Building Business in the Manufacturing Housing Segment
By Darren McCarthy, Senior Vice President – Business Development
The Trailer Division has long been a core industry for Northpoint Commercial Finance. We have invested heavily over many years in the trailer business and greatly value the longstanding relationships we’ve built with both OEM and dealer customers. Whether boat or utility trailers, enclosed, or horse and livestock, Northpoint clearly understands the unique nuances of each segment and is experienced and positioned to best support your business growth.
Today, Northpoint is proud to serve more than 1000 dealers and more than 200 active OEMs throughout North America.
Our Internal and Field Sales teams, along with Operations staff, are committed to facilitating the needs of our customer network. While our dedicated trailer team is expansive, we remain exceptionally service-oriented and embrace a more relational, smaller-company culture. In addition, we are deeply entrenched in the industry and bring a wealth of hands-on experience and understanding to benefit our customers. Besides taking a proactive approach to continually refining and improving processes, we’re all about expediting turnaround time and approvals to keep the wheels of progress – and customer profitability – rolling.
As leaders in the industry with a pulse on both OEM and retail activity, we’re often asked for input on the current state of industry affairs.
As is the case in many industries, the hottest topic and discussion across the trailer segment relates to the impact and implication of tariffs. Most of the OEMs we’ve spoken with who source various product components are being hit with dramatic price increases from both foreign and domestic suppliers. In turn, these costs in many instances are being passed through to the dealers in the form of surcharges or “tariff fees” ranging on average from 5% -10%. This will ultimately result in significant price increases for the retail buyer.
The OEMs are hopeful this is a temporary situation which will be resolved sooner than later so we can return to a more stabilized economic environment. Despite the tariffs, however, the OEMs are cautiously optimistic as their business remains strong with orders in the pipeline. For example, over the last six months, enclosed trailer sales are up 2 to 3 percent while horse and livestock sales are up 1 to 2 percent. According to our resources, back orders range between 3 and 15 weeks, depending upon the trailer segment.
In conclusion – in the best of times or the most challenging times – your team at Northpoint remains 100 percent committed and is here for you 24/7.
Please let us know how we can support your business in the days, weeks and months ahead.
