I was looking at the auction results for the RB auction in Phoenix last night. I must say that I was surprised by how high most of the results were. Most of the big equipment is out of my range of experience for prices, but even water tanks, fuel tanks, and little 4 wheelers were high. I saw some items that I though were selling for above new. Granted that ‘new’ price was from several years ago and those things might be unobtainable now. Pickup trucks seemed to be selling for what new car dealers would sell used trucks for, which to me always seems very high, like they are selling a payment not a truck. I might just be out of touch due to pandemic pricing, but I would be interested in somebody elses take on it.
Prices for good used equipment have been climbing over the last year. To add to that, the number of machines being offered in the used markets is dropping. People are not trading in as many machines as the delivery times on new machines have increased to a matter of months for some and over a year for some of the big machines. On top of all that are the prices for the base materials such as steel that were already through the roof because of the trade sanctions imposed by the last administration. The common theme in the past was to trade machines as the warranties ended. The number of trade inspections I have been doing is way down and machines in the 5,000 hour of use categories are getting top dollar. The strategy is still sound but getting a new machine is going to be a problem for a while.
New SuperDuty trucks are basically non-existent. We are doing a Starbucks in one of the larger Ford dealers in our area's parking lot and they have used Mustangs spaced out with 3-4 car lengths between them with a couple of new 150's in the front parking lot that usually holds 50-100 trucks - and we've taken 3/4 of an acre of it already. Currently looking for a mini and my Cat salesman said the earliest I could get a new 305 would be Aug/Sept. He has a used 2016 with 1400 hours on the clock for $50K, I'd rather buy a new one for $65K, if I could get one..
Availability and demand push the prices. 2009 you could get anything cheap, if you had the money that is. So many folded outfits.
I am shocked at the old junk listed on CL for astronomical prices. Some of it seems to be moving too.
I think the value of the dollar is down, as it seems that prices for everything across the board have went up.
Why would that be, according to the gumment inflation is only 2%?
That’s 2% a day lol
Do you believe everything the government says? I've just noticed that in the last few years the cost of everything is up. Fuel, food, building supplies, metal, equipment, land, vehicles, guns, ammo.. Among others..
Probably not far from the truth.
I was being facetious. I am getting tired of hearing of everything that has doubled, and then doubled again.
Hopefully American cranes are the way up to, might have a shot real retirement.
Yeah I like to browse the auctions, and in the last year, prices have really gone up. You can go to ironplanet.com or ritchie brothers site and browse the results.
Scrap iron is up too. Makes sense that auction equipment is following suit.
Anything used is shooting up in price. I sold my single axle dump truck last December because I had a deal coming together on a tri-axle. My truck sold right away. I went to see the seller of the tri-axle and suddenly its not available as the truck he was going to replace it with became no longer available. So I went to looking for used tandems (don't need a tri-axle, it was just a good deal) and prices really shot up after the 3rd stimulus package got announced. I've been scouring the private listings daily and whenever I find an ad I might be able to go look at, BAM! three other guys are already ahead of me and it sells. I don't have a large budget and debt isn't an option so I sit, save, and wait some more.
We can't pump trillions of freshly printed dollars into the economy without inflation rearing it's ugly heads, it's just economics. Ya'll hold on - Ya' ain't seen nothin' yet...
Inflation aside just about every dealer here is out iron so the next stop is the auction so many guys are trying to start up and new backhoe from deere is 5 months so used equipment here is priced high the other side of the country is there was a 5 year period of time that manufacturers were not producing large quantities of equipment cause there was no demand you rarely find a used machine from 2009 to 2013 in age so that's a big gap for the market to have make up for now that demand is tru the roof Plus in our local market we have been supplemented by low hour equipment having to leave California for emission laws and most of that has all been bought up and gone now As well this is prime place for export to Mexico witch there willing to pay more than we are in some cases that has a big impact on rb auctions here locally Last month I brought a machine from Pennsylvania cheaper than anything I could touch here this is probably one of the hottest spots in the country right now Intel is adding buildings Microsoft is adding buildings there is a new micro chip company building 1200 acres of campus here colleges are continuing to remodel and housing permits statewide are up close to 40000 permits a year not mention we have doubled apartment production in 5 years Then there is tilt buildings and holy crap there going up fast I have had 3 projects come across my desk this week alone the average building size 1200ft long and there is from 3 to 7 buildings per project in a bout half these buildings Plumbing is leaving the building at 17 ft deep witch is insane I just priced a data center for Microsoft and the volume of dirt to dig in footings exceeds 6000 yards with sloping There are not enough equipment or manpower to cover all the work in the valley and there are more out of state companies here than I can ever remember
Average automotive shop labor rate in 1975 was $35.00 an hour for independents, dealers were $38 to $40. At that time a repair bill was just that a repair bill. Then came the extras-Diagnosis charges, phone time charged for locating parts, environmental fees for shop rags and laundry services, incidentals like 1/8 can of brake clean used and your charged for whole can. Those wonderful little paper floor mats for courtesy-your charged for that too-just too make you feel special. So much of what goes on in todays life that empties your wallet is total hog wash just to make you feel good or they care about you and your a special customer. And after you pay the bill and leave it's {Who's next}. And how much do you think is being made off the incidentals? There is part of our inflation of everyday life-paying for crap that's nothing but PR garbage. As far as equipment goes-I wouldn't touch anything sold through a auction. There's a reason it's there and for sale-it's not just a gamble it's roughly a 98% chance your buying someone else's sack of troubles. Because maintenance costs have climbed do you really think the previous owner has spent the time and cash to keep it maintained? If he had I doubt it would be on the chopping block.
