Capital Equipment News August 2019

TRANSPORT

FAW lowers towing company’s running costs Owner of Andy White Sallon Trading, Andy Onwughai, is delighted with how his two FAW trucks have performed during the past year.

A ndy White Sallon Trading, which opened its doors in 2011, per- forms all types of towing and vehicle recovery work across South Africa and into a few neigh- bouring countries. Onwughai’s small business supplies accident damaged ve- hicles to a number of salvage yards and he’s always happy to work with South Africa’s major insurance companies. As licensed agents, Andy White Sallon Trading is also able to assist the South African Police Service to move stolen and recovered vehicles. His wife helps out by handling all the paperwork for these jobs. First FAW Onwughai bought his two FAW 8.140FL 5-t trucks in 2018 from FAW Isando in Kempton Park, Johannesburg. Since then they have covered around 85 000 km, trouble-free. This is perhaps no surprise given that the FAW 8.140FL medium-weight truck range was specifically engineered for the local market and is built right here on South African soil for southern and central African markets. chassis, axles and other sub-assembly components, together with the imported Cummins ISF engine and the ZF transmission, are all assembled at FAW South Africa’s Coega-based plant in the Eastern Cape. The range is available from FAW dealers in a number of body derivatives, including a drop-side, a taut-liner, a van body, a tipper, a rollback and a dry-freight insulated body. Customers may choose to buy the chassis cab and fit their own truck bodies to suit many other applications, up to a GCM of 14 t. Onwughai explains that his FAW trucks are serviced every 15 000 km in Spartan, Johannesburg. “I drop them off in the early morning and they are washed and ready for me to collect by 4 pm the same day,” he says. Imported from parent plants as SKD kits, the FAW 8.140FL’s cab,

Andy White Sallon Trading specialises in towing and vehicle recovery.

Why FAW? “The trucks are light on fuel and so each of my four standby drivers want to drive them in order to earn more money for themselves,” he explains. “The trucks also have no problem going uphill and they offer good levels of driver comfort.” Another significant advantage of the FAW 8.140FL trucks are their 5-t payloads, which allows two passenger vehicles to be towed simultaneously. The length of the rollback also allows the company to tow larger vehicles like double-diff Mercedes-Benz Sprinters, small trucks and even 2,5-t forklifts with ease. Future plans That being said, Onwughai would still like to add a bigger truck to his fleet so that he can provide a cross-border car-carrier service. He is extremely eager to take delivery of the soon to be launched FAW JH6 long-haul truck tractor, which will give him additional flexibility and significant carrying capacity. He adds that the FAW brand was recommended to him by a colleague in the towing industry. “I have received great service from FAW Isando and particularly from senior sales executive, Marchant Botha. Any problem that I have had has been quickly sorted out. Marchant also calls me periodically to ask about the performance of the trucks. I consider this to be excellent customer care.” Onwughai says the FAW 8.140FL represents excellent value at R520 000 complete with hydraulically-adjustable rollback. He was also impressed by the fact that he was able to watch the rollback’s four-week build process. “The rollback is excellent because the bumper doesn’t scrape over speed bumps when the trucks are fully loaded,” he concludes. b

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