Owner-driver Cliff Janssen: 'Glad I chose Scania'

When we speak to him, he has yet to get it, but brand-new owner-driver Cliff Janssen from Wijchen is happy that after some consideration, he chose Scania after all. "While waiting for my new Scania 450S 4×2, I am now driving a Scania Rental with the same engine. And I am pleasantly surprised about the fuel consumption."

At 21 years old, Cliff Janssen is one of the younger owner-operators in our country. But perhaps the most driven. "I started right after getting my driver's license at a small charter company in Bergharen. I enjoyed working there. But now almost a year ago I switched to Van Sambeek Transport in Escharen (near Grave) for another six months. But by then it was already clear to me that I wanted to start for myself. Since they drive 100 percent with the other Swede at Van Sambeek, I thought I should buy such a car as well. But I'm not terribly brand crazy: I go for what makes the best business sense for me. So I also went into conclave with the Scania dealer in Nijmegen. I noticed three things there: 1. That they really wanted to help me, 2. That they made me an honest and good offer and were 100 percent willing to help me, and 3. That it clicked well between the Account manager and myself."

Together with the dealer, Cliff arrived at a comprehensive configuration for his new all-air suspension 450S with the highest cab. "You can say it's lavishly equipped: I checked almost all the boxes," laughs the young entrepreneur. Still, he didn't make a carnival of it. "I deliberately had the truck painted in metallic Urban Grey. That's a Scania color. A gray fits virtually every trailer. However, for the accents like the grille and mirror caps, I did enrich the truck with a dark red metallic Cherry color. The nice thing was, that Scania could paint that ex-factory for me: that saves a hallway. They could have fitted the other things for me, too. But the lights, longer sun visor, air horns, light box, Michelin dollies and some other accessories, I had them installed elsewhere at Van Kessel Truckstyling in Vinkel."

The sideskirts were another story. "It's a truck with a Fuel Fighter package and those skirts just go with that. But I don't want them for two reasons. First, we almost always load and unload from the side. Without skirts you can reach just 10 centimeters further with the forklift. That doesn't seem like much, but it makes all the difference. And secondly, I wanted the tank suspension painted in the same color and the tanks polished, so nicely old-skool".

Which of the two reasons actually belongs at the top, we will never know. But what is certain is that a candidate for the Most Beautiful Truck election is glowing here. "I don't have to do that," Cliff retorts. "Due to the corona crisis, it all took a little longer than anticipated. That's why I'm really happy that Scania has helped me out in the meantime with a Rental. It has the same engine as my new one. With the difference that it is already well run-in. The values of that truck are great and that's important. Because you calculate everything in advance to see if your plans are feasible and of course consumption is a key figure. And now I immediately have a good reference of what to expect."

Cliff paid close attention to extra safety with a retarder and ACC. "I think that's an important addition to the standard LDW and AEBS," he says. What the truck equipped with a Driver, Leather and LED package will soon have to deal with on its Alcoavelgen, Cliff also already knows. "We always drive heavy and usually block loads through the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. So I know pretty well what's coming. Basically, I'm home at night, but there are just weeks when you're away from home for three days at a time. That's why I had one bed and an extra cabinet wall installed in the back of the cab, a super sleek cabinet wall that Scania could also supply ex-factory. Then I always have everything on hand. Standard air conditioning on top, who cares?"

For the 125-130,000 miles Cliff will drive per year, he has signed a flexible maintenance contract. As a result, the connected truck does not have fixed maintenance intervals, but instead tells itself when and what maintenance it needs based on actual daily conditions.