We are home builder that is finding the need for a skidsteer. This is our first large equipment purchase. We have seen several vendors that specialize in shipping around the country with warranties. This would allow us to purchase from a variety of equipment dealers, but I am struggling buying sight unseen. Is this normal practice? Is there a way to verify their business trustworthiness ? The company is 10 hrs away. It is C&N Equipment in Wilmont MN. Anyone hear of them or had a positive experience? Thanks!
Be very careful of who you send money to. I personally wouldn’t buy a machine that I or a trusted friend couldn’t look at. I would consider a reputable dealer, doing a paid pre-inspection before buying but would still probably want to be there. As for shipping and a skid steer, anyone with a 3/4 ton truck and a trailer can take care of that. There are literally thousands of hotshots around, pick one with good reviews.
New or used ? Used - the warranty is worthless if you made the purchase beyond a practical driving distance. I would advise you not buy anything unless you can see it running in person. IMHO of course.
Welcome to the Forums JB! Glad you came here first. There are 100's if not 1000's of scammer equipment websites listed on the internet that are fake that have no equipment for sale and more than likely located outside the USA. The scam works like this and a highly suggested read for anyone looking to buy equipment online - Would you buy a snow plow in Alabama? Million dollar scam bilking those seeking heavy equipment Carl Bates with the Better Business Bureau said the scam has probably netted between $2 million and $3 million in the last six weeks. www.al.com There have been several threads here on HEF about these scam sites with one set of scammers causing serious trouble for the site. The company you listed is more than likely a spammer. Do not list the website of the company here on HEF. As others have said do not buy anything you or a very trusted person cannot see in person.
One suggestion. Look at the address on Google Street View........
If it’s not new from a dealer or used out of their rental fleet you’re just as well to take a chance at auction vs a sight unseen seller. I’ve read too many stories on here and seen it in person. Assuming it’s a purchase that will be financed unless you have a great banker the dealer will more than likely have the better financing options too.
This has been my experience for over 20 years. Majority of banks do not like used equipment, at least the ones I deal with. The large manufacturers have financial services like Cat Financial whose #1 purpose is to put machines new and used in the hands of the customer, making money is secondary.
If this is your first skid steer I would recommend buying from a local factory authorized dealer. They will have good used trade-ins for sale. Yes, it will be more expensive. Talk to people around you in a similar business and find what dealer they trust. No different than selecting a plumbing or electrical contractor to help you with your building. As your first machine, you will need some mechanical help with the machine that someone who has ran equipment for 20 years wouldn't need. If you were a mechanical repairman you wouldn't be building houses.
A good source for used skidsteers is United Rental, but get the machine service records from them. It may have some problems, but HEF folks can usually help with that. I bought a Takeuchi Track loader from UR that had some issues, but was a good machine, and after ten years, I sold it for what I bought it for. I also bought a mini excavator from them, and that machine was not a good buy. I bought another mini excavator from another rental company for a very low price because I think they thought the engine was going bad. But ten years later and 1800 hours more and the machine is still going. I bought a bigger excavator from a tri-state rental company and Takeuchi Dealer and it has been good. Stick with the name brands (Kubota, Takeuchi, Bobcat, Deere, Cat) and look for a machine with under 2500 hours, and not too old. Good luck.
Also unless you need it do not buy a high flow machine with a lot of hours on it. It more than likely ran a mulcher and they will flat kill a machine in a couple thousand hours. Pumps, undercarriage you name it.
My rule of thumb on equipment is I only buy used if I can inspect it and operate it myself, and it has to be within a 3-4hr drive. I realize in some parts of the country you don't have that luxury, but I've always found any piece of equipment, truck etc within a 200mi radius of where I live. Sometimes you have to look for awhile, but something good always comes up eventually. If there was some specialized piece of equipment I needed far away I'd gladly take a flight out to inspect it and do the deal in person, then arrange to have it shipped back. The cost of a plane ticket, rental car and possibly a hotel are cheap compared to losing tens of thousands or hundreds of thousand of dollars on a scam deal. All that being said, skid steers and CTL are plentiful and everywhere. You should have no problem finding a decent used machine within a reasonable drive. It may not be 'exactly' the machine you are looking for with 'every' feature you want, but that's part of buying used. In addition to excavating I'm a builder myself and have both a wheeled and tracked skid steer (CTL.) Aside from good reliability, the things I look for in a machine to use around a building site are 1) enough lift capacity to lift a full pallet of block, pack of sheathing etc, 2) easy to get in and out of, 3) good visibility, and 4) good stability and flotation. Case, Kubota or Takeuchi are my top picks. Deere also makes good units, Cat and Bobcat could be good as well depending on the year/model.
I'd talk with the local dealers. They may know customers who have a skid steer for sale if they don't have what you're looking for. Most dealers also do consignments. Skid steers are plentiful in any larger area's. Being completely oil driven it's a good idea to have a skid steer fully inspected and ran for half an hour or more to see how it runs when fully warmed up. Look for grease around all pivot area's (you want to see it) and see how sloppy the bucket linkage is. It wears the fastest. If you find something you like post it here and we can give more advice.
Another note - A wire transfer is permanent, once it's gone it's gone - gone, never coming back. Most of these scam sites are located overseas mostly in Southeast Asia out of the reach of every US authority. The site above is a scam and I would not go any further. The prices for the machines pictured are extremely low. Everyone wants a deal and they prey on that. One is not getting a Case Minotaur with 181 hours on it for $28,200 for example. Payment is wire transfer only - buyer beware!
