struggled to find operators that are willing to drive them or now have the relevant experience.” Explains Jeff, “Crawler excavators are far more accepted and are seen as the do-it-all tool on a site these days. That said, we have recently purchased a new backhoe loader for a particular long-term contract we have and are lucky enough to have an experienced operator to go with it.” Compact equipment within the fleet has also been bolstered by the arrival of a number of EC18D mini- excavators along with a new SD135B twin-drum roller. Where AD Plant hire really believe the Volvo product stands out from the rest, is their customer service. “We enjoy a very personal service from the team at Newcastle. We get on well with the fitters and couldn’t ask for more from them, we hold them in very high regard. If there is one small gripe we do have it’s the cost of parts. Although not excessively high, they are always a few pounds dearer than similar items from our previous manufacturers. However, whilst it may cost us a little more to service the Volvos over our older machines, the amount of downtime we have experienced is far less with a predominately Volvo fleet saving us money in the long run” Jeff is very complimentary about the Volvo Caretrack monitoring system installed on the larger machines in the fleet


and only wishes this could be included on the mini and midi excavators. “We have a stand-alone satellite system on the smaller machines and whilst it does the job, I would prefer the whole of the Volvo fleet to be covered by Caretrack. It would make life so much easier for us.” Major servicing is carried out by SMT with any issues in-between service time carried out in house. All machines are impeccably turned out with the company valeting and cleaning every machine between hires. “You have more of a chance of the machine being looked after on site if it turns up looking immaculate”, explains Jeff. With machines being hired out to different operators on a regular basis, issues being reported back to the office have been minimal with feedback being good from all quarters. Fuel consumption has been very good compared to previous machines on the fleet and reliability has been exceptional. An area often disregarded by plant hire companies, operator acceptance, has been positive with many hirers asking specifically for the Volvo product. Volvo has not only made it to the earthmoving and hire fleet but is now present on the transport side of the business with the company acquiring a new FH tractor unit that offers their customers a more reliable and flexible service. ■


“We tried a number of manufacturers and settled on the Volvo brand as their acceptance, build quality and reliability were perceived to be far ahead of other manufacturers”


36 THE VOICE MAGAZINE No31 2017


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