Probes by both the Office of Fair Trading and the European Commission into price fixing market might be a little quiet at the moment but that doesn't mean its not having much impact.
Laurie Dealer's old friend CAP Red Book, a tried and trusted friend, and its heavy commercial editor Barrie Travis says truck manufacturers are now increasingly reluctant to release pricing-related information to third parties.
"There is a growing problem with the supply of used truck information in particular, which is threatening the reliable forecasting of future used truck values," he says. "Banks and other organisations can only finance the purchase of used trucks if they understand their future risk position. Traditionally, those funding decisions have been partly based on the supply of pricing and forecast values from trusted independent third parties, such as CAP.
"However, key information from some manufacturers is now drying up in response to fears that it may compromise their commercial security. This is a classic example of the law of unintended consequences and poses the very real risk of undermining the tentative recovery we are now seeing in the used truck market."
As daft as it sounds the price and associated financial risk of buying a truck has always been dictated by the genuine selling price in the used market. No legitimate lender wants to be bitten in the you-know-where come disposal time, and nor does an operator want to be overcharged. Manufacturers' prices help maintain the balance.
Dealers have their margins, but that is all. Unless you have a suitcase of cash the financial transaction is only a list of numbers on a sheet, which unless kept in check, can spiral out of control with the right information to put it into context.
Releasing price information is part of keeping it in check, but when have you known manufacturers protect anything other than the family silver.
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