You think prices here are high, try buying one in Australia. They must be getting some great rates.
example 2004 volvo fm, 420hp tractor unit, , 550k kms, aus$109k = uk£65k
At todays exchange rate 50,000 aus dollars = 32,000 uk pounds
Casper,
It is a rip off over here, over here they still love the road ranger Kenworth, Freightliner’s Sterling’s etc … Scania, Volvo Iveco are moving in on the market … a lot of CF … but not many XF over here … Trucks are a rip off … I looked at trying to get a unit to subcontract … to expensive for me the only way for me to do it would to be buy a truck in England store it for a yr then bring it over save $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ on the same over here … everything is expensive apart from my car brought a Antara 2.4, in England the car would of cost me £33,000 for what I wanted over here it was £20k £13k saving and fuel is approx 90p a litre but it fluctuates regular
Won’t the prices be inflated due to everything has to be shipped half way across the globe? I’d imagine cars are easier to ship than trucks.
C10HOO:
Won’t the prices be inflated due to everything has to be shipped half way across the globe? I’d imagine cars are easier to ship than trucks.
Agreed, but considering, you buy say a 2009 daf, £20k … GST is $2,000 (VAT) then claim back the tax on exporting … and the say £5k shipping fee’s the same vehicle over here is like £50k prob £20k savings.
Obviously they are made up figures but it is hell of alot cheaper …
£100k for an old kenworth
It’s not as simple as it’s being painted.
The rip off is the Oz government who charge an import tax on fully built up trucks being imported into the country. It’s the reason why Mercedes used to have a factory actually assembling trucks from CKD kits brought in from Germany.
Why? The government were trying to protect Oz jobs in factories where trucks (and cars) were built/assembled.
Why does a 2nd hand KW cost £100k? Who knows? They’re cheap enough to build. They’re not especially reliable, or safe, or sophisticated, or well equipped, or comfortable to drive. But that’s what the market will stand, so that’s what the market pays.
Check out the truck price comparisons between Japan & OZ! It’s even more than between the UK & Oz. But no one wants Jap trucks!
It’s the exchange rate.The pound is worth peanuts against the Oz dollar compared to what it was.The Vauxhall VXR 8 was around £35,000 not long ago now it’s closer to £50,000.Probably because unlike us they’ve got the sense to protect their domestic market against cheap foreign competition thereby not ending up with a massive trade deficit and in debt like us.
But it’s no surprise that an Oz KW is worth more and depreciates less than a euro heap.
EastAnglianTrucker:
Why does a 2nd hand KW cost £100k? Who knows? They’re cheap enough to build. They’re not especially reliable, or safe, or sophisticated, or well equipped, or comfortable to drive. But that’s what the market will stand, so that’s what the market pays.
Blimey so the outback is littered with broken down roadtrains which have been known for being unreliable uncomfortable heaps since the Ozzies started building trucks in the 1970’s in which case surely at worst the Oz truck manufacturing industry would never have got off the ground or at best they’d be worth peanuts and everyone would be using Euro and Scandinavian heaps there. 
We’ve been here before even when the Brits did turn out some decent trucks and cars that beat the euro competition no surprise they were still branded as crap by the euro car and truck fans.
Carryfast:
Blimey so the outback is littered with broken down roadtrains which have been known for being unreliable uncomfortable heaps since the Ozzies started building trucks in the 1970’s in which case surely at worst the Oz truck manufacturing industry would never have got off the ground or at best they’d be worth peanuts and everyone would be using Euro and Scandinavian heaps there.
You do like to write [zb] that has absolutely no bearing on what others have written don’t you Carryfast?
IF you had read what I had written, and I know reading is not your strong point, you would have noticed I wrote that US trucks built in Oz were not “especially” reliable, safe, sophisticated, well equipped or comfortable! Which as even you have admit, is unlikely to lead to the outback being littered with broken down roadtrains.
The fact is they do break down, but in contrast with the Euro competition, they are really simple to repair,parts are very widely available, and you don’t need sophisticated computer diagnostics, or technicians to repair them.
