Welcome to Webwatch, a regular series in which we rate places on the web to buy used trucks. Today we turn our attention to West Midlands independent dealership Cromwell Truck Sales.
Company: Cromwell Truck Sales
Address: www.cromwelltrucks.com
Homepage
We may have seen one or two snazzier used truck websites, but Cromwell's certainly does the job: it's friendly, bright and bold, with a clear navigation bar running along the top.
The homepage contains no less than three links to the vehicle catalogue, so this is one dealership that understands where its customers' priorities lie.
Product search
Stock is arranged into eight categories, from 'Boxvans and curtainsiders' to 'Scaffold vehicles'.
Select the category that interests you and the first 20 or so vehicles in that category will appear. Scroll down to see them all or click on the right arrow at the top of the page to move on to the next 20. It's also worth remembering that the 'H' icon will take you back to the homepage and the 'C' icon will return you to the start of the vehicle catalogue.
The Cromwell website doesn't have a search function, so it is very much a case of browsing for the right truck. This may take some time, as there is a lot of stock to browse through - the 'Crane lorries' category alone contained more than 50 items at the time of writing.
All of the major marques are represented, with Iveco and DAF seeming to dominate.
For each vehicle, the website gives a small photo and some details, including year of registration, gross vehicle weight, condition and brief spec. Clicking on the photo displays a larger version of the same image but no further details or shots from different angles.
Should you spot something that attracts your interest, click on the flashing 'email enquiry' icon to contact the firm. Another icon indicates whether a particular truck has already been sold.
The website does state that it is meant to give only an "indication" as to the vehicles in stock, and that "not all vehicles 'in build' or recently on site will be featured in the vehicle catalogue". So perhaps your surest bet, once you have browsed the site, is to phone Cromwell and explain your requirements. That would also be the best way to get further information on a particular product - or discuss the price, of course, which isn't listed on the website.
Other pages
As well as the obligatory 'About us' page, the Cromwell website contains information on the firm's export services (click on, um, 'Export'), maps and detailed directions to its Stonnall, West Midlands site ('Location'), and a page of road transport-related links ('Links').
The links are an interesting mixture of the serious and the light-hearted (although we humbly suggest that Cromwells adds Roadtransport.com and TruckNet UK at the next opportunity).
We like
- Huge amount of stock
- Friendly site
- Bright, colourful design
We're not sure
- Limited info for each vehicle
- No search facility - you can browse only
- Only one photo per vehicle
Conclusion
This site does exactly what it sets out to do - interest you in Cromwell's comprehensive stock and encourage you to contact the dealer directly to find out more.
Web rating
Appearance: 7/10
Information: 7/10
Navigation: 8/10
Check out our other recent Webwatches, including:
If you would like your used truck website to be considered for a future Webwatch and appear on this blog as well as in Commercial Motor magazine, please email james.clark@rbi.co.uk
Comments (2)
That's a good website I see. Quite a load of useful array of trucks. The website is acceptable only that it doesn't look like a Web 2.0 site, maybe because of the graphics used, well anyway, just my opinion.
Posted by Dan | March 8, 2009 2:29 AM
Posted on March 8, 2009 02:29
Cromwell offer a really good selection; if you want to find more retailers similar to Cromwell, try Trucklocator magazine
Posted by usedtrucks | July 21, 2009 3:05 PM
Posted on July 21, 2009 15:05