Relationships Key For Activ Foundation & Isuzu Trucks

For over 65 years, Activ Foundation in Western Australia has been providing support to people living with disability, helping improve countless lives.

According to Colin Kirkness, Site Co-ordinator for Activ’s horticultural and gardening division (Activ Property Care), it’s rewarding work. Colin explained that Activ is always looking for new opportunities to provide additional assistance, be that through innovative support or creating meaningful employment opportunities for people living with disability. And it is out of this vision that the organisation’s Property Care arm arose. “We identified a demand for property care and recognised this as a window of opportunity for people living with disability,” Colin explained. “Starting with offering window-cleaning and line marking services, the range of services have evolved to include more groundskeeping and maintenance services. From there, we’ve grown to handle commercial grounds maintenance, lawn mowing, as well as any kind of landscape maintenance. “We service the southwest area of Western Australia, with crews based in Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, Esperance, Bunbury, Busselton, and the Perth metropolitan area, and we have helped to create job opportunities for around 120 people living with disability.” As Activ’s Property Care team grows, the company continues to rely on Isuzu trucks to get crews and landscaping equipment to and from job sites. For the last 20 years, Activ has worked in partnership with Major Motors, their local Isuzu dealer, to ensure their teams are equipped with trucks that can reliably carry everyone and everything necessary to do the job, safely and in comfort. “Our main priorities when choosing trucks are comfort and reliability, in addition to strength and size to accommodate the gear we carry. And as our crews generally consist of a supervisor and four to five workers, space and comfort in the cab are very important,” Colin said. “We first chose Isuzu’s NNR, NPR and NLS models to replace our old trucks, and we’ve had very few issues, if any at all. And the reports we’ve gotten back from our crew have always been positive.” Colin said the other key to Activ Property Care’s decision to stick with Isuzu has been the consistent, premium service they’ve received for over 20 years from the team at Major Motors. The comprehensive, whole-of-life service Isuzu provides has been invaluable as the Activ Property Care team grows and its fleet bulks up. In the metropolitan region alone, the company operates 10 Isuzu trucks—two NLS 200 Crew Cabs, two NPR 250 Crew Cabs, three NNR 200 Crew Cabs and three NPR 155 Crew Cabs—in addition to eight other Isuzu vehicles.[NN7]  And in country regions, the company utilises three Isuzu trucks—one NLS 200 Crew, one NNR 45-150 AMT Crew and one NPR 250 Crew—as well as one other Isuzu vehicle. And whenever it’s time for Activ Property Care to purchase a new truck, Colin knows all he has to do is call. Colin said, “We speak to Major Motors about what we’re doing, and they give us a recommendation about what’s going to suit us best. “I’ll say, ‘we’re towing this two-tonne trailer, we need a crew cab and it’s going to be driven by someone with a C class car licence,’ and we’ll get a carefully considered recommendation on the best vehicle for that job. “It’s incredibly helpful to have that advice, especially when there are legal requirements around things like towing capacities. “From there I’ll get my staff involved and ask if there’s anything they want included in the trucks. The last time we were looking to buy a truck, one of my team members asked for a USB charger to be included in the cab, so we took that to Major Motors and they arranged it. “Those extra things—they really do make life easier.” Colin predicts that the level of support Activ Property Care receives from the Major Motors team will help their business relationship flourish for many more years. Well, that and the remarkably consistent reliability Activ Property Care has enjoyed from over two decades of Isuzu trucks. “We get about 10 years out of each of these trucks,” Colin said. “Over the years we’ve had no significant issues with any Isuzu we’ve had. And when we’re getting 10 years of use out of them for the gruelling work we do, that’s pretty impressive.”