It’s not easy choosing engine oil: every oil seems to be seems to have an alphabet spaghetti of specifications and accreditations on its data sheet. Then there is all marketing hyperbole. Is super-high performance oil better than ultra-high performance or vice-versa? Is long drain better than extended drain, or is it the other way round? The temptation is to default to the one thing we all understand – price per litre. Sadly, that approach is unlikely to lead to the best answer. … more

7.5-tonne GVW trucks accounted for 28% of all new trucks over 3.5 tonnes GVW registered in the UK in 2000. That proportion had dwindled to just 12% by 2011. It seems that we have fallen out of love with 7.5-tonners.The removal of the ‘grandfather’s rights’ of car drivers who passed their driving test before 1997 has steadily whittled away the number of people able to drive 7.5-tonners without acquiring an LGV licence.  … more

The word AdBlue first began to crop up in our vocabulary in 2003. It had been coined as a trademark by the German automotive industry association, the VDA (Verband de Automobilindustrie). The VDA wanted a standard for a urea solution that was soon to be widely adopted by commercial vehicle manufacturers poised to comply with Euro-4 exhaust emission limits, which took effect for all new trucks registered from October 2006. … more

Almost one third of all UK lorry drivers could be ineligible to drive come 10 September 2014. By then they will have had five years in which to clock up 35 hours of training in order to earn their driver’s CPC (Certificate of Professional Competence). Less than a week’s training in five years does not sound too onerous but progress hitherto is so poor that late last year the Freight Transport Association (FTA) was moved to issue a stark warning. … more

Digital tachographs became mandatory in trucks first registered on or after 1 May 2006, sweeping away 25 years of analogue tachographs and paper charts. What has not changed, however, is the need to analyse tachograph data to ensure that drivers comply with the EU Drivers Hours rules and do not jeopardise their employer’s O-licence. … more

The importance of getting a firm grip on tyre costs was rammed home last year by a series of tyre price hikes the like of which has never been seen before. Many of the big tyre manufacturers pushed through three list price rises that compounded to year-on-year increases of 15-25%. That outstrips even the escalation in the diesel price, making tyres the fastest growing element of truck operating costs in 2011. …more

Once regarded as an outlet for vehicles in their twilight years in search of one last owner before heading for the breakers yard, auctions have upped their game. They are now big players in the corporate ‘remarketing’ business, helping blue-chip companies realise strong residual values for their used vehicles.  … more

Fleet telematics systems offer operators many benefits, from the ability to confirm the location of each vehicle at any given point to the production of reports grading drivers on their driving style. But the novelty of seeing each truck’s position on a screen in the traffic office soon wears off. Telematics systems cost money. … more