Yo guys (‘n’ gals…)!
Well, the wifes put her size 5 foot down and forbidden me to buy a rather ■■■■ X plated Merc 2543 auto in metallic blue for £24500 form Enza in Warrington. (B***h!!!)
Anyrode, the only alternative, apart from those ■■■■ awful Renault Premiums which dealers have absolutely millions of at the moment, is a pair of Eurostars.
First one is an S plate 470hp auto 6x2 at around 12 thousand quid with 260,000 on the clock. Tidy really. Previously owned by Sunseeker for delivering boats.
Second is a W plate 420 Cursor auto 6x2 for £14 1/2 thousand. This ones got a full mot, RPC but paintworl isn`t as good. You can see where the last owners name was embossed all over it, (y’ know, all that mess when you take stick on lettering off).
Anyway, the second one has the standard fuel tank, but the older one has a large ally tank on the offside.
Have any O/D’s out there had any experience of running these? With only 2 grand…ish between them, I’m not too sure which (if any), to go for.
I would go for he Merc, but with divorce and the threat of having my knackers cut off if I spent that much on my first O/D unit, got to lower my sights a little bit.
By the way - having loads o’ trouble finding an operating center in Newcastle/Stoke. It’s proving to be mission impossible! One guy over the weekend wanted £150 per week (plus VAT) to park in his yard!!!
It’s all about money. 
Cheers.
Ian.
To start up I would take a Renault Premium 420DCI far and away above a Eurostar any day.None of the two of them you would call desirable but in my humble opinon the Premium may be down on power but it will above all be more relible than a Eurostar.As you say in your post the dealers are awash with Prem’s so an absoulute bargain should be there for the taking if you “sharpen your pencil” 
The Mercs quite a good deal, 24.5K for an 2000 X plate is not a bad price, but I do understand your wife’s reluctance. As for the Eurostars, Hmmm, The problem is that you will be stuck in whats been reffered to as the Iveco trap, i.e. once youv’e got an Iveco, the only people willing to part ex for another truck are going to be Iveco people, as any other dealers are going to offer rubbiush money against anthing worth having. Personally, as I’ve said many times before on here, its worth spending very little on your first truck, buy a cheap, older truck say £3-5K, as this will give you the start you need, whilst leaving the majority of your cash in the bank. You will need it! Going this route enables you to test the water, and if needs be, bail out quick, without having to loose too much money. If on the other hand, things go well, you can trade up to the posh kit at a later date. Go careful when buying a cheap motor and it’ll do you well, there are some cracking deals to be had out there! Good luck, and bare in mind the less cash you spend, the more you have for when the balloon goes up, and beleive me it will.
never a truer word spoke!
know nothing about artics really but you seem to get a hell of alot of truck for five or six grand.
Problem with buying a truck for that money is, it can cost a fortune in repairs. You may be lucky and get a great motor but then you may get a pig.
Renault Premiums are not my favourite truck, in fact I cant stand them but they are good on fuel and you can get some great deals on them. Renault finance are doing some ‘no deposit, low finance’ schemes.
On the other hand, the Eurostar. Not a bad bit of kit but as already stated, not of great re-sale value. I was looking at getting one of these myself but ended up getting a Magnum (which I prefer) but was warned away from the 470 as they tend to be a bit heavy on fuel. A subby I know runs 2x470 and 2x430 and he says the 430s return better fuel figures.
The thing I’m trying to get my head around at the moment is weighing up reliability and resale and image (very important I think for hauliers these days), against cost.
The two older Eurostars fade into the background now after the one I was offered this afternoon.
It’s a 2001 Y plate 430 Eurostar auto. 340000 on the clock, not a mark anywhere on the body, and it’s mine for 17500 + vat.
Trouble is, I look at the interior of that, then look at an Actros Megaspace town flat with built in everything, and my budjet goes out the window!
I know what you say regarind the Iveco being a poor mans Scania or Volvo, but would it really be that bad?
As for a motor for about 6 grand… I’d be expecting to break down the first time I took it on a motorway! You can’t get decent warranties with a motor of that price or age, so it would be a hell of a gamble.
