Used truck trade says goodbye to the gaffer’s truck

Fitted with next to nothing, and something not even that, the threadbare ‘gaffer’s truck’ once dominated the British road network like irrelevant road signs. These days you have to work a little harder to spot a genuine gaffer’s truck.

The majority of optional extras are practical, things like hydraulics, PTO and wet tipping gear help the truck do its job. Others have a more personal touch as operators want to distinguish themselves from large fleet operators. This approach means the truck will be easier to sell second hand and the truck is more appealing to the driver, potentially offsetting a less appealing employment package.

Appeasing drivers often means selecting things like a fridge, air-con, leather seats, wooden veneer on the dashboard, or the odd light bar or three. Since the recession more operators are taking a more pragmatic approach, which has gone hand-in-hand with manufacturers taking on responsibility for more trucks through leasing agreements with operators.

Now trucks are more likely to have those aforementioned options as standard. One side affect is raising the standard of trucks for the rental sector. Better equipped trucks helped create a balanced specification that achieves the smallest gap between purchase price and eventual sale price.

If you are going to spec your own truck then, arguably, the best option is to go for a higher horsepower engine. When the truck is resold within five years almost all of the option price can be recouped.

These days, the old gaffer’s truck has largely disappeared. You’d have to root around in the trucks bound for export to find the old supermarket wagons and pet-reg trucks fitted with day-cabs with manual window winders and minus air-con and central locking.

It is more difficult to pin to a family haulier as it is to a multinational logistic giant and that is down to how the truck is funded, or acquired, by the end user. Leasing places the ownership squarely in the hands of the vehicles provider, and a major funder these days is the manufacturer. They maintain an options list but it’s as likely to be a practical list to help the truck do its job as it is for vanity.

Sidebar

Laurie Dealer’s guide to options

Practical

·        Air-con in tippers

·        Big cab 

·        Sliding fifth wheel

·        Air management kit

·        Air-operated tailgates for tippers

·        PTO

·        Automated transmission

·        Higher horsepower

Nice to have

·        Microwave

·        Fridge

·        iPod connection

·        Integrated Sat-Nav

Vanity

·        Light bars

·        Chrome trim

·        Alloy wheels

·        Wooden trim

·        Leather trim

·        Choosing a colour other than white

·        Wacky paint job

·        Frosted windows

·        Lurid or tasselled curtains

·        External sun visor