I’m in the market to buy 2 new 26 ton truck one flat and one flat with a crane. Not doing 1000’s of km mostly London, south & south east, but what to buy. I have a DAF dealer with in walking distance but the price from Scania was much the same as DAF!!
A haulier near where I live ran half a dozen Dafs,but has recently changed to Scania. Volvo FM’s are also worth considering.
trouble is if we do have issues the DAF dealer is here but Scania are 50 mins away. What ever I read some like DAf’s some like Volvo’s some like Scania and so on. All seem to have issues from time to time so does it really matter which we get… 
If you buy a DAF, you’ll make a lot more use of the dealer than if you buy the Scania - so it’ll have to be closer.
And I’m no Scania fanboy either, but they do have less issues than DAF’s.
As Dave said, Volvo are a nice reliable motor.
Volvo FM! All day long
So DAF it is then lol 
Don’t mean to hijack your thread but perhaps you will know the answer to a question I have. As I understand it you can ‘wright off’ the cost of a vehicle somehow, are you (or anyone) able to show how that works please?
Please ignore this if you feel it’s an intrusion.
global
25% per year against tax…ish but you need someone who knows more than me as it more complicated than just saying its 25% as it changes
try this and enjoy! hmrc.gov.uk/ct/forms-rates/c … owance.htm
Thanks for your reply.
Can you clarify what ‘wright off’ against means though?
Global.
look at things such as tare weight reliability options for body builders etc and also value for money in terms of things like fuel economy but whatever you do stay away from renault DAF is the way to go in my book
best thing to do though is to trial a few different makes and see what comes out tops for you oh and speak to the drivers ask what they NEED & what they would like then see what make can make your ideal truck a reality
Thanks everyone for your posts.
if looking at DAF get the cab over and have a good look at the state of the looms,that will be the biggest issue on them …though the LF is better than the CF
a scania will be worth more 2nd hand, don’t know if re sale value is a concern or not?
I may be biased 
but I used to sell trucks and for what it’s worth I chose to sell the ones I did because I had complete faith in the product 
So my recommendation would be for an Axor, for bodies I would go to Billings at Loughton as they build a solid flatbed that isn’t too heavy, for a crane I would go to Fassi, the agents at J9 on the M1 are very professional, stand behind their product and the lead times are very short.
I wouldn’t go too fancy on the specs, apart from the crane chassis, on that I would go with an 8 or 9ton front axle.
Two things to bear in mind, one the MB dealers are hit and miss, the good ones are really good, but the bad ones… and I packed up selling lorries six years ago, so some things may have changed in respect of the body builders as I seem to remember the boss was up for retirement or something like that 
giggus:
I’m in the market to buy 2 new 26 ton truck one flat and one flat with a crane. Not doing 1000’s of km mostly London, south & south east, but what to buy. I have a DAF dealer with in walking distance but the price from Scania was much the same as DAF!!
Merc. We are getting 14mpg with our 6 leggers
mickyblue:
giggus:
I’m in the market to buy 2 new 26 ton truck one flat and one flat with a crane. Not doing 1000’s of km mostly London, south & south east, but what to buy. I have a DAF dealer with in walking distance but the price from Scania was much the same as DAF!!Merc. We are getting 14mpg with our 6 leggers
I drive a merc 4 wheeler and I am getting 13.87mpg daily. Mine is a Axor basic
newmercman:
I may be biasedSo my recommendation would be for an Axor, for bodies I would go to Billings at Loughton as they build a solid flatbed that isn’t too heavy, for a crane I would go to Fassi, the agents at J9 on the M1 are very professional, stand behind their product and the lead times are very short.
I wouldn’t go too fancy on the specs, apart from the crane chassis, on that I would go with an 8 or 9ton front axle.
Two things to bear in mind, one the MB dealers are hit and miss, the good ones are really good, but the bad ones… and I packed up selling lorries six years ago, so some things may have changed in respect of the body builders as I seem to remember the boss was up for retirement or something like that
I don’t think you can buy an Axor anymore?
Volvo fm with I shift. effortless drive, think about yer workforce and residuals
waynedl:
newmercman:
I may be biasedSo my recommendation would be for an Axor, for bodies I would go to Billings at Loughton as they build a solid flatbed that isn’t too heavy, for a crane I would go to Fassi, the agents at J9 on the M1 are very professional, stand behind their product and the lead times are very short.
I wouldn’t go too fancy on the specs, apart from the crane chassis, on that I would go with an 8 or 9ton front axle.
Two things to bear in mind, one the MB dealers are hit and miss, the good ones are really good, but the bad ones… and I packed up selling lorries six years ago, so some things may have changed in respect of the body builders as I seem to remember the boss was up for retirement or something like that
I don’t think you can buy an Axor anymore?
Yeah there’s a new version, but I can’t remember what it’s called. Antos or something? It shares the principles of the Axor though, namely solid and reasonably simple.