Operators are becoming more knowledgeable and better informed about upcoming industry changes according to Evans Halshaw, national franchise director Wayne Edwards.
“People are actually asking for a Euro-6 vehicles, rather than just asking for used trucks like they used to,” said Edwards.
“I think the change is very much driven by the press and all their talk of low emission zones as well as the RHA which has been banging on its drum about LEZs.
“From January 2020, we’re talking about as much as £50 a day to get into the Leeds area. We have a site there and I think there’s now a fair bit of knowledge in the local area about what is potentially going to be required.”
Within the past eight months, Evans Halshaw has switched to stocking only Euro-6 standard used trucks, and with the exception of specific customer orders requiring Euro-5 now sells only the higher emission standard vehicles.
Across its four sites, Evans Halshaw now stocks up to 60 used Euro-6 trucks, a change which has come about entirely through customer demand.
“Customers are pretty aware of the LEZs. We’ve had a lot of interest in used Euro-6s, and are taking a lot of Euro-5 in as part-exchanges.
“Because we are now only stocking Euro-6 we do use that as a sales hook, customers can be sure they are getting the latest specification and it can go into LEZs.
“It’s very difficult in our industry, we do burn a lot of fossil fuels, but we always will until we get hybrids or electric trucks.
“When you talk to business people, the switch to Euro-6 is all about that £50 a day. We all want to improve our emissions, but that cost is something that they are going to struggle to pass on,” Edwards added.
