Cool runnings for Iveco Daily

Queensland Thermo King (QTK) Group says its 10-strong fleet of Iveco Daily service vehicles delivers reliability, comfort and a better bottom line, as its mobile technicians traverse the state to service its many clients.

QTK Group is the Queensland distributor for commercial vehicle refrigeration specialist Thermo King, and it carries out servicing for truck and trailer refrigeration units, and coach air-conditioning systems, at customer sites and depots across the state. This sees QTK Group service technicians rack up tens of thousands of kilometres each year.

The company switched to Iveco's Daily several years ago, after an extensive trial provided all the proof the company needed of the model's benefits.

QTK Group Operations Manager Grant Turner says the Daily is a great fit for the company on multiple levels.

"From Brisbane we have customers as far north as Bundaberg, we go inland of Toowoomba and as far south as Murwillumbah, and our technicians travel all manner of road conditions to get there," he says.

"The technicians can do big hours on site or can sometimes drive to five or six different locations in a day; they're very pleased with the driver comfort offered by the Daily.

"Cab-over trucks are uncomfortable; the Daily is more like driving a car in terms of ride quality and seating position. They also have plenty of power and handle well."

With 125kW and 400Nm, the Dailys can easily handle the custom bodies with which they're fitted. These carry spares, tools and up to 200 litres of oil, and they are also equipped with internal work benches. An extendable work platform also makes the job easy – the technician simply reverses the Daily up to the truck's or coach's refrigeration system, thereby allowing safe access to the unit.

Mr Turner says the manual Daily is delivering many benefits for QTK.

"We've opted for the six-speed manual gearbox; on price it's hard to go past this specification and we've had a great run out of them – combined with cruise control the two work well," he says.

"Our younger technicians are by no means experienced heavy vehicle operators, yet they're driving around in a vehicle that weights over four tonnes and the gearboxes are up to it.

"We pretty much just put tyres and brakes on the Dailys, and even then we're getting 80,000 kilometres out of a set of tyres. Service intervals are out to 40,000 kilometres so we only need to have them worked on once a year."

QTK renews its Daily fleet every four years or 160,000 kilometres, adhering to a program that has served the company well for nearly 10 years now.