Don’t ever lease a truck lads, it’s just cost me 9 grand to hand a 3 year old stralis back. £4k in repairs, (granted 2or 3 was fair enough as it had a few dings), it needs to be like NEW to hand back. £3,300 for the extra 100k clicks we did over the agreed amount (again in the contract so fair enough but the thing probly ain’t worth that now anyway, I wouldn’t give them that for it) and 2k for the extra mileage on the R&M. The dealer forgot to send the paperwork back with the truck so they are trying to tap me for an extra 2 weeks rental till the v5 gets to them which will probly be another grand in their world. Feel like i’ve been mugged! Truck was crap, dealer was crap. Trying to sort it over the phone is like banging your head against a brick wall as you’re dealing with 3 different departments who don’t want anything to do with each other, pass the buck and are all as [zb] useless as each other.
You have far more control if you are trying to get rid of a truck you own.
I’d only ever buy on finance or spot hire from hill hire et all from now on.
Ding in the front bumper and fog light from when a driver left the handbrake off when coupling and rolled it in to the side of a warehouse.
New fifth wheel as a driver gouged a chunk out of the old one after trying to couple a trailer in the snow at the wrong angle.
New mud guard tops, various and multiple switches and bits of broken plastic from the wendy house interior.
It really depends on the contract you agree to (Don’t go cheaper and pay a lump sum at the end; higher annual km’s doesn’t increase premium as much as you would think) and then go through the stated return conditions before you sign a contract. Obviously you need to do your homework and ensure that you get a deal with a criteria you can stick to with no penalties!!
Some companies are worse than others; and believe me some are really bad on return costs.
I done a few touch ups before they went back and returned 5 Actros for less than £2k!!
just sent 4 cf dafs back 55plates 900000k done tarted them up our self. no charge at all ks where 10000 over on 3 charged me about a grand each.they do try it on though they seid stearing wheel worn?
Having worked for leasing companies in the past there are a few rules and facts to bear in mind,
1, Read the contract before signing, and if you think its too harsh either re-negociate or walk away.
2, The BVRLA (British Vehicle Rental & Leasing Association) publish a guide as to what is fair wear and tear, get a copy.
3, Using the above if something is obviously out if order, do it yourself, it will be much cheaper.
4, If the vehicle is being replaced, use the replacement business as leverage on the leasing company. Don’t forget that even if you want to change marque, you can still use the same leasing company.
5, Remember at the outset that the leasing company has to make a return, so if somebody offers you a very cheap deal they will be looking at return charges to try and make a bit of profit; whereas the slightly more expensive deal will have made profit and will be able to take a more flexible approach on return, particularly if there is repeat business in the offing.
Having been in the game for 30-odd years, and having bought 'em for most of that time, I started
leasing them about 6 years ago, mainly due to the deals being done on R&M.
Had 10 MAN’s - went back at 3 years old, all around the 170000 km mark.
I did all body work and had them valeted before returning them and the so-and-so’s wanted
£28000 for repairs when they were immaculate and had been on contract maintenance.
The answer? Had another lot ready to be delivered, painted, everything, and I told 'em to poke 'em.
All of a sudden that bill came down to 3 grand!
When the next batch went back, just as immaculate, and well maintained, they wanted another
extorionate figure.
Told 'em I was finding things hard and likely to ‘pull the plug’ - they settled for a very low
figure I can tell you.
Quite often they let you have the bloody things cheap in the first place and try and hit
you later - stand up to them and you will come off far, far better.
Nowadays I think its best to hire them - most hire companies can give you top kit, a
better price that if you’d leased it, hardly any or no committment, and will be glad to have
your business.
Its about time these manufacturers had a bit of attitude from us lot after a few years of
long delivery times and big attitude from them.
Yeah, my own fault not screwing the contract down in the first place but I had just started out and was just glad someone was willing to give me a new truck. Also didn’t know how much it’d get hammered. Should have upped the mileage when I knew it’d be double shifted. Haven’t got the leverage of having another one off them as I wouldn’t take another stralis if they were giving them away.
never had a truck on lease never will,to many horror stories they take the p1ss
i have always owned my vehicles but when things go wrong breakdowns etc you do start to think would i be better off leasing.
thing is times like now when its quiet a few days a week my trucks are parked up. thats bad enough but if they were parked up and i was paying for them to be parked up thats a different matter.
a company i subcontract from ocasionaly hired a truck about three weeks ago for one day, when returning the truck to hire company next day, they said there was a cigarett burn in the drivers seat yet the driver that drove that truck doesent even smoke. told the hire company this they said look look at the damage that your driver had signed for on the sheet you sign when you pick the truck up there was no burn mark on the seat marked on the sheet.
just make a note go over the truck with a fine tooth combe £1400 for a new seat
Silver Surfer, try contacting the leasing company who actually own your Stralis, and no its definitely not Iveco, and try to do a deal with them for something else.
Regardless of what your paperwork says this truck is being leased from a leasing company, not the manufacturer, its called blind back to back funding. Iveco, in this case, make a deal for funding with a leasing company, they then sell this lease on, plus a commission, but all the paperwork has their name on it, you need to find out who the funder is. Unfortunately I don’t know who actually does it for Iveco.
The main lesson is never underestimate your mileage, as you know it costs you a fortune. If after the start of a contract your mileage increases, tell the leasing company and they will change your contract accordingly, obviously your payments will go up, but much less than the excess mileage rate.
I know some people are negastive about leasing but all I can say is that I leased a Merc back in the 90s when I was an OD and on return after 4 years of Euro work, with the odd minor mark and slightly over on mileage, about 2%, the return costs were exactly £0.00.
Having worked since then either in the leasing industry or along side the leasing indusry all I can say is get the right equipment, with a reputable leasing company on realistic terms, and if the offer looks unrealistic, it is, so expect to get hammered for any extra possible. Isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing.
Silver_Surfer:
Ding in the front bumper and fog light from when a driver left the handbrake off when coupling and rolled it in to the side of a warehouse.
New fifth wheel as a driver gouged a chunk out of the old one after trying to couple a trailer in the snow at the wrong angle.
New mud guard tops, various and multiple switches and bits of broken plastic from the wendy house interior.
I wasn’t complaining about the damage I had to repair, someone above asked me what the repair bill comprised so I broke it down listing the major jobs. Try reading the whole post, oh terry.
I am a bit put out by the price of the excess mileage charge, the high level of return condition (e.g. marks on top of rear wing tops = new ones) and the excess R&M payments. It IS an expensive way to run a truck (is where I am coming from).
My experience of leasing has put me off this form of vehicle aquisition for the future and other operator’s might benefit from my views which is why I posted them on here.
Have done a few R&Ms with Scania and they have been fine. We were realistic on mileage, so no suprises there and trucks returned in good condition after addressing any of the fortunately minor points ourselves.
Probably did help that we were replacing them with more though.
I’ve returned six Volvos to various banks at two year old and not been charged a penny. Granted my fleet is top notch but they have even let small scratches and a ■■■ burn go through. The guy who comes to check them can see that we look after them and treat them like our own.
Last 5 to go back they even took the decals off. For free!!
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