If you had any clue about the history of Australian truck manufacturing, you will have known about the Oz government’s protection of motor industry jobs since the late 1950’s, and the fact the US truck makers built manufacturing facilities, and designed Oz specific vehicles, way before the Euro manufacturers had even considered the relatively small and virtually unique Australian market, as having any sales potential.
The fact is the US makers like Mack, White and Kenworth, with their custom builds, found it easier to spec trucks for Oz conditions than the Euro manufacturers, who would have to make massive engineering changes to suit the harsh conditions.
Added to that, the Yanks had been “in market” longer, had established sales and service networks, not to mention acquiring considerable market presence with large fleets like TNT, IPEC, and companies like Finnemores, which meant the Europeans had to invest many, many millions of dollars before even maybe getting a toe hold in the market, says it all.
But don’t let the basic facts get in the way of your own verbal diarrhoea. You’ve never let them before, why change the habit of a lifetime!
EastAnglianTrucker:
Carryfast:
Blimey so the outback is littered with broken down roadtrains which have been known for being unreliable uncomfortable heaps since the Ozzies started building trucks in the 1970’s in which case surely at worst the Oz truck manufacturing industry would never have got off the ground or at best they’d be worth peanuts and everyone would be using Euro and Scandinavian heaps there.You do like to write [zb] that has absolutely no bearing on what others have written don’t you Carryfast?
IF you had read what I had written, and I know reading is not your strong point, you would have noticed I wrote that US trucks built in Oz were not “especially” reliable, safe, sophisticated, well equipped or comfortable! Which as even you have admit, is unlikely to lead to the outback being littered with broken down roadtrains.
The fact is they do break down, but in contrast with the Euro competition, they are really simple to repair,parts are very widely available, and you don’t need sophisticated computer diagnostics, or technicians to repair them.
If you had any clue about the history of Australian truck manufacturing, you will have known about the Oz government’s protection of motor industry jobs since the late 1950’s, and the fact the US truck makers built manufacturing facilities, and designed Oz specific vehicles, way before the Euro manufacturers had even considered the relatively small and virtually unique Australian market, as having any sales potential.
The fact is the US makers like Mack, White and Kenworth, with their custom builds, found it easier to spec trucks for Oz conditions than the Euro manufacturers, who would have to make massive engineering changes to suit the harsh conditions.
Added to that, the Yanks had been “in market” longer, had established sales and service networks, not to mention acquiring considerable market presence with large fleets like TNT, IPEC, and companies like Finnemores, which meant the Europeans had to invest many, many millions of dollars before even maybe getting a toe hold in the market, says it all.
But don’t let the basic facts get in the way of your own verbal diarrhoea. You’ve never let them before, why change the habit of a lifetime!
Blah blah.Load of contradictory bs.If the euro heaps are so good then they won’t need to worry about them ever breaking down and needing all that so called expert attention that the American stuff can obviously do without.But if the American designed stuff was even supposedly ‘not especially’ reliable then there’s no way they’d have got where they are now and the euro stuff wasn’t always modern computer controlled as is obviously the case today.
Oz specific harsh conditions all bull dust and outback yeah right so there’s no ordinary single carriageway tarmac roads just like here.The fact that New Zealand wanted them too over euro competition shoots that argument down.
The Ozzy government are right to defend it’s local built industry and no surprise that it’s the American stuff which has and still can beat the euro stuff and as usual when the euro manufacturers lose out they start whingeing about ‘unfair competition’ while their fans start talking bs about their better reliability.
Carryfast:
It’s the exchange rate.The pound is worth peanuts against the Oz dollar compared to what it was.The Vauxhall VXR 8 was around £35,000 not long ago now it’s closer to £50,000.Probably because unlike us they’ve got the sense to protect their domestic market against cheap foreign competition thereby not ending up with a massive trade deficit and in debt like us.But it’s no surprise that an Oz KW is worth more and depreciates less than a euro heap.
