Prime Mover Magazine: The True Value of a Genuine Part
7.9.2021
12.2.2016
Cartage Australia is one of the country’s leading transporters of quarry products. The company’s fleet of over 50 Volvo FM500s services the Melbourne metropolitan area and has gained a solid reputation for reliability and efficiency. It also has a first-class safety record.
The man behind Cartage Australia, Ray Cauchi, is an industry veteran with 35 years of experience. He is a firm believer in genuine parts and contract service agreements, and he has the numbers to back it up.
“We’ve got the whole fleet on contract maintenance with CMV Laverton,” says Ray, “and we only use genuine Volvo parts. We’ve tried non-genuine, but the quality isn’t there – they just don’t last. Furthermore, Volvo stands behind its parts 100 per cent. If they fit a part and it fails, they replace it at their cost.”
Having tried both approaches, Ray is convinced that genuine parts more than pay for themselves. “We run our trucks for 800,000km or four years and I know that if I have to change a genuine part, I’ll only have to do it once. Non-genuine parts might be cheaper, but you end up replacing them at least twice.”
Another aspect of relying on CMV Laverton and the Volvo Group dealer network is that they guarantee they will always have the parts Ray needs. “I just don’t have to think about parts at all,” he says. “Volvo Group and CMV are the experts, they‘ve got the full inventory and their technicians and equipment are the best I’ve seen in 35 years. CMV is a family business (Joint Managing Directors, brothers Paul and Michael Crawford) and their father always said that servicing is the most important part of the business. He knew what he was talking about.”
Ray is very focused on providing reliable service to his customers and a safe fleet for his drivers. “Getting our drivers home safely is our number one priority,” he says. “And, servicing our trucks regularly with all-Volvo parts goes a long way to achieving that. When you’ve got a broken finger you go to the doctor don’t you? Not the butcher. Our business is servicing customers, not servicing trucks, so we leave that to the experts.”
The service network of the Volvo Group is the biggest in the country, says Ray, so he can get his trucks serviced just about anywhere in the country, and having his whole fleet on a pre-paid service contract is a winning strategy.
Volvo Group Australia’s Vice President of Aftersales, Tony O’Connell (left), agrees that Ray’s approach to parts and service is the only sensible one. “Ray knows he doesn’t have to worry about keeping his trucks on the road because he’s leaving that to experts who take full responsibility for their product and their work. This frees him to concentrate on what he does best which is servicing his customers.”
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