Living life to the fu 11 Most dealers like to move high-mileage tractors abroad but Scania
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believes there's life in the old dogs yet. Steve Banner reports.
Scania is making low-rate finance packages available through its dealers on high-mileage. ex-contract, 124 420 6x2 tractor units that may have clocked up 750,000km in their first four or five years.
It's recognition of the fact that hauliers remain resolutely wary of vehicles that have covered a lot of ground. even when they've been regularly serviced and even though modern engines can cope with being worked hard, "Mileage remains very important, with some manufacturers saying that anything that has done well over 500,000km really needs exporting these days," says Mark Mellor, responsible for used truck sales at Leeds MAN-ERF dealership Reliance. "Remember that a customer after a two to three-yearold tractor unit ideally wants it to have done no more than 300,000km because he knows that hell typically be putting 160,000km on it annually.
"By and large we tend not to stock units that have done much more than 500,000km,"saysAndy Mackay of Manchester Daf dealership Chatfields. He points out that a unit that has done 600.000km may be worth up to £3,000 less than one that has done 500,000km.
Tempted by the right deal
However, Stuart Wolstenholme of Scania dealership West Pennine believes some operators may be tempted by a unit that has seen some service if the finance package is right. A low price can often make an initially unattractive vehicle a lot more desirable.
"We used a 0% finance deal to shift a lot of P-cab tractors and it worked," he reports. •