Enter eMobility with BusStore
A used Mercedes-Benz eCitaro for Stadtwerke Eberbach.
Pre-owned bus and coach competence for Finland
Newly opened: BusStore Partner Helsinki
For more than 60 years, Finland’s Mercedes-Benz importer Veho Oy AB has traded in new and used buses and coaches. Now, the company is part of the international BusStore network. In a single stroke, the new BusStore location in Helsinki has gained access to concentrated expertise on pre-owned coaches and buses.
The international BusStore network for the marketing of pre-owned buses and coaches is continuing to expand. The latest location opened recently in the Finnish capital of Helsinki. It is part of the Veho group, a veteran importer of Mercedes-Benz and Setra models. Antti Langinkoski, Head of Bus and Coach Sales at Veho, views this development as a logical step towards strengthening the used vehicle business. With numerous units sold per year, pre-owned vehicles are an important component of Veho’s bus and coach dealership.
“With BusStore as an independent brand for our pre-owned vehicle business, we are underlining our expertise and the high quality of our range,” says Langinkoski. The BusStore quality categories for young used vehicles support customers in the selection of a suitable coach or bus. And Langinkoski also sees great potential for online marketing via the all-inclusive BusStore website www.bus-store.com all across Finland.
Land of minibuses
Finnish bus companies tend to import their buses independently from neighbouring Norway and Sweden – only rarely choosing newer models when doing so.
Although coaches see regular deployment, the vast majority of all bus and coach services in Finland are provided by minibus. Minibuses thus represent the majority of the Finnish pre-owned bus and coach market. These are fitted out like coaches; 90% of them are based on the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.
In addition, Finnish bus drivers mostly opt for an automatic gearbox and high-quality fittings. This makes the vehicle more expensive but keeps it on the road for longer. “The average age of buses and coaches in Finland is very high, higher even than Greece,” Langinkoski explains, describing the situation in the fleets.
Vehicle purchasing and in-house financing
Finnish buses and coaches tend to stay within the country and are simply passed along to the next user, meaning the rate of export of pre-owned vehicles is low: “In 80% of cases where a bus or coach is purchased, we take a vehicle in exchange,” reports Langinkoski.
And that’s a good thing too. Because in this way, the new BusStore Partner Helsinki manages always to have around 20 pre-owned vehicles in stock – a decisive advantage, as Antti Langinkoski explains: “Particularly with our immediately available low-mileage coaches, we are able to appeal to operators that need to cover an acute demand for transport and have to deploy their new vehicle as soon as possible.” Providing BusStore Partner Helsinki customers with the financing to match is a no-brainer for the sales pro Langinkoski. “80 percent of our pre-owned bus and coach customers now use this service.”
