The Loonie’s wings have been clipped and it’s making new equipment purchases extremely painful for Canadian carriers, writes James Menzies in Truck News.
The Canadian dollar, he says, is worth about 77 cents compared to the US greenback, which is down 17% since this time last year.
This is a double-whammy for fleets. Not only does it add tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of a new truck, it has an effect on just about anything else they need to buy to support your business. Including fuel prices.
Derek Varley, manager of fleet services with Mackie Moving Systems told Truck News, just a five-cent drop in value for the Loonie adds about $6,750 to the cost of a $135,000 truck. He, like other proactive fleets, are trying to time purchases to avoid the added costs.
“There’s a lot of money to be saved with good planning,” he told Truck News. “It behooves fleet managers or owners, whoever is doing purchasing, to understand what may take place with the dollar and what is happening with the dollar and to work those projections to your advantage.”
Read the full article here.