I bought my brand new VXR8 6.2 LS3 manual with 9 delivery miles for £22998 in 2009 
Carryfast:
Blah blah.Load of contradictory bs.If the euro heaps are so good then they won’t need to worry about them ever breaking down and needing all that so called expert attention that the American stuff can obviously do without.But if the American designed stuff was even supposedly ‘not especially’ reliable then there’s no way they’d have got where they are now and the euro stuff wasn’t always modern computer controlled as is obviously the case today.Oz specific harsh conditions all bull dust and outback yeah right so there’s no ordinary single carriageway tarmac roads just like here.The fact that New Zealand wanted them too over euro competition shoots that argument down.
The Ozzy government are right to defend it’s local built industry and no surprise that it’s the American stuff which has and still can beat the euro stuff and as usual when the euro manufacturers lose out they start whingeing about ‘unfair competition’ while their fans start talking bs about their better reliability.
You really have no idea of what you’re talking about do you!
First, I’m not a “fan” of Euro trucks.
Second, I actually drove a Kenworth SAR across Australia for several years, pulling McCains frozen chips out of Ballarat, so, unlike you, I actually have some idea and experience about the reliability of US trucks compared to others. And why they dominated the Oz market until the 1980’s.
Third, I’m not saying the Oz government are right or wrong to protect their motor industry. I was trying to suggest an answer to the OP’s original question.
Fourth, when the truck industry was growing and the Australians started protecting their motor industry jobs, the road between Melbourne and Sydney, the Hume highway, for your information, WAS a single track tarmac road! The roads out in the bush, where your fabled road trains ran, were dirt in summer and mud in winter. The road across the Nullabor was a single carriageway, tarmac strip, with unmade margins on both sides, from about Geelong in Victoria, until you got west of Kalgoorlie.
Fifth, the Kiwi market for trucks was/is even smaller than the Oz market, and road conditions in the 1960’s were similar to Oz, so it made sense for the Americans to build trucks to NZ spec in the Australian assembly plants. And they did make some really strange trucks. But you really don’t care about the truth do you?
Sixth, why don’t you start to learn something about the subjects you blather on about here, rather than trying to bolt on any sort of specious, pseudo-socialist, mumbo-jumbo, clap trap arguments you can find most days in the Workers Daily! I suppose you’ll be saying it was Margaret Thatcher’s fault the American truck industry took advantage of the Australians political initiatives!
EastAnglianTrucker:
Carryfast:
Blah blah.Load of contradictory bs.If the euro heaps are so good then they won’t need to worry about them ever breaking down and needing all that so called expert attention that the American stuff can obviously do without.But if the American designed stuff was even supposedly ‘not especially’ reliable then there’s no way they’d have got where they are now and the euro stuff wasn’t always modern computer controlled as is obviously the case today.Oz specific harsh conditions all bull dust and outback yeah right so there’s no ordinary single carriageway tarmac roads just like here.The fact that New Zealand wanted them too over euro competition shoots that argument down.
The Ozzy government are right to defend it’s local built industry and no surprise that it’s the American stuff which has and still can beat the euro stuff and as usual when the euro manufacturers lose out they start whingeing about ‘unfair competition’ while their fans start talking bs about their better reliability.
You really have no idea of what you’re talking about do you!
First, I’m not a “fan” of Euro trucks.
East is right the hume highway route 31, which now is a 2 lane from campbelltown, missing out the camden picton bargo etc of the old hume …East, in defence of Euro trucks I assume you have not been out here for a while but the ~Euro trucks are slowly starting to get a hold #scania,#volvo #iveco have loads as well as CF dafs as said the the XF 105 is starting to make a big impact the ~Jap trucks Hino,Fuso etc are ten to a penny over there the Kenworths Sterlings freightliners have had there days the die hard red neck Kenworth driver where I~ work had to drive a FM Volvo for a week as his was off the road … moaned he did not wanna go back in his kenworth … the company have a fleet of 40 trucks and in last 6 months the have gone fro 3 euro trucks to 22 merc volvo etc … as they are better to run fuel wise etc …
Second, I actually drove a Kenworth SAR across Australia for several years, pulling McCains frozen chips out of Ballarat, so, unlike you, I actually have some idea and experience about the reliability of US trucks compared to others. And why they dominated the Oz market until the 1980’s.Third, I’m not saying the Oz government are right or wrong to protect their motor industry. I was trying to suggest an answer to the OP’s original question.
