At last: a competitive, flexible and reliable truck hire option!
27/01/2025
Delivering dependable solutions tailored to customers’ exact needs, Dublin Truck Hire has an extensive range of fresh trucks and low loaders available for short, medium and long term rental. We touched base with co-founder Ben McCabe – also a director of concrete supply and pumping business BMC Mini Mix - to find out more about this exceptional, value-added service.
A breath of fresh air on the generally overpriced and understocked truck-hire market, Dublin Truck Hire is a relatively-new company that arrives as an excellent option for hauliers thinking of making temporary additions to their fleets. Be it for short term of long term hire, DTH boasts an extensive fleet of immaculately-presented modern Scania and Volvo trucks available immediately.
This customer-focused family business – fronted by Ben McCabe alongside his brother Dave and sister Elaine – is a sister company of BMC Mini Mix, which has been delivering unbeatable concrete services to householders, small builders and local authorities in the greater Dublin area for more than a decade.
Thus, Ben and Dave – his brother, business partner and best friend! - have a wealth of experience working within the haulage and construction sectors and as such an inherent understanding of what operators expect when it comes to reliable and viable truck hire.
At the heart of Dublin Truck Hire is a stunning fleet of fresh New Generation Scania R450 6x2s and R500s with tipping gear, walking floor, tag axles, mid lifts, etc. as well as Volvo FH500 XL 6x2s and Kassbohrer four-axle extendable low loaders, all regularly serviced, competitively priced and available for daily, weekly, monthly or custom rental periods. The ideal solution for a haulier who wants to add one or more additional units to the fleet during peak times or to test the viability of extending their fleet size going forward.
“We started Dublin Truck Hire last November. I felt there was an opening there for competitive and reliable truck hire as there are very few at it bar the massive rental companies whose services are unaffordable to the smaller trucker,” states Ben. “We are already in construction, delivering concrete day and night, and we saw this as a way of expanding and doing something different.”
Approximately €1.5 million has been invested in a striking hire fleet that currently comprises twelve Scanias and two Volvos. “We bought them specifically for this venture and it’s a big investment. They are all 500s and 450s and it’s a fresh fleet of 21-, 22- and 23-reg lorries all in immaculate condition. We also do low loader hire and if a customer needs a driver for the low loader we can supply one, too.”
At the time of writing, Dublin Truck Hire had vehicles out with Keelings, LC Transport and a number of other small fleet operators. “It’s an ideal option for anybody who wants an extra truck for short or long term hire or to expand their fleet during busy times. With an extra truck in the fleet, even temporarily, they can generate more work for their staff,” says Ben.
“So far, the business is performing well, but we are only in our early stages and have to be patient. Ideally, we want to have them all out on hire and get into a routine with as few of them as possible in the yard. There’s a very good mix of lorries there ideal for different types of work.
“The challenge at the moment is to get the word out there that we are here and have the trucks available. Also, we are targeting good, reliable customers who will return the lorries back to us in one piece. Since we started, there has been a lot of pressure on us and our overheads are significant, so we’re looking for good strong customers who will respect the vehicles. We’ll give them a competitive rate but in return we expect the truck to be looked after properly.”
Meanwhile, BMC Mini Mix provides quality concrete products and services to small builders and householders predominantly in Dublin but also touching into counties Meath and Kildare. A one-stop shop for the prompt and professional delivery, pumping and finishing of concrete, BMC runs two compact concrete mixers fitted with Putzmeister line pumps, great for delivering to sites with restricted access and the ideal solution for footpaths, shed bases, foundations, floors, yards, warehousing and piling.
BMC Mini Mix looks after all of Fingal County Council’s concrete work and is in big demand around the clock due to the industry-leading service invariably provided.
Like his brother Dave, Ben McCabe is very much a hands-on director who eats, sleeps and breathes the two businesses. The morning we spoke to him, he had been up since 4am, having only signed off a few hours earlier at 1.30am! “They are long hours and I’m hoping they’ll pay off as Dublin Truck Hire becomes more established. For now, it’s full-on – nonstop day and night seven days a week. Once we get all the lorries out on hire on a consistent basis, we can settle back more into the concrete…”
The back story behind the formation of BMC Mini Mix is an inspirational one that shows how hard work and determination can sow the seeds for a successful small family business even in the face of adversity:
“We started off ten years ago, just after the crash,” Ben recalls. “I went to England with €7,000 cash, which was all I could get my hands on, and bought a small two-axle Volvo mixer. Myself and Dave started with that and built the business up from there. Today, we are doing €1.5 million worth of concrete every year.
“It doesn’t get any easier and you have to put the hours and the work in every day. For Dublin Truck Hire, this includes extensive fleet maintenance to make sure every truck is performing at the peak of its powers all the time. We have rigorous six-weekly checks done on them and they are regularly serviced and tested with all the relevant paperwork in place. No stone is left unturned to give our customers the best truck at the best price.”
Dublin Truck Hire,
Collinstown Business Park,
Swords Road,
Swords,
County Dublin.
Tel: 085 8121766
Email: [email protected]
Web: dublintruckhire.ie
First published in Irish Trucker magazine November/December 2024, Vol 27-6
