Brown & Hurley - Yatala, part of Australia's largest and longest-serving truck dealer group, has been crowned 2010 DAF Dealer of the Year. The win makes it a record fifth time for the Brown & Hurley Group.

The announcement was made at a PACCAR Dealer awards dinner at the Sebel Heritage in Melbourne's Yarra Valley. The DAF award is highly sought-after by dealers across Australia. It is judged on a points system across five main areas, including general dealership performance, truck sales, customer service, finance and parts support.

PACCAR Australia's Managing Director, Joe Rizzo, congratulated Dealer Principal, Paul Hurley, for his dealership's impressive performance with DAF.

"Brown & Hurley - Yatala is very deserving of this award. In less than three years of operation, it has established a strong footing in the market. In 2010, while other brands were shrinking, the dealership achieved an eight percent market share with DAF. That's says a lot about the Yatala branch and the DAF brand," Mr Rizzo said.

"This dealership is also deserving of the great name, Brown & Hurley. It has a dedicated team of factory-trained sales, service and support staff, and maintains the highest standards of professionalism and industry expertise. This is Brown and Hurley's trademark commitment to customers, and it's an admirable trait found in all DAF dealers," Mr Rizzo added.

"It's an honour to accept the DAF Dealer of the Year award, and to join the other Brown & Hurley dealerships that have won," Paul Hurley said. "I'm proud of all of our staff who have contributed to winning this award. They have worked exceptionally hard to establish the dealership and deliver a high level of service to customers in all areas of our business - sales, service and parts. It's most gratifying to see an ever-increasing number of customers choosing DAF."

Established in April 2008 and located midway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, Brown & Hurley - Yatala's territory extends south to the NSW border, west to Beaudesert and north to the Brisbane airport. The dealership displays the full range of DAF and Kenworth models in various configurations. It also has an ALLRig parts and accessories supermarket with $1.5 million in stock, and comfortable customer amenities. The workshop features 26 service bays; 24 of which are B-double drive-through pits. It boasts the latest diagnostic and repair facilities, including a brake roller tester and specialist equipment for servicing DAF's ZF transmissions. In addition, the dealership offers a 24/7 breakdown repair and parts service throughout the area.

The dealership experienced solid DAF sales across all markets in 2010, including large and small corporate and government fleets, and owner-drivers. The year's most popular model was DAF's flagship FTT CF85 6x4 prime mover used primarily for transporting containers from the Port of Brisbane, and tipper and dog construction work. In addition, DAF's FA LF55 4x2 rigid was a popular choice for metropolitan deliveries of palletised food and freight, as well as mobile cranes.

Mr Hurley said his dealership's success came down to a combination of highly-trained and experienced staff, a strong customer focus and quality PACCAR products.

"We are fully committed to DAF trucks. All of our specialists are factory trained by DAF in Australia and Europe. We have a dedicated salesman who has been working with the brand at Brown & Hurley for more than five years. Also, among our DAF team are Dutch and English technicians who are well versed in all facets of the European range," he explained.

"DAF has the best European trucks on road, bar none. All models are engineered to the highest standards to ensure improved productivity, low operating costs, and driver safety and comfort. They are well suited to a variety of applications, from inner-city delivery to construction and utility duties as well as regional distribution.

"The advantage of working with PACCAR is that DAF and Kenworth provide a perfect balance, meeting needs of essentially all transport segments and applications. And they're backed by a nationwide network of dealers who are just as committed as we are," Mr Hurley added.

Established in 1946 in Kyogle, the Brown & Hurley group has full DAF and Kenworth dealerships in Brisbane, Kyogle, Coffs Harbour, Townsville, Rockhampton, Toowoomba and Yatala, with a satellite parts outlet in Tamworth. The Group has won the Kenworth Dealer of the Year award a record twelve times; and this is the fifth time the Group has been awarded DAF Dealer of the Year (the Darra [Brisbane] branch won DAF Dealer of the Year in four consecutive years: 2003-2006).

At the dealer awards ceremony, PACCAR Australia also presented the DAF Service Award to Brown & Hurley Group - Kyogle, and the DAF Parts Award to Barry Maney - Mt Gambier for their outstanding performance throughout 2010.

DAF Trucks Australia, a division of PACCAR Australia Pty Ltd, distributes a complete range of medium and heavy-duty trucks throughout Australia.
PACCAR Inc, a Six Sigma company, is a global technology leader in the design, manufacture and customer support of high-quality light, medium, and heavy-duty trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF nameplates. PACCAR also designs and manufactures advanced diesel engines, provides financial services and information technology, and distributes truck parts related to its principal business.

For more information, contact:

Andrew Mills
DAF Brand Specialist
PACCAR Australia
Tel: (03) 9721 1600
Em: Andrew.Mills@PACCAR.com