Fourth, when the truck industry was growing and the Australians started protecting their motor industry jobs, the road between Melbourne and Sydney, the Hume highway, for your information, WAS a single track tarmac road! The roads out in the bush, where your fabled road trains ran, were dirt in summer and mud in winter. The road across the Nullabor was a single carriageway, tarmac strip, with unmade margins on both sides, from about Geelong in Victoria, until you got west of Kalgoorlie.
Fifth, the Kiwi market for trucks was/is even smaller than the Oz market, and road conditions in the 1960’s were similar to Oz, so it made sense for the Americans to build trucks to NZ spec in the Australian assembly plants. And they did make some really strange trucks. But you really don’t care about the truth do you?
Sixth, why don’t you start to learn something about the subjects you blather on about here, rather than trying to bolt on any sort of specious, pseudo-socialist, mumbo-jumbo, clap trap arguments you can find most days in the Workers Daily! I suppose you’ll be saying it was Margaret Thatcher’s fault the American truck industry took advantage of the Australians political initiatives!
EastAnglianTrucker:
Carryfast:
Blah blah.Load of contradictory bs.If the euro heaps are so good then they won’t need to worry about them ever breaking down and needing all that so called expert attention that the American stuff can obviously do without.But if the American designed stuff was even supposedly ‘not especially’ reliable then there’s no way they’d have got where they are now and the euro stuff wasn’t always modern computer controlled as is obviously the case today.Oz specific harsh conditions all bull dust and outback yeah right so there’s no ordinary single carriageway tarmac roads just like here.The fact that New Zealand wanted them too over euro competition shoots that argument down.
The Ozzy government are right to defend it’s local built industry and no surprise that it’s the American stuff which has and still can beat the euro stuff and as usual when the euro manufacturers lose out they start whingeing about ‘unfair competition’ while their fans start talking bs about their better reliability.
You really have no idea of what you’re talking about do you!
I actually drove a Kenworth SAR across Australia for several years, pulling McCains frozen chips out of Ballarat, so, unlike you, I actually have some idea and experience about the reliability of US trucks compared to others. And why they dominated the Oz market until the 1980’s.
So those not specially reliable yank heaps were effectively all finished there after the 1980’s then.Says everything about the credibility of the rest.
Carry, this american junk over here are crap they get crated over from ~US and built here … aussies are so [zb] up there own ***** it is unreal … they still have the road ranger gears they are slow noisy pump out mega smoke not as fuel efficent as the euro trucks …
Carryfast:
EastAnglianTrucker:
I actually drove a Kenworth SAR across Australia for several years, pulling McCains frozen chips out of Ballarat, so, unlike you, I actually have some idea and experience about the reliability of US trucks compared to others. And why they dominated the Oz market until the 1980’s.So those not specially reliable yank heaps were effectively all finished there after the 1980’s then.Says everything about the credibility of the rest.
You really don’t know when to stop digging yourself deeper do you?
I didn’t say US trucks were finished after the 1980’s. You said that. Again, if you knew anything about the market and industry you’re trying unsuccessfully to talk about, you’d know just how absurd your comments make you look. Again.
The Americans still represent a fair proportion of truck sales in Australia, but as conditions have become better, and the European manufacturers investments have come good, transport operators in Australasia have realised they have a choice and are exercising it.
But a know nothing, left wing, [zb]-for-brains fascist like yourself, probably has no idea that Mercedes bought White, (and Euclid) so they could have a market presence in hard duty territories like Australia and NZ. Not to mention introduce MB trucks into the States.
You probably still think Paccar, the owners of Kenworth and Peterbuilt, bought, and still own DAF, did so because they liked the name, not because they, like Mercedes, could see the long term benefits of owning, in their case, a European manufacturer.
