Scania deal to ease virus burden

Scania has come up with a series of innovative offers around its New Truck Generation range, which it says is designed to combat the negative impacts of the coronavirus crisis.

Customers ordering selected vehicles before September 30 and taking delivery before December 31 will be able to take advantage of a range of offers, specially formulated to ease the burden of operating trucks in the current economic climate.

In the short term, these will help maximise the financial advantage of the federal government’s stimulus package, Backing Business Investment (BBI), which includes the instant asset write-off or 50 per cent accelerated depreciation for investment programmes.

“Scania is pro-actively reaching out to truck buyers and offering them solutions for new vehicle acquisition and pain-free servicing designed to maximise uptime and cash-flow especially during challenging times,” said Dean Dal Santo, Director of Sales for Scania Trucks in Australia.

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“Working in conjunction with Scania Finance Australia (SFA), we have developed the initiatives targeting selected short lead time vehicle purchases. This program has been designed to have immediate impact, making it possible for operators to renew their fleet or continue with planned fleet replacements as well as maintain the vehicles in prime condition.

“Scania has expanded its already well received ‘low doc’ loan programme. We also promise a fast decision on a loan request, again to reduce the pressure on customers keen to get on the road in a new truck,” Dean said.

The first action has been to increase the loan limit for existing customers of SFA to $750,000, or $500,000 for customers new to SFA.

“In addition, we are offering a limited period of six months of interest-only payments for the vehicle and also a deferred payment offer for repair and maintenance agreements on these selected new vehicles,” Dean said.

“These are carefully considered offers aimed at ensuring customers who may be looking at restricted cash flow for reasons completely outside their control, can continue to function with a higher degree of normality than they may have thought possible.

“Our technicians, parts advisers, warehouse staff and account managers have all been and continue to be available as usual to ensure we support our customers when they need it most,” Dean said.

“No other original equipment supplier is offering such incentives, and because SFA is offering assistance at commercial rates, customers do not have to rely on third-party lenders who may charge interest significantly above the going rate,” Dean said.

“Scania prides itself on focusing on our customers when times are tough,” Dean said.

“Scania is able to leverage the advantage of an in-house finance arm in order to provide an industry-leading structured payment offering, and the actions we have taken underline our commitment to support our customers in good times, and bad,” he said.