ATE's Wolverhampton ATF up and running by May
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Independent dealer ATE Truck and Trailer Sales plans to open an ATF at its Wolverhampton site by May Words: Steve Banner Wolverhampton-based independent dealer ATE Truck and Trailer Sales aims to open an authorised testing facility (ATF) on its 13-acre site just off Junction 2 of the M54. "We should have it up and running in May," says commercial director Allan Evans.
Although ATE does not service and repair third-party vehicles — its 80,000ft2 workshop is there solely to handle in-house work — the ATF will offer tests to anybody whose trucks require them.
With the economy still in the doldrums, Evans says times are still tough for many of ATE's domestic customers (who don't always have sufficient confidence in the future to invest in vehicles).
"Hauliers have been squeezed, especially as far as fuel prices are concerned, and their margins are suffering," he continues. "Some of them are finding it difficult to fund the trucks they need, and finance companies aren't always as co-operative as they could be. The decision by ING Lease to pull out hasn't helped the situation, as it played such a big part in the market. We put quite a lot of business through them."
Forging close links ATE has, however, forged close links with Asset Alliance. It was set up three years ago by former Alliance & Leicester Commercial Finance MD Willie Paterson to provide specialist CV asset finance.
Working together last November, ATE and Asset Alliance organised the supply of six refurbished Gray & Adams refrigerated trailers to Graham's Family Dairy of Bridge of Allan, near Stirling.
As far as trucks are concerned, anybody looking to acquire a late-plate Euro-5 tractor unit because they are wary of Euro-6, due to come into force in January 2014, and can afford to do so, may find the shortage is not as acute as some dealers suggest, Evans believes.
"A lot of manufacturers have written new truck deals in a way that ensures that plenty of Euro-5 vehicles will come back during the next few months," he contends. "In fact, one or two of them may have overdone things a bit, so there could be more Euro-5s around than people expect," he says. "Indeed, there may be an excess."
Some of the two-year-old tractor units being returned may have been worked quite hard, he adds: "Some of them are likely to have covered up to 600,000km."
If a truck has been maintained regularly, however, and comes with a full-service history, then this need not be too terrifying a prospect. Modern trucks are far more capable of coping with high mileages without suffering ill effects than their predecessors of 30 years ago. • ATE'S HISTORY With a site at Bruntingthorpe near Lutterworth, Leicestershire, as well as one in Wolverhampton, ATE Truck & Trailer Sales was started in 2000. It stocks anywhere from 500 to 800 trucks and trailers, and sells more than 2,500 of them annually to domestic and overseas buyers.
In-house facilities give it the ability to do anything from shot-blasting and repainting a trailer to converting a curtainsider trailer into a flatbed.