We need to BUY 10 tractor units plated at 44ton (6x2) to run day and night 365days a year. Roughly 220,000kms per year for 6 years then auction to africa or wherever.
Reliability and mpg are the absolute main factors. Then comes parts, service, driver comfort, sell on value etc
What would you buy and why?
First question is what’s the budget?
If it was my fleet, I’d buy Volvo 420 FM’s. But if it’s a big, remote company, with an accountant sitting in an air conditioned office somewhere like Glasgow, Swindon, Basildon or Frankfurt, who couldn’t care about anything other than the numbers, I’d probably do a mega deal for Merc Axors…
Why Volvos? They pull well, they’re reliable, economical, parts cost no more than other major makes, easy to operate and comfortable to drive, although I’m sure others will disagree. Drivers will love them and the business won’t suffer.
Why Axors? They’re cheap, about as economical as the Volvos and if you do a deal with either the Merc dealer, or the lease company, you should be able to get away with the downtime and major driveline failures. Unfortunately they don’t handle as well, and drivers will hate them, but as a “remote” accountant, you won’t have to worry about that.
Of course, it also depends on how good your local dealer is and the dealer network throughout the country. And I think the best dealer network is probably Scania…
If I had a very, very lean budget, I’d probably go for Renault Premiums.
So that brings no clear cut answer to your question. Sorry.
Whatever’s cheapest. It’s all reliable enough these days. If your asking me as a driver. Volvo every time.
With those mileages for that many years, you are bound to have breakdowns: no matter what the make of truck.
So, into your equation I’d put roadside service (traditionally a DAF strength) and some kind of guarantee of a replacement vehicle if one fails and can’t be fixed quickly (MAN Uptime). You won’t actually be able to run any truck 365 days a year (inspections and annual tests see to that, but you do need to have a service location that you can trust nearby…or a good source of parts and tech information if you are doing the spanners in house.
If you are buying 10 trucks you should be able to get demo vehicles and do your own fuel trials prior to purchase. You may even get the manufacturers’ own economy driving courses thrown into the deal, which would count towards Driver CPC too.
Forget about residual values…whatever you buy won’t be worth much when you sell. But don’t delay making your mind up…there’s only a limited number of Euro 5 build slots left, and prices for new trucks are going up.
merc0447:
to run day and night 365days a year. Roughly 220,000kms per year for 6 years then auction to africa or wherever.
You are forgetting the bit about sending them down the south for us to use for a “few” more years after you have had your moneys worth out of them 
0447 is STILL going strong 
Scania take some beating for reliability, fuel as good if not better than others, service centres usually good.
Volvo another good bet, similar strengths.
I know someone who has had similar totally reliable service from his Magnum, but don’t know if thats a one off or normal.
I’d probably choose between the two Swedes based on how good and/or convenient the local dealers are, assuming contract maintenance.
redboxer850:
merc0447:
to run day and night 365days a year. Roughly 220,000kms per year for 6 years then auction to africa or wherever.You are forgetting the bit about sending them down the south for us to use for a “few” more years after you have had your moneys worth out of them
0447 is STILL going strong
I miss 0447 
Now that was a reliable truck always got me home. Kms on that must be about 1.5million that is getting your monies worth!
I just want to see how many people in this thread say volvo, im choking for one. I seriously hate this daf crap!
with a 420 running at 44 ton, You’re pulling the guts out of it every day.
500 bhp isn’t working at full capacity, and will last a lot longer, you’ll get much better mpg in the long run.
if you pay a little more in the short term, the lorry will pay dividends in the long term.
happier drivers will look after them, and they will have a much better resale value.
We have just ordered 80 new Volvo 460 fm globetrotters with fridges and inverters fitted… Our owners are krauts… and tights as a Nuns chuff !!!
If I had a very, very lean budget, I’d probably go for Renault Premiums.
I love the Premiums for non night out type of work, however they wear like crap after a few K’s under the belt sadly, a real shame as I love driving them, mechanically solid with the exception of the electrics as well.
Scania v8, because there’d be no need to sell it after 6years.
Needing 10 check with companies accountants
As will probably be better on tax purposes with new rules and tax allowances
A few medium/large companies go this route now
One i know just had 5 for same scenario and was cheaper on 3 year deal than 4 year
All maintance tax etc included
6 years for what your looking at in my opinion is to long
For double shifting going to end up spending on maintance/breakdown in later years
Interesting thread, you don’t say what type of work there on…
Budget depending, CF or XF 460s. Good backup, round here the dealers are very good and generally a very reliable truck.
Renault Premium cos they are so cheap. You could buy two for the cost of a blingy Skoda…
6 years is to long! We run double shifted 6 days per week approx
3,800 miles per week and re- new every 2 years. We run merc actros minimal down time
So far! On 2years full r&m with merc.
I would go for Mercs not the mega space the one below or a Volvo fh.I would get either 480 or 500 depending on what work you are doing.Running day and night its going to be general or fridge work i reckon so the 480 is the one i would go for.Mercs and Volvos have good resale prices even at six years old.Like other posts have said you will get break downs with whatever you buy!When i worked for Simon Gibson he ran Volvos day and night doing big mileage and they were reliable.
Why not just run the drivers 24hours a day? The money you’d save on having less staff (employers contributions etc) could go to buy decent trucks?
gazwrf:
6 years is to long! We run double shifted 6 days per week approx
3,800 miles per week and re- new every 2 years. We run merc actros minimal down time
So far! On 2years full r&m with merc.
2 years… 
I took our oldest Scanias out the other week, 6 year 420 manual with around 1,100,000 ks on the clock, probably more now.
Pulls like a train, better than the new ones and returned better fuel being manual, drives straight and true everything works as it should, and uses about the same amount of oil as the new motors.
If they keep it i see no reason why another million k’s would prove unreliable…KISS…keep it soddin simple.
Saaamon:
Why not just run the drivers 24hours a day? The money you’d save on having less staff (employers contributions etc) could go to buy decent trucks?
But then you have trucks sitting idle whilst you pay someone to sleep in it, tramping is dead. Day/night men and subbing out distance outwith your on network is the only way to make transport pay.