What to Consider When Investing in a Truck

Car and truck sales are buckling the trend of higher consumer prices, and Aussies are snapping up vehicles of all sorts in record-breaking numbers. As businesses are growing, there’s also the move from traditional utes and vans to light and medium-duty trucks. Total truck numbers (excluding utes) exceeded 50000 units, with the usual light-duty names (Isuzu, Hino and Fuso) making the top three, and Mack, Volvo, Kenworth/DAF and Daimler covering the majority of heavy-duty sales. The shift though has been to bigger, heavy-duty vehicles, meaning Aussies are hauling more in a single go.

Changing trends also mean larger sums are changing hands more often. If your business is on the rise, and you’re looking to expand your fleet with new or used truck and trailers, you’ll want answers to basic questions before parting with your cash. How will the purchase meet current or growing needs?  What kind of cargo will you be hauling? How does size and capacity affect efficiency and overall costs? Are maintenance costs manageable? And perhaps most importantly, what can you get with the allocated budget? Balancing your needs and expectations, with your budget should get you a workhorse that helps you grow.

Main Considerations When Buying

Trucks and trailers are an investment, regardless if this is a 300 Series Hino, FX Series Isuzus, or a 780hp FH16 Volvo. To navigate all the options and get what works, consider the following points:

1. Assessing Your Hauling Needs – How will the truck be used? Is it primarily for work, personal use or for both? Decide what you’ll be transporting, the size, shape and weight of the load, how many trips you’ll be making and at what distance. This should narrow your choice of the type of truck to meet most uses.
2. Market Research – Does new or used make a difference? Are you after specific brands, or features that are not available anywhere else? Read owner and fleet operator reviews, and compare specs (engine power, payload capacities, fuel consumption and features). Look up dealer websites, browse used listings, or better still visit yards and dealerships and arrange a test drive and inspection to assess condition, signs of damage and wear and how the truck drives.
3. Set a Budget – The purchase price is only part of the cost. Consider registration, insurance, and in used truck and trailers, any needed part replacements and labour costs for detailed maintenance. For new trucks, research financing options, interest rates, and the higher premiums in insuring newer vehicles. Also, look how warranties and aftersales support can save you money and the hassle of unwanted downtime in trucks needing servicing or unscheduled repairs.

Truck Types

The general classification of trucks into light, medium and heavy-duty types doesn’t tell potential buyers much in terms of what the trucks can do, how much they can haul, or whether they require specific permits for operation. As with every industry, details matter, and for trucks, specific configurations, cab styles and types of trailer attachments provide the relevant info for making the right purchase. The basic divide here is between rigid and articulated trucks.

Rigid Trucks

This is by far the most populous category on Australian roads. Rigid trucks are those with a fixed chassis, so the loading area and the cab are a single unit. They’re known for their versatility with different loads, easier handling in built-up areas, generally smaller sizes and multiple setups intended for shorter hauling distances. Good examples are tippers, dump trucks, refrigerator, flatbed, pantech and service trucks, and specialised vehicles like cherry pickers. Rigid trucks with a Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM)  below 3.5 tonnes can be driven on a car licence, but anything over 4.5 tonnes goes into the ‘medium’ or ‘heavy-vehicle’ category and requires a separate licence. Examples are fire trucks, tow trucks and truck-mounted cranes.

Where smaller vehicles rely on a two-axle configuration, bigger rigid trucks can have up to 5 axles, and GVMs of 33.5 tonnes. To extend usability and load capacities, rigid trucks can also be used to pull one or more trailers. These also come in different configurations and with interesting names. Pig or box trailers have a single axle group in the middle of the trailer, and dog trailers- with two separate axle groups at the front and back. Configured this way, rigid truck and trailer combos extend GVM to 42.5 tonnes. Rare examples are rigid road trains with multiple trailers.

Articulated Trucks

Articulated trucks consist of a tractor unit or prime mover, and one or more trailers. Both are independent and joined at a pivot point. The main difference to rigid truck combinations is that the axle group in the trailer is located at the rear,  and the front of the trailer is carried by the prime mover. Moreover, the prime mover has no load-carrying space of its own. All the goods are loaded onto the trailer.

Increased carrying capacity, adaptability to different types of cargo, and the ability to transport larger loads at longer distances are just a few advantages of articulated setups. While maneuverability isn’t their forte, different prime mover and trailer combos allow for transporting exceptionally large loads.

Examples are prime movers with lead/middle trailers (trailers with a turntable mounted over the axle group at the rear of a trailer); low loader trailers with loading decks of a maximum of 1 metre, used in transporting large machinery, and tag trailers with a single axle towards the rear of its load carrying surface, and connected to another trailer or the prime mover via a drawbar- ideal for pulling smaller construction machinery besides the main load in the semi-trailer.

For longer and heavier loads like lumber or windmill blades, also have a look at prime movers with extendable or platform “gooseneck” trailers. Common sights on Australian roads are articulated road trains with single prime movers, and up to four separate trailers, with GVMs averaging 200 tonnes and overall lengths nearing 60 metres. These are used to transport fuel, iron ore, minerals and livestock.

Trucks According to Axle Count and Cab Designs

Trucks are also classified by the arrangement of wheels and driven wheels. For instance, a medium-duty rigid tipper truck can have four wheel ends, all of which are driven in a 4×4 axle configuration. Larger and more powerful prime mover semis come in tractor and trailer combos consisting of a total of 3, 4, 5 and 6 axles, but in 6X2 or 6X4 axle configurations in the move itself. Axle count and the number of driven wheels are important in distributing weight, configuring trailer combos, and how steering and grip are distributed when tackling paved and unpaved surfaces in rural and congested urban settings.

Cab designs and positioning are more about the origin of the truck, and how engines are accessed during repairs. Cab-over-engine (COE) layouts have the cabin right above the engine. They’re more frequent in European and Japanese brands, and benefit from shorter overall lengths, at the expense of easier accessibility to the engine. American brands like Mack and Kenworth (and the majority of road trains in Australia) have cabs situated to the rear, resulting in longer prime movers. Despite most misconceptions, there are no power or performance benefits in either cab layout.

The Wrap Up

The specifics of the load, overall distances, and intended use of the truck (and any connected trailer) are your main concerns when buying. This means choosing between a rigid or articulated layout in the GVM that best suits the load. Specifics like driven and non-driven axles are more about the setting where the truck is used, and to a lesser extent the traction required in transporting heavier loads. Consider your hauling needs, what you can get for your budget and factors like operation and maintenance costs when signing the dotted line.