And pray tell why exactly did Renault buy a major stake in Mack Trucks? (The merger being a disaster by the way.) Does the truck shown here remind you of anything [zb]-for-brains? And to help you along, it’s in Oz!
In fact, I doubt you even know, without the help of Google, what SAR stands for in the naming of a Kenworth SAR! Have you ever seen a torsion bar suspension set up? And what does the 4070 stand for on an Inter 4070?
No, you don’t know do you Carry fast? You’d prefer to confirm, once more, just how much of a complete [zb]head you are. Now for [zb]'s sake, get back under your rock!
EastAnglianTrucker:
Carryfast:
EastAnglianTrucker:
I actually drove a Kenworth SAR across Australia for several years, pulling McCains frozen chips out of Ballarat, so, unlike you, I actually have some idea and experience about the reliability of US trucks compared to others. And why they dominated the Oz market until the 1980’s.So those not specially reliable yank heaps were effectively all finished there after the 1980’s then.Says everything about the credibility of the rest.
You really don’t know when to stop digging yourself deeper do you?
I didn’t say US trucks were finished after the 1980’s. You said that.
Oh right I must have misread what you meant by ‘until the 1980’s’.But I think they’ve had a bit more than a ‘fair proportion’ of the colonial market compared to the Euro heaps after that time too.Euro zb v yank designed Ozzie trucks or cars not unless you want to spend a lot more money to go slower or at best as fast and which will probably cost a lot more to put right when it eventually needs some work.It’ just a shame that our government wasn’t as bright as the Ozzie one in looking after our interests instead of the Germans etc.
discoman:
Carry, this american junk over here are crap they get crated over from ~US and built here … aussies are so [zb] up there own ***** it is unreal … they still have the road ranger gears they are slow noisy pump out mega smoke not as fuel efficent as the euro trucks …
The fact that some drivers prefer zb euro type synchro boxes over a fuller roadranger usually says more about those drivers than it does about the wagon. 
But if you’re right things don’t look good across the Atlantic because they’ll have to park up most of their fleets and import a load of wagons from here but I don’t think that Southampton is full of trucks waiting to be shipped to the States just yet.
Carryfast:
The fact that some drivers prefer zb euro type synchro boxes over a fuller roadranger usually says more about those drivers than it does about the wagon.
Well that’s not strictly true. The Roadranger is a bullet proof gearbox, and is usually specified where absolute reliability is essential… Like outback Australia, or long distance America… where long distances are covered without too many gear changes.
In Europe, partly because of the cost of fuel, partly because of environmental pressures and partly because it’s a more urban environment, automatics are becoming the norm. Especially as they become more reliable and now more programmeable. Most Euro fleets are specified by transport managers, not owner drivers, so the manual gearbox, in Europe is becoming less and less the default option. That and the fact that trucks in Europe are seen more as capital assets, or mere tools, than as something a driver lives and works in. Or has any say in specifying. It’s business not personal.
However, even back in the early 80’s Eaton Fuller were offering auto boxes in American trucks. Unfortunately ZF, the other big gearbox maker made a better automatic, an the Aussies and Americans didn’t trust the German engineering.
Carryfast:
But if you’re right things don’t look good across the Atlantic because they’ll have to park up most of their fleets and import a load of wagons from here but I don’t think that Southampton is full of trucks waiting to be shipped to the States just yet.
That’s not actually a very smart observation is it Carryfast?
No matter the market, trucks are specified according to the laws and conditions in those markets. So in the States (and to a certain extent Australia) where smooth, long distance transport, takes precedence over, over crowded, European, urban short distances - distance being relative - means that US trucks are ideal for their conditions. Hence the long wheelbases, bonnet over configurations favoured by most US, long distance transport companies.
Over here (in Europe) that spec truck is simply not efficient use of resources, or road space, and believe me, driving a Roadranger around a blocked M25 is not something I’d wish on my worst enemy.
Hey ho!