With the disruption caused by COVID and the shortages of new trucks, leasing options offer a useful alternative for operators, and Penske Truck Leasing is ready, getting some new models to lease.
In the world of truck leasing and rental, September is when most of the new truck purchases take place, in the lead up to the busiest time of the year, the period heading into Christmas. For Penske Truck Leasing, this means a number of MAN TG3 models arriving in Australia.
“We’re really excited about the MAN TG3s coming through, I’ve always been a big fan of MAN, and their 10 litre and 13 litre products. They have done very well for us in rental and lease,” says Adrian Beach, General Manager Penske Truck Leasing. “They’ve been super durable and we understand the maintenance costs.
“I’ve always kind of thought that they were a little utilitarian and didn’t have much of a wow factor to them, but these new TG3s, they get everything we love about the TG2s, same engine and driveline, but it’s such a nicer cab and they really took into account what drivers want, and they smoothed out the ride with the front suspension, and I can’t wait to get him in traffic and see them with Penske Truck Rental decals on.
“In a lot of ways we’re kind of the demo program for the dealership. In the past the dealership would have to buy a couple themselves and hold them on their books and register them and eventually try to sell them as a used truck. Now the dealership can rent a truck from us to give it to one of their retail customers.”
Penske Truck Leasing puts telematics in its trucks and can provide fuel economy data. The Penske Truck Leasing team try to help increase MAN market share by being a customer, buying them and getting them on the road, but also helping their dealership sales teams, by using them as demos or support units.
In the last year and a half, because of the supply issues, the Penske rental business has been booming. Adrian estimates the business gets an extra 10 or 15 per cent utilisation bump from people who’ve ordered a truck, but they’re going to have to wait a year or so for it to actually arrive.
“One thing that dealership sales teams and the national fleet sales team has been able to do, is say, they know they’re looking at other brands, but if they get the order, they can get a rental next week,” says Adrian. “At least you’re moving freight. There have been a couple of times when their customers contract starts and their customer took so long to make a decision that they had to drop some off the some of the bidders out because they wouldn’t be able to supply on time.
“I think we’ll get a bump when we get these TG3s into the rental fleet, because there may be a lot of current MAN customers who want to try one of these before they make a commitment to it. I think that’s a way we’re going to get some growth with the leased product line, because even if there are people who like the truck, they like how it looks, but they’re asking about resale and maintenance. We can answer all those questions by holding the residual position and building the maintenance into the lease payment.”
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