With the huge boom in caravan sales in the last decade or so our highways are seeing more and more “RV”s as our American friends calling them and of course as more and more are sold the tsk of transporting new caravans and motor homes falls to specialist vehicle transporters.
One such company specialising in caravan and motorhome delivery and relocation is specialist transport operator, Interstate Towing,a company based in Melbourne’s Northern Suburbs at Craigieburn, virtually at the start of the Hume Highway.
The business has bloomed organically from its start in 2012 with the rise in caravan sales, undeer the stewardship of owner Gary Singh. The success of the business has seen it outgrow its current premises. The result of that is that Interstate Towing has had to plan a move to new bespoke headquarters, which are currently being built in nearby Campbellfield, even more closely ensconced among the caravan builders and sellers of Melbourne’s northern outskirts.
“We specialise in transporting caravans and motorhomes all over Australia from the manufacturers to the dealers, and we also transport boats, mainly back from the west coast to the east coast, as well as cars and utes,” Gary Singh said.
“When we began buying Scania rigid sleeper trucks to pull our trailers, we were able to build exactly the truck we needed, the right length and wheelbase for our needs. All the Scanias are 320 hp 4×2 P-series rigids with a 10 m load-bed and a 6 m wheelbase.
“Each of the seven Scanias we have bought has a trailer, so we can carry two caravans or motorhomes or boats with one combination. Since we started buying Scanias we haven’t looked at any other trucks.
“The account manager at Scania, Roger Lake, has been excellent, listening to what we needed and bringing us a good solution,” Singh said.
“Our fleet is now 14 vehicles, and we have been buying new Scanias for about four years, with the first Scania soon to come off the service contract,” he said.
“We may sell it or keep it,” Singh reckons
“The trucks are logging big kilometres each year, each one travelling around 240,000 to 250,000 km, with one already almost at a million kilometres.
“The Scanias have been pretty reliable over the period and we have used the Scania service contract which sets the amount we pay each month, so not only do I have peace-of-mind, but if we do fewer or more kilometres than the contract estimates, then Scania adjusts the payment to suit,” Singh said.
“Scania Assistance is another great feature, which means they come out to help us if we breakdown on the road, anywhere across Australia, which is good to know that we have that support.
Singh reckons fuel economy has been excellent with the Scanias running relatively light at around five-tonnes of payload carrying two caravans, and the trucks are achieving up to 3.8 km/litre, which he says is better than the previous trucks he had .
“We have two new Scanias on order, and they may well be additional if we decide to hold on to the first Scanias,” he said.
“Scania has been a big help to us because we were able to tailor the specification of the trucks to meet our needs, particularly by fitting an airbag front end to match the rear.
“This gives us the ability to drop the rear and raise the front to make it easier to winch the caravans on and off the back of the truck. It’s almost like a tilt-tray.
“That speeds up the operation for the drivers and reduces the risk of damage for the customer,” he said.
Singh said the cabs are very comfortable for the drivers who sleep in the trucks when they are travelling interstate.
“The trucks have the Scania auxiliary air conditioner that keeps the cabs cool in the summer even when the drivers are sleeping.
“They do like the trucks, most of my guys have been with me for several years and I find that if they have good trucks to drive and they are paid on time, then they stay loyal.”
Like many entrepreneurial business owners, Singh started off as a subcontractor, while at the same time trying to build a business for himself. When the subcontracting job finished, he took the plunge and worked for himself full time.
“It’s been a long hard road, but now we have created a good name for ourselves in the industry, and we have a good team and we deliver quite a large number of caravans and motorhomes every week for several of the major manufacturers in the industry on our trucks,” he said.
Today Interstate Towing has 15 staff on the payroll and Singh said that every year more dealers approach the company about delivering for them.
They understand that our guys take good care of their stock and avoid damage in transit,” Singh said.
“My business philosophy is to keep it simple and his is the only market I target, so I have our trucks configured efficiently to deliver for my business.”
Early in 2026, Singh says he will move into the even HQ, which will be even closer to Scania Campbellfield. He is currently working on building a new large shed where he will be able warehouse caravans while they await delivery to dealers.
“We have a good team, and you know, it all depends on the team, so if you have a good team, you can run a good business.”
According to Scania’s Roger Lake, the P-series rigid is the perfect all-round workhorse, and ideal for operators like Interstate Towing.
“When Gary Singh came to us, he was looking for a more comfortable, safer and ore fuel-efficient solutions to replace the Asian trucks he had operatedpreviously,” said Lake.
“The Scania P-series is extremely fuel efficient, as Gary Singh has found out, and has been available with Euro 6 configuration for several years,” he added.
“Aside from being able to tailor the specification of the truck to exactly his requirements, which adds efficiency and productivity to his business, we were also able to offer him a range of our Scania services from fleet monitoring to repair and maintenance contracts, Scania Finance Australia, as well as Scania Assistance,” he pointed out.
“With this level of Scania care, Gary Singh can sleep more soundly at night, knowing that his fleet of trucks are not only up to the job, but that Scania is there should he needs us,” Lake said.