As for finance, I can afford to buy outright. Why should I have to start up a new venture with thousands of pounds woth of debt around my neck? To me thats too much of a risk, like buying an old motor.
I tell you what lads… if this buisness isn’t sucessful… I’ll hang myself of a bloody bridge on the M6 at junction 15, and screw everybodys plans up!!!
It’s nice to have sensible advice from people who seem to know what they’re talking about. I just wish it was more cut and dried than all this.
Thanks all.
Ian.
oh, and by the way… the Merc - Enza motors in Warrington have said I can have that one for £22,750 + VAT. It’s got big airhorns on the roof as well!!!
I’ve got my parking/operating center solved as well. £40 a week, secure, security guards etc. All I get is a space marked out in yellow paint on a car park - but at least it’d be mine.
if your going to pay for your o’ center which you obviously are you deffinately want it to be at a commercial garage rather than just a gloryfied carpark.
i park at a garage and at times i’ve felt like telling em to stick up their arse, but that’s another story but and it’s a big but you can’t beat finding a fault on the wagon and getting it done as soon as you get back ready for the next morning however minor it maybe instead of either driving with it or having to get it sorted by someone the next day and losing work.
have you thought about your maintanece contract that you’ll need for your o’license? probably best way to go is contact all your local commercial garages,tell em your looking for someone to maintain your wagon,do your six week inspections etc etc and you also need some parking,you don’t want to be paying anymore than twenty quid a week on this basis and also you won’t offend anyone by asking what hourly rate they charge,then pick the site thats best for you not necessarily the nearest but whats going to be handy for the motorways or your main client.
as for the wagon,it’s fair to assume that most wagons especially artics have been well maintained from new so theres no logical reason why a six year old wagon should be any less reliable than a three year old’n especially with simular millage and a pro paint shop will do you a unit for £300-£400 a bit of nice sign writting and you look a million dollars going down the road.
i maybe telling you things here you already know but take it from me,the first couple of bad weeks you have,and you will have em,any finance you takeout will come back and smack you in the nose,and the bigger the amount the more it hurts!
hope this helps
paul
ianyng:
The thing I’m trying to get my head around at the moment is weighing up reliability and resale and image (very important I think for hauliers these days), against cost.
As for a motor for about 6 grand… I’d be expecting to break down the first time I took it on a motorway! You can’t get decent warranties with a motor of that price or age, so it would be a hell of a gamble.
As for finance, I can afford to buy outright. Why should I have to start up a new venture with thousands of pounds woth of debt around my neck? To me thats too much of a risk, like buying an old motor.
Buying the motor ever outright, is the cheap bit! Don’t underestimate how much fuelyour going to burn, tyres & maintanance you’ll be requiring. Cash is king, and you’ll have none comi9ng in for at least 37 days. My trucks burn around 1000 ltrs a week and at 0.75ppl thats £750 out of your budget. Over the min 37 days thats about £3750 on fuel before you see your payment for week one. What with VED, insurance, trailer hire, boy you must have some money! 
And if your customers pay on other terms, 30 day from month end, where you put an invoice in on the 4th of December and they pay 1st of February, or they pay on 60 or 90 day terms, or god forbid, they don’t pay at all! Then you soon come to realise that the majhority of business failure is not down to lack of effort or work, but lack of cash flow.
Cheap trucks are a gamble, but allow you to test the water, reliability is a factor, but even new trucks breakdown, and R&M deals on secondhand motors are notoriously expensive! (read my posts re my Megaspace!!! 
)
In the end its your decission, but think on, Hard! Get it right, and its a great way of life, but get it wrong and you’ll hate the job. Good luck.
Renault dealers are selling ex-contract 2001 6x2 420dci Premium Privilages from £17grand straight deal and with a years warranty thrown in.You can also get a brand new Premium contract hire for 4 years with full R+M for approx £800/month 
The dealer even pays the VED so all you have to worry about is tyres,fuel,insurance and steady paying WORK 