Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic have combined to depress almost every industry sector, and drops in O Licence and overall truck parc numbers, to 68,393 and 362,630 respectively, tell the road transport story all too well.
Vehicle registrations dropped cumulatively by around 50% across the first two quarters of 2020, compared to the heady days of 2019. Encouragingly, Quarter 3 figures were far healthier, although registrations were still marginally down - just 189 vehicles - against the same period in 2019. Interestingly, we at Dawsongroup truck and trailer were responsible for around 5% of all the trucks registered in 2020.
A detailed report in the January issue of the official IRTE monthly journal, Transport Engineer, also shows a slight rise in running costs for operators, up again by 2.77% year on year, excluding fuel.
Issues such as:
all played a part in impacting residual values.
Now, more than ever, is the right time for operators to look again at the flexibility and well-proven economic opportunities that properly supported rental, leasing and contract hire packages provide. They take a mass of day-to-day management tasks off their hands and provide them with:
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The ability to preserve capital. Owning a fleet is expensive. At a time when ‘cash is king’ and a healthy cash flow is crucial, saving money on an initial outlay helps protect a business’s working capital so that it can be either held in reserve or invested elsewhere.
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A buffer against sharply reducing residuals.
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Predictable fleet costs. Knowing how much a vehicle is going to cost each month is crucial for business planning and allows for easier budgeting and cost control.
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A more certain approach to the all-important issue of compliance.
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Robust administration. The day-to-day burden of running a fleet is taken care of, saving time and money and allowing the operator to get on with focusing on satisfying their customers’ needs and growing their business.
As we look towards getting back to some sort of normality, I’m convinced that a usership rather than a ownership model can help many operators come out of this tough period stronger than ever.
Certainly, all the signs point to a steadily increasing recovery, albeit a slow one. The roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines and the gradual settling down of Brexit issues will see road transport once more playing a central role in the development of Great Britain PLC - hopefully extending far into the future.
John Fletcher, Managing Director