DAF retains top spot in falling market

DAF Trucks celebrated its twenty-third year of truck market leadership in 2017, claiming just under 30 per cent of new truck registrations. At 13,301, it put almost twice as many new trucks on the road as its nearest competitor. Overall, the market was down slightly, from 46,231 in 2016 to 45,045.

More significantly for many operators, DAF’s 136 dealer workshop locations scored a 96.7 first-time annual test pass rate, with many dealers achieving 100 per cent. In total, the network submitted 33,545 vehicles for test in 2017.

DAFaid, DAF Trucks’ roadside assistance programme, also saw record figures in 2017. The network handled 81,374 call-outs from January to December, representing an increase of 9.6 per cent on 2016, including 679,000 calls to the DAFaid call centre which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2017; calls were, on average, answered within 15 seconds.

DAFaid manager, Jake Blowers, said: “The increase in calls reflects a subtle change in the way some operators use DAFaid to support their businesses. Rather than dealing with minor repairs themselves, or booking them in for later rectification, they are calling DAFaid to have their trucks fixed first time and back to work as soon as possible.

“This improves their fleet uptime, and helps protect their OCRS. The growth is also due in part to an increase in non-DAF vehicle breakdowns, which accounted for almost 10,000 DAFaid jobs last year.”

DAFcheck, DAF Trucks’ own electronic vehicle maintenance record system, also reached a significant milestone in 2017 after two million individual jobs were completed and registered by DAF’s dealers from its total of 136 locations across the UK and Ireland.

DAF Trucks managing director, Robin Easton, said: “Our dominant position in the UK market is the result of two key factors – a fantastic product range, which was completely updated last year, and which is already delivering productivity benefits for customers, and industry-leading services and support from our dealer network.

“With a strong order book for our updated product range, which is delivering significant fuel savings for our customers, I expect us to consolidate, if not further strengthen, our position in 2018.”