blue paint betrays its origins with Securicor Omega Express It's covered 400,000krn,and could be yours for £16,000 (but you might want to try an offer of £15,000).
With just 40,000km on the clock, the 7.5-tonne 150hp X-reg Midlum curtainsider also on show hasn't seen quite so much wear. Fitted with a 20ft Boalloy body, it's tidy inside and out, bar a little surface corrosion in one or two places and a bit of loose outside trim on the passenger door. Registered in 2000, it's on sale for £14,000.
if you quite like what you see, but need to have it altered in some way, Chiltern has one big advan tage: it can carry out virtually an type of engineering work the cu tomer specifies, including shortc ing and lengthening chassis as well as remounting bodies "That's because our workshc employs a lot of engineers who used to be with Renault's SVO operation next door," Murphy explains.
It looks like bespoke tailorini isn't dead yet. •