Laurie Dealer: wake up, and start selling at auction
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At various points in history, used truck directors working at UK-based importers to the European OEMs have dismissed public auctions as viable points-of-sale. The fear of exposing prime rolling stock to the open market is reinforced by the mantra that we retail our own trucks' and they don't realise true residual values'. Yet two used truck directors who have stared fear in the face and ventured into the auction arena have been richly rewarded. Last year MAN started using
Protruck Auctions regularly to sell TopUsed vehicles and Volvo Trucks orchestrated a one-off sale with Manheim (CM 24 October). As fourand five-year-old
trucks in good nick, these vehicles fall just outside the 'corporate retail offering' that the in-house branded used truck department specialises in.
For the Volvo sale, the vehicles' specification was spot on, and a solid marketing campaign brought in national/international attention.
Response has been good, with operators and trade tripping over each other to crawl through broken glass just to sniff the emissions from the tail-pipe.
Perhaps other used truck directors should wake up and smell the coffee — and bacon rolls — that wafts into every auction hall.