stobarts who i work for has around 750 trucks on the fleet
Skyhook:
They say Malcolms of Brookfield in Scotland own around 500 trucks (not leased - cash on the nail)
I can’t imagine there are many companies, even much smaller than this, who can afford to buy outright without leasing.
mrpj:
Skyhook:
They say Malcolms of Brookfield in Scotland own around 500 trucks (not leased - cash on the nail)I can’t imagine there are many companies, even much smaller than this, who can afford to buy outright without leasing.
They have a depot local to me
and from what I can gather they do indeed OWN everything.
Shaggy:
Hi there, I think the company I work for, Turners (soham), Is the largest family owned company.
I work for turners aswell, and all the trucks at our depot are leased.
i know longs of leeds have about 140 lorrys and they only lease 20 of them so they have 120 of their own
macfarlanes have about 140 but they are all leased in fact everything they have is leased.
Most sensible companies will lease, what is the point of tying all your assets up in scrap metal.
Even Pattersons of Batley learnt that lesson
dave:
i would not have thought that dhl or the post office would own there trucks, but i may be wrong.
They do.
I’m often taking their old war-horses to the auctions from that London.
TC:
Prestons of Potto are still family owned, and could be as big as Turners if not bigger.
Any Prestons trucks 51 reg or newer are leased, and most V,W,X, & Y reg are extended leased
I was under the impression that Turners ran the largest private fleet, as opposed to PLC fleet. But none of these large companies buy, their accountants wont let them, after all its a depreceating assett, leasing is what its all about now. Thats another reason why all these liveries are vanishing to be replaced by white trucks with stickers, bloody shame though 
dave:
who OWNS the biggest fleet in the uk
The Navy. 
Oh, we’re talking about commercial vehicles. 
Obviously the Army. If you ever get the chance to visit Aschurch, the number of vehicles and equipment held there is a sight to be believed. Everything from from rows upon rows of portable cement mixers, through armoured limousines, to mobile bridging kit.
In the commercial sector, the biggest is probably the Post Office with their fleet of small vans, etc.
From the aspect of working trucks, then I would guess it to be one of the larger waste handling companies such as DOCWRA, where there is little ‘second use’ opportunities for out-dated specimens, unless exported to eastern Europe.
mrpj:
Skyhook:
They say Malcolms of Brookfield in Scotland own around 500 trucks (not leased - cash on the nail)I can’t imagine there are many companies, even much smaller than this, who can afford to buy outright without leasing.
I was told on good authority by the trade that they buy their vehicles outright.
They have used finance ‘buy back’ deals in the past since these were very good for the customer but now that sort of selling has ended.
They buy in fleet deals and get great discounts. This means it’s cheaper than leasing. If they own the truck (asset), maintain the truck to a standard, then they also have a residual value that is worth something to them hence the change over price is less. This circle carried on over many years trading means they can update their fleet with ease. They are not paying out for finance profits.
From what I see they keep their main trucks for at least 5 years, some are then down graded to local work and local shunting and the rest are traded (always back to the dealers) The tippers are all changed after 3 years - (they get a 3 year driveline warranty then get rid of them at the end of it since they are working in an extreme environment)
And to top off the spending of money…the Malcolm brothers have just bought the company back from the shareholders making it a true family company again.
Skyhook:
mrpj:
Skyhook:
They say Malcolms of Brookfield in Scotland own around 500 trucks (not leased - cash on the nail)I can’t imagine there are many companies, even much smaller than this, who can afford to buy outright without leasing.
I was told on good authority by the trade that they buy their vehicles outright.
They have used finance ‘buy back’ deals in the past since these were very good for the customer but now that sort of selling has ended.
They buy in fleet deals and get great discounts. This means it’s cheaper than leasing. If they own the truck (asset), maintain the truck to a standard, then they also have a residual value that is worth something to them hence the change over price is less. This circle carried on over many years trading means they can update their fleet with ease. They are not paying out for finance profits.
From what I see they keep their main trucks for at least 5 years, some are then down graded to local work and local shunting and the rest are traded (always back to the dealers) The tippers are all changed after 3 years - (they get a 3 year driveline warranty then get rid of them at the end of it since they are working in an extreme environment)And to top off the spending of money…the Malcolm brothers have just bought the company back from the shareholders making it a true family company again.
Sorry, I mis-wrote my original post, I meant companies OTHER than Malcolms and was not disputing the fact that they did buy their own vehicles
Skyhook:
And to top off the spending of money…the Malcolm brothers have just bought the company back from the shareholders making it a true family company again.
And it cost them a cool £69.9 Million! 
I can think of better things to spend Seventy Million Pounds on and Trucks dont feature anywhere!!! 
Gee, the company I work for here in the states has about 1000 tractor units, and we aren’t quite in the top 20 for size.
Yeh but the Yanks always like to do things bigger! 
What about Mill Transport■■? MTL - they have just put some more units on the road - are they leased or owned??
I think C ■■■■ must have a fair few; they also own the red Symphony trucks I’m led to believe.
They may not own all their trucks but Exel Logistics is the biggest in the UK.
When it took over Tibbett & Britten in June last year the fleet sizes were:
Exel - 6,160 tractor units
T&B - 1,991 tractors and rigids
So that’s over 8,000 trucks, plus Exel’s rigids. Not bad for a small country eh Alex ? 
(Thanks to Will and Liz at Motor Transport for those figures)
Craig
justdrivers:
What about Mill Transport■■? MTL - they have just put some more units on the road - are they leased or owned??
there are some nice motors both artic and rigid signed up for hepworths concerete well the ones running outa bardon are
shaun:
justdrivers:
What about Mill Transport■■? MTL - they have just put some more units on the road - are they leased or owned??there are some nice motors both artic and rigid signed up for hepworths concerete well the ones running outa bardon are
I know they have taken over the complete Hepworth contract - they used to just run the Doncaster depot but have taken over HQ at Hepworth and have some motors in Manchester for them too. They are also running a contract out of Grimsby. Not bad for someone who started himself with one truck!!!