All the trucks sold by Maritime come with a three-month
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warranty and an annual vehicle test certificate. The company can deliver to anywhere in the UK, and inspections can be arranged at the firm's Tilbury, Essex, site or at any one of its locations — it has 10 across the country
The majority of its vehicles, however, are sold unseen, either because customers have clone satisfactory deals with the firm before, or because they trust the name.
Maritime will accept some part-exchanges, and will occasionally sell one to a sub-contractor—the company has about 200 subbies — but the majority end up being exported, Matt Heath says.
The company has not put all its eggs in one basket, however. Despite Williams's criticisms of the activities of lessors, part of the almost-500-strong fleet is still leased.
However, it feels its policy of buying many of the trucks it runs and selling them itself rather than disposing of them to a dealer or packing them off to auction has been a success. It 5 by no means an approach that would suit all hauliers; but Maritime will not be altering its policy any time soon.