MHW Magazine News and stories from the Materials Handling Industry
The cost-effective contract hire package and comprehensive back-up on offer from Dealer Rossetts Commercials convinced Sussex waste management and recycling specialist KSD Environmental Services to invest in its latest Mercedes-Benz trucks.
The Brighton-based operator is now running a new 32-tonne Actros 3236 hook-loader and four 18-tonne Axor 1829 skip vehicles. All are the subject of a CharterWay contract hire package from Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, which covers not only the chassis but also their Hyva bodywork.
KSD Environmental Services is part of the KSD Group, which next year celebrates its 10th anniversary. It provides commercial clients with a broad portfolio of waste management solutions, including collections, skip hire, recycling and disposals, across an area that extends from Chichester in the west to Eastbourne in the east, and as far north as Crawley. It also offers extensive national coverage, supported by a network of waste partners.
KSD Environmental Services owns 15 trucks, several of which wear three-pointed stars, among them another 8×4 roll on-roll off and low-entry Econic refuse models. But the new arrivals replace a further five vehicles which it was previously contract hiring from a third-party provider.
"Whenever an issue cropped up we’d find ourselves stuck in the middle and having to deal with the finance supplier and the manufacturer’s agent," says KSD General Manager Allan Brown. "By contrast, under our new arrangement everything is effectively covered by a single supplier."
He continues: "We have long experience of Mercedes-Benz vehicles and know them to be well built, reliable and ‘fit for purpose’. The price of the CharterWay contract hire package was also important and it’s certainly competitive, particularly given that it includes provision for replacement vehicles to be supplied in the event that a repair cannot be completed with 48 hours.
"The icing on the cake for us was the extremely attractive, ‘all in’ tyre replacement cover, which includes damage, wear and punctures. This is built into the R&M element of the contract and further secures fixed known costs."
"More important, though," comments KSD Managing Director Mark Ratcliffe, "was the after sales support which Rossetts is able to provide. Its workshops in Worthing, Eastbourne and Crawley are conveniently located relative to our own operation, while its round-the-clock servicing capability and 24/7 emergency roadside rescue and recovery back-up means it is well placed to keep our trucks out on the road and earning. No other dealer in this area can provide that level of service."
