Rob K:
If you want to have a revolving door of drivers come and go with the gaps in between filled by expensive agency drivers of questionable merit and ability (thus wiping out any cost savings on the purchase price) then sure, go ahead. Clearly you’re approaching this acquisition solely from a financial perspective and not from a driver retention and happiness perspective. The Mitsubishi trucks (if you can call them out) are cheap Japanese tat that are universally hated by pretty much every driver that has had the misfortune to drive one. All of the competition at 7.5 tonnes is infinitely superior and I even include Iveco in that who are renowned for their cheap and nasty finishes. Unless you pay your driver(s) well above the local market rate then expect to have difficulty recruiting people to drive it (especially if the work is very manual and generally undesirable as opposed to pallets and FLTs) as most drivers will migrate towards companies operating ‘traditional’ trucks where they have some degree of comfort. A happy driver is usually a productive worker and will likely take care of the truck. An unhappy driver will be unproductive and do things like ‘forgetting’ to top up the oil in the hope of killing it.But why buy new? There are huge amounts of nearly new trucks for sale that are still under warranty and will come within your budget.
Don’t underestimate just how much the Mitsubishi trucks are despised by drivers and certainly don’t rely on the opinion from the Mitsubishi dealer (for obvious reasons).
Sadly I totally agree with this.
Did one day in one and refused to go back. Apart from that it was the nicest place I’ve worked. Great coffee machine which was free. I was totally treated like an adult. On another job (only driven them twice) the handbrake cable snapped when I pulled up to the gates… They don’t even have air hand brakes.
They are shocking. Feel like bits will fall off going down the road. You bang your head getting in and out of them. And they are just horrifically uncomfortable to drive.
I think people get them because they have a big payload for a 7.5ter rather than them being super cheap. If it’s a cost thing expect to lose out - they literally fall apart.