Commercial vehicles with extras

Only 40 per cent of Hungarian forwarding businesses use vehicles which are not older than six years, while 30 per cent use vehicles which are older than nine years. If we only consider trucks that are actually used as commercial vehicles, drawing the line at 2,8 tons (a Renault Master), we are left with 270 000 vehicles, most of them light commercial vehicles. The total number of vehicles in the over 6,5 tons category is 100 000. 40 per cent of light commercial vehicles are not older than five years and only 22 per cent are over ten years old. For heavy commercial vehicles these proportions are 16 and 61 (!) per cent respectively. –The growth of GDP is due almost exclusively to the expansion of export. As long as the European economic boom continues, international forwarding businesses will have no reason to complain – explains Ádám Bihari from Renault Trucks Hungária Kft. – There is also an incredible level of concentration taking place in the market, with five-ten dominant players. The appearance of logistic centres has a stimulating effect on the domestic market as well, especially for light commercial vehicles – he adds. Wight limits in effect in cities also have an impact on the commercial vehicles chosen. While price used to be the primary consideration a few years ago, financing, fuel economy and additional services are equally important now. Comfort has also improved remarkably. For example, the new Nissan NV200 doubles into a mobile office. Engines meeting the Euro-3 emission standards are now being replaced with ones complying with Euro-4 and even Euro-5. An incredibly wide range of financing schemes are available for buying commercial vehicles. Leasing of commercial vehicles accounts for 13-14 per cent of the total leasing market. Nearly 30 leasing companies specialise in commercial vehicles, while six of these account for three-quarters of the total market. Probably those companies which provide additional services like maintenance, casco insurance and fuel cards for the leasing fee will remain with us in the long run. This type of financing is very popular in Western Europe where clients do not want to become the owners of their vehicles, instead these are given back at the and of the lease period and replaced with a new one.