“Our usual customers are companies in the freight hauling sector—both private carriers and for-hire operators. Once we leave the various transportation applications, we see a lot of activity in agriculture and construction, in addition to service operations, for example landscapers, that come to us for equipment,” said John Diez, senior vice president of Asset Management at Ryder Systems. He’s the man responsible for moving his company’s equipment into secondary applications—the used truck market.
The cost of a used piece of equipment can be substantially less than that of a new unit, but that has changed in recent years. Zach Bourn, director of used equipment for PACCAR Financial, said, “By buying late model trucks and trailers, fleets can conserve their cash flows since they don’t have to come up with as large of a down payment as they would buying new equipment. However, used truck prices, along with prices for new units, have increased between 15% and 25% over the last three years.”
Often just as important as price is the availability of a used piece of equipment. If a fleet earns a new three-year contract that requires some additional equipment, used equipment can often immediately provide the truck or trucks needed to meet a business opportunity at an affordable price. Steve Clough, president of Arrow Truck Sales, said, “There are several motivations that we see among our fleet customers. First is the availability of used vehicles versus new. There are times when a fleet has an opportunity to increase its business and can’t handle the long lead time for new vehicles. It needs to get something quicker so it dips into the used truck market. At other times it might simply be lower price.”
Some research into the used truck market may be a good idea for any fleet manager looking to add to his fleet. Darry Stuart, president and CEO of DWS Fleet Services, said, “If you’re running local, maybe a couple hundred miles a day, a used truck with 500,000 miles on the odometer is not going to hurt you.” So, depending on your operation, he believes the purchase of used heavy-duty trucks, tractors or trailers might be an affordable method of responding to an immediate need for additional equipment. But what can you do to maximize your chance of finding vehicles that are likely to provide reliable service for a sufficiently long period of time?
click here to visit Fleet Equipment and read the complete story.
