Supplying concrete to one of Australia’s largest construction companies, Greycart have discovered that the UD Quon gives the ideal combination of power, safety and most important of all, reliability.
Ross Books started Greycart back in 1986 with one truck and the family business has grown steadily since. With his eldest son Ben set to take over, Ross is looking to start his retirement with a world cruise in a year’s time. But before Ross hands over the reins, he’s determined to get his company where he needs it to be, and UD Trucks have become a key component of that goal.
Reliability and service
“We’ve tried lots of different brands over the years,” says Ross, “and they’ve all had pluses and minuses, but one of the big things for me is reliability and service. When a truck’s off the road it’s no use to you, and we’ve had issues in the past with service truck manufacturers passing us off to third parties. I’m not interested in that, I should be able to go to one place.”
When Ross was considering buying his next truck, a colleague pointed him at UD, and he soon found that UD’s one-stop service was a major drawcard.
“UD have a 24-hour service centre, a breakdown truck and they do everything themselves,” says Ross, “there’s none of that passing the buck. Being able to get my servicing done at night cuts my downtime, and the reliability we’ve had with the Quon has been excellent.”
Safety, comfort and power
Retail Area Representative for VCV Gold Coast, Michael Parker says Ross and wife Janelle also found a lot of synergies with UD’s brand values of safety and uptime.
“The safety features of the Quon, provides a complete package including forward-looking radar, stability control, a lane-departure warning system, disk brakes, cruise control and autonomous (AEB) braking,” says Michael. “This combined with flexible servicing hours and breakdown assist, makes UD an excellent strategic fit for Ross and Janelle’s business.”
When it comes to choosing a truck, Ross says safety is not just a consideration, but a prerequisite.
“Safety is obviously critical to us, but it’s also a major requirement for the big contracting firms we work for. With the Quon we more than meet the standard, and our drivers appreciate it.”
One of those drivers is Ross’s second son Chris who has taken to the Quon like a duck to water.
“He’s driven just about every brand there is, and he reckons the Quon’s the most comfortable truck of the lot. He says the power is amazing, it’s a comfortable and quiet ride, and basically drives like a big car. He’s found the stability of the airbag suspension really useful when trying to get into tight spots on-site, hasn’t needed to engage the power divider or diff lock, just driven right in there.”
Total cost of ownership
Ross bought his first Quon in 2020, picked up a second in 2021 and has two more on order, with an option on two more.
“The first Quon hasn’t missed a beat,” says Ross, “and that’s despite the service interval being 100 hours longer than it is for the other brands in our fleet. When I look at the cost of servicing, the overall reliability and the re-sale value, the total cost of ownership of a Quon is noticeably lower than some of the competitors.”
Fit for purpose
At first Ross thought the tare weight of the Quon might be a tad high, but when he investigated this he found it was well within his operating margins.
“We might get a quarter of a tonne more into one of the other trucks, but it’s not significant,” says Ross, “especially as nowadays we’re carrying a lot more spread mix, which is so wet you can’t put more than 6.5 tonnes in or it starts spilling out the back.”
With depots at Benowa, Coomera, Beenleigh, Browns Plains and Kingston, Greycart are ideally positioned to service construction jobs of any size or shape across south-east Queensland.
“The boys in Benowa have just completed a 77-story hi-rise apartment block at Surfers Paradise, and the upgrade of the Pacific Fair shopping centre a few years ago,” says Ross. “Up in Coomera it’s more residential housing and building the town centre. We’re also involved in the M1 widening program, so there’s fair bit going on, and it looks set to stay that way.”
A future with UD
With his experiences of the Quon’s reliability and the standard of UD’s service, Ross definitely sees UD paying major role in Greycart’s future.
“They’ve been consistent and reliable, which for me is key. We once had another truck off the road for over a month because of an engine failure that the engine manufacturer refused to help. We were caught between dealing with the component manufacturer and the truck dealer. It was not an ideal situation.
We don’t get that kind of attitude from UD, they understand the importance of reliability to a business owner like me. I see a long future for UD with Greycart.”
