How many of you bought equipment out of state using online auctions? And did you buy it without looking at it in person? I'm looking for a backhoe, and obviously, its not as easy as buying a truck or a car local. I can locate decent deals out of state, but I'm not comfortable forking over thousands without looking at it in person. I do drive to the local auctions in state. I already ran across some that had surprises and looked much better online than it did in person. I'm a newbie looking for pointers. This might sound stupid but are there people that work on the side checking over equipment at auctions for people out of state?
good luck, it's bad enough trying to look at all the possible things that can go wrong in person, online is a crapshoot. You're taking a huge chance vs dealing locally. You can always post a specific machine or location on here or similar sites, but you're still taking a chance if you trust the person who replies, and are they going to find every thing, big or little.
I am going to move this thread from the Shop Forum to General Industry Questions as it fits better there. Back on topic I've had decent luck buying through Iron Planet on smaller items. I've bought 2 trench rollers on IP that have made me money, a new pair of Bobcat hydraulic forks still on the pallet, a Honda powered trash pump the seller said was locked up however on the water veins inside the pump were rusted together and a new 3 CY gravel/bedding box. Anything from a rental company is to be assumed to have been rode hard as hell and put up wet. Buyer beware as I know how these machines are operated daily on the job site.
I buy have bought quite a bit sight unseen but I'm not a newbee loosing a few thousand won't kill us and I always have a plan b which usually includes not paying more than I know I can get out of it Freight is a killer something like a backhoe is way to common to haul across country
I had a Cat dealer do a inspection and then a complete service/all fluids on a 950 we bought unseen. got it shipped up here and the stuff they addressed in inspection wasn’t dealt with and a very quick and poor service done. I bought from Cat hoping to avoid such an issue but that wasn’t the case. I will say the salesman refunded the labor portion of the work completed which I felt was adequate. Later I bought a 316 from Darlingsons unseen, they were pretty honest about it.. few things weren’t disclosed, but they are trying to make money soo... It’s definitely a gamble. Ask a lot of questions and analyze pictures, hope and pray, everythings fixable
I look at machines all the time for people from outside of Washington State. I have also built inspection forms for machines where it doesn't make sense for me to go look at. Basically I'll find a dealer of that particular machine, send them the form and my contact information with phone number and ask that they call me before they leave the machine location so I can discuss any ask direct questions that may come up. Part of that inspection form includes the photos I want taken. This stuff isn't cheap nor guaranteed to not miss every problem that might be lurking in a machine. It is almost always a lot less expensive than a plane ticket, rental car and motel stays.
I've bought from bidadoo on ebay, and from ironplanet.com without much fear. A lot of what they sell, is equipment that rental companies are getting rid of to renew their fleets. They at least have someone go out and do a quick inspection and take lots of pics. I would never buy a machine from ritchie brothers without seeing it in person first. There's too much worn out crap there.
The Ironplanet inspections that I did in the last of the 90's and early 2000's were never quick. There was about four tightly spaced pages of checks, tests and oil samples plus they sent a disposable camera and a prescribed list of photos they wanted taken. They always took about two hours not counting travel or mileage on what ever you drove. They paid a set fee, so much for the first machine and less for each machine after that if it was on the same site. Then you returned home and processed all that, dropped all the paper and camera into a folder and took it to the post office. It was a pretty good inspection in those days. The problems with it come up when you look at old iron that is beat up and the condition is as expected for its age and hours. My thoughts were why spend three to five hundred bucks on looking over a machine that was only going to be worth ten to fifteen thousand at best. They ran into hard times back then and pulled all their operations back to California around that time and basically started over. I seem to remember that they are owned by Ritchie Bros. now anyway.