Substance over style
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This week Webwatch visits the UK website of Swedish truck maker Scania
Words: James Clark
Company: Scania (Great Britain) Address: http://scania.co.uk
Homepage
The Scania GB site looks modern,
as you would expect, but it’s not a case of style over substance. The site is so feature-packed that it’s easy to miss useful sections.
The first thing to catch your eye is a large video panel promoting the Young European Truck Driver 2012 competition. If you would rather find out about Scania off-road trucks or engines, use the links below the box to change its contents. As for getting around the site, the main navigation runs along the top. At the bottom of the homepage there are links through to Scania’s pages on social media sites including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
Product search
To reach the product search, click on ‘Used’ in the main menu and then on the ‘Vehicle search’ link in the sub-menu on the left.
To start your search you must select one of four product types: tractors; rigids; buses and coaches; or trailers. The Scania used vehicle database contains stock from authorised Scania dealers worldwide and you can limit your search to specific countries.
At this stage you can hit the yellow ‘Search’ button, or get more specific by clicking ‘Detailed search’ and then ‘Next step’. This option isn’t obvious at first but provides you with lots of extra criteria; with used tractors, for example, these include make, axle configuration, cab type and maximum mileage. You can even select a specific dealer.
For each item matching your search, the site displays a title, thumbnail photo, wheelbase, year, mileage and country. The results can be sorted by any of the last four, and other criteria too.
As another option, you can sign up for email notifications so that you are messaged when a vehicle is added to the site that matches your search – a little strangely, this is called “Save search as a subscription” and, elsewhere, just “Subscribe”. Once you have found an item of interest, click on the title for a full spec, additional images and contact details for the dealer selling the item. Price (at least for
Likes and dislikes
We like
✓ Fantastic search and options ✓ Comprehensive information on listings
We’re not sure
✖ Some options are slightly hidden ✖ Hard to leave the shop – and not because of the merchandise
vehicles in the UK) is on application. Click on any image for a larger version with a link to download it to your desktop.
At the top of the page you will also find options to email the listing to a colleague – or perhaps to yourself! – and share it on a social network.
Other pages
As you might expect, there’s more to the Scania website than we can list on this Webwatch page. Two of the highlights include digital brochures on the manufacturer’s truck range (under ‘Trucks’ in the main menu), and a searchable directory of all Scania dealers in the UK (under ‘Dealers’).
From the Scania GB site you can also click through to the ‘Scania Webshop’ (at http://webshop.scania.com), which sells branded merchandise. One small criticism here – once you enter the shop there seems to be no way to return to the main site except by using your browser’s ‘back’ button.
Conclusion
This site should be your first port of call if you are looking for a used Scania, or indeed anything Scania-related.