• COMMENT BODIES OF QUALITY
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• A vehicle becomes a commercial vehicle in the eyes of the law when it becomes able to carry a load. For most vehicles, that means when the vehicle emerges from the workshops of a bodybuilder, for it is only smaller vehicles which emerge from their makers' factories ready to engage in useful work. It follows that the bodybuilder is a vital link in the chain of supply of commercial vehicles — indeed, one without which the average vehicle just could not be "commercial".
It is a fact of life that the work of the bodybuilder does not come cheap: the cost of fitting a vehicle out to carry a load runs into several thousands of pounds in most cases. It is also true that the customer expects that bodywork to last — often for several times the life of the chassis to which it is first fitted. It follows that the customer's expectation of the quality and life of a body far exceed his expectation of the chassis manufacturer's cab, or even of the chassis and its mechanical components.
Most bodybuilders will tell you that their products do match up to those customer expectations, and that their standards of quality are of the very highest. It might seem strange, therefore, to the average customer that so few of the hundreds of commercial vehicle bodybuilders in this country have so far subscribed to the code of bodybuilding practice which was set up by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders nearly two years ago. In our guide to bodybuilders in this issue, we have listed some 450 bodybuilders known by us to be engaged in building commercial vehicle bodies. Of those, less than 50 (in fact, well under 10%) have subscribed to the SMMT code — a code which endeavours to give the customer some level of reassurance that the bodies in question have been constructed to a standard which might be expected of a company building bodies to do an honest job of work reliably for a long time.
There are, no doubt, very good reasons why so few people have adopted a code which would apparently attract them so much extra business from customers who are looking for that sort of reassurance. They are not, however, easy to identify. Certainly, such codes place considerable demands on the companies which seek to implement them. They impose high standards on design, materials and workmanship, and even higher standards of consistency.
There is no guarantee that those companies which do not boast membership of the SMMT scheme are in some way deficient, or would be unable to comply with its requirements, or would be unable to build bodies to the required standard. On the contrary, it is certain that many, if not most, bodybuilders are capable of building, and do build, bodies of a high standard. It is just odd that so few seek the recognition of excellence which would give their customers (who, after all, provide their livelihood) the peace of mind which comes from buying something clearly identified as being good.
It is, of course, equally mystifying that so few customers apparently demand of their bodybuilders proof of compliance with the code. The bodies which they buy are not luxuries, but the bits which make their massive investments in lorries and trailers usable. The average operator would think hard about buying a new truck without type approval or a guarantee, and would certainly never buy a piece of office equipment without a warranty, yet it seems that many still buy commercial vehicle bodies on the strength of little more than the bodybuilder's name and a lick of paint. Isn't it time for a change?