From their website $40K From machinery trader $175K You really think they might be legit? Joe H
Their site $23K Machinery trader twice the price You really think this could possibly be legit? Their web site is set up so you can't do a google picture search on anything, wonder why that is? Joe H
If the pictures are consistently chopping off parts of the machine, they've probably been cropped to get rid of the price or bits of info the legit site had on them.
that farm address looks familiar, it has been used for other scams. One of these things is not like the other LOL.
Another question, was the OP of this thread even real? Or are the Bots/ AI getting better, and if so what would have been the motive for this thread? Some of his wording is odd, has a very generic name, only has one post and hasn't followed up. IDK
I did the same thing….
Pretty sure the OP is a real person.
I did wonder the same as you... But sounds as if may be real.
I call them "drive-bys". Or maybe "forum farmers". Plant the seed in the form of a question. Come by in a while and harvest all the replies. Then add the expert answers to "'your" knowledge"'. Sometimes I hate this timeline.
Page views.
Here is that skidsteer in real life .... Used Construction, Agricultural Equip., Trucks, Trailers & more Transform your operations with our heavy equipment auctions! Browse through farm equipment, construction equipment, and more. ✓ Check online today! www.purplewave.com
In this case Purple Wave's watermark.
Also, sometimes it's to drive hit's to the website, by you googling what the company in question is actually. All in the name of SEO.
I think they read the avalanche of "seriously? you have to ask if that price is a scam?" and are a little embarrassed.
Did you @Joe builder ever decide about them? I saw something that was interesting on their website this week and tried to call. No answer so I emailed them. They answer emails very promptly, but have never answered their phone after 6-8 tries and claim it's a glitch in their phone. The company registration does use the address on their website, but their computer location for answering the emails is in Vancouver, BC, Canada. They said they work with banks so they can sell at a low price. They also would not do a running video. Part of me thinks this may be legit but the larger part is telling me to run as fast as I can.
Are you freaking kidding me?
That doesn't even make sense. Run away.
Post the link to the machine, and I will find the original (real) listing for it ...
Just how ***** stupid are you to think any part of this could be legit? They can't answer the phone, their accent isn't good old boy Montana farmer. They work with banks so they can sell at a low price , what the hell does that mean? Again, how stupid are you? Joe H
I'd be curious myself. Was sold in Texas originally it looks like. 2022 Kubota SVL75-2HFWC – 660 Hours, Loaded Cab, Hi-Flow, Forestry Armor + Full Attachments Package – C & N Equipment cn-equip.com
Means they buy bad notes and repossess. I know a guy that did this in another industry. Would buy bad debt at pennies on the dollar then repossess the collateral.
Well it's less than half the price of sold listings on Machinery Trader so it must be legit.
Never bought "heavy" equipment before, that's why I'm asking. Thought it could be from an auction or repossessed.
They buy bad notes and then sell for less than half price? If you want to believe that wire them the money, it's wire only and no you can't come look at the machine. Wire them the money and they'll ship you the machine. Joe H
Obviously I'm not going to but it didn't hurt to ask people who have since I've never bought heavy equipment before.
If you imagine that anyone buying machinery at cents on the dollar is going to sell it at a discounted price for philanthropical reasons you must believe in the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, and that pigs can fly.
They're not real? Well ****.
Let me know if you find the original ad. Thanks
Welp, guess I learned something today which was what I was trying to.
Looks like they gathered images from multiple listings, but here's the number plate on a different machine than pictured. https://www.mascus.com/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdnge9sb91helb.cloudfront.net%2Fimagetilewm%2Fproduct%2Fd2007d13%2Fkubota-svl-75-2%2Ce6611b10.jpg&w=3840&q=75 https://www.mascus.com/construction/skid-steer-loaders/kubota-svl-75-2/gh3fas4i.html I'll dig around some more later this evening.
bummer, they took it down.
If that's not enough to convince you it's a fraud then you need some professional help to reprogram your gullibility. It's off the chart!
Too much attention, they've moved on to the next sucker.
Back up.
Legit or not (not),I would not deal with them on the basis of them displaying bad manners at the very least. Go and dip your head in a bucket of ice and buy elsewhere or else you’re going to have a disastrous Christmas sir. Advice meant respectfully.You’ve done the right thing by requesting the advice on this forum,but you need to heed it.
from the Wilmont Chamber of Commerce that took awhile to get back to my email..... "I have tried looking into this company and at this time I do not think that they are a legit company as no one around this area has heard of them. I am not 100% positive but that is what I am thinking. Thank you!"
You must be really stubborn or hard to convince. There wasn't enough proof already it was a scam and you went to chamber of commerce??
Its good he wrote that, now there should be absolutely no questions for the next guy looking for that killer deal.
It was a scam from the 1st post.
So you're saying @Froggie is a shill for that place?
I don't know why there needed to be anything more added to this thread.
Dave, I'll be sure to ask you before I post anything else on this site, sorry if I offended you ......
No. I wrote them before even posting on this thread. They're a town of a few hundred people, it took awhile to get back to me. As I said in my post. Learn to read *******.
I was referring to froggy.
Welcome to the Forums. Since you are new here you'll get a slide on that personal attack - once. We here at HEF are not a free-for-all forum that allows personal attacks and insults on other members. If that is what you are used to then by all means do not let the door hit you on the way out. This thread has run it's course. These scam sites are ran by people outside the US and in one particular case wreaked havoc on the forum. No reason to keep it open.