I wouldn't agree with that, and that hasn't been my experience with auction stuff at all. Many big companies replace equipment at X amount of years or hours. Many companies just don't want to bother with selling stuff themselves and if they are a big company they get a premium dollar at Ritchie's, many times better then selling privately. Many times you see 10+ pieces nearly identical from the same company, you know they are not problems, the one that might be if it one is really low hours compared to the others. As far as maintenance, possibly but I really doubt it. For most equipment compared to equipment cost, fuel, and operator maintenance is a small amount. They also need to keep it up for warranty. Yea I would rather buy privately for the same dollars, but not always available, and you cannot test everything as well at the auction which is a downside, but to generalize that everything there is garbage is not true. I have yet to buy a piece of equipment or truck that was a total POS or lemon from an auction. In probably 40+ purchases i've only ran into one where someone intentionally covered up lights on the dash to conceal problems. Most have been great buys with little surprises. Ironically, the worst purchase i've ever made was a used truck from a dealership that cost me the most.
Ritchie's was insane here last month, this month probably going to be the same, i'm glad i'm not looking to buy any iron right now. I picked up a breaker in feb sale for $2500, same one went for $6500 last month, I figured what the heck i'd put mine up for sale think i've got it sold for $7000. A lot of stuff has to be going south, so many trailers and trucks are selling for nearly new or over new price in some cases. I'm glad I bought my new trailer right before they jumped in price about 30% in the last month, and they had already went up like 15% in the previous year. I don't want things like fuel, etc to go up. But i'm fine with iron and house prices to keep going up. About to put my house on the market, and if they keep going up crazy, sell the 3 rentals too. Heck if things got really crazy i'd happily sell all my iron and just watch on the sidelines until the bottom falls out and buy back stuff for much much less. It's busy, but rates haven't went up, with fuel being crazy and all material going up it's ok but not making crazy money like so many are with price increases.
FWIW - If you buy something on Ironplanet (Ritchie) from Sunbelt Rentals other than being a rental unit they do repair the equipment to operational condition. Bought several things on IP from Sunbelt. Our Wacker trench roller has given us 5 years of service with minimal issues. Bought it for $3K out the door, a new one is $33K. Also bought 2 hot water pressure washers for $1K both working condition. Sold 1 of the 2 for $1K and the 2nd one is still in use at our yard. Bought a Honda 3" water pump that according to the description the "motor was locked up" and a Sunami submergible 1" pump for $150 from Sunbelt on IP. The little Honda engine wouldn't turn over when I picked it up which was no big deal since the 1" submersible worked and ran $450 at the time. Got the Honda to the yard, broke the pump apart and the pump vanes were rusted together. Some PB Blaster and wire brush later it was pumping water. Still works great today. Buy beware at auctions and only spend what you're willing to loose, kinda like gambling.
The only big companies I've seen putting stuff in auctions in the last five years were going out of business or were being liquidated in bankruptcy. The newer equipment I've seen was ex rental company stock that had to be moved to make way for new stock. Many times it's easier in the long run to purchase rental machines through rental purchase options. I think that the days of big companies buying machines for one job and then liquidating them when the job was done are long gone. I don't see the economies falling apart at all for the next two years. I hear lots of gloom and doom from people who are informed through the fascist web sites on the internet.
That still happens here, a group of 2-3 companies form a company for a large few year job and then everything goes to auction at the end. I've noticed more running rental equipment lately though, or at least the Cat or Komatsu rental tags on them, maybe going to leases for job duration instead? But plenty of companies who are still buying new stuff every few years and putting used stuff at auction. I don't understand it, a 5 year old piece of equipment is still very reliable, but oh well. The weirdest one is a company who use to do concrete curbs got into excavating about 3-4 years ago. Now they have a massive Cat fleet, talking multiple 400-600 track hoes probably go to have 15 hoes, 20+ dump trucks, etc etc all bought in the last few years. Got to be all financed to the hilt, they have got to be preying they can keep everything busy for a few years at least or they don't have a chance. Every thing they are buying is brand new cat.
That is where I come in. I play with tractors and forklifts more as a hobby. Buy them cheap and broken. Then I make the repairs, play with them a while and then sell and make a little money. That is just not happening these days though.
Lots of possibilities on new equipment. Finance and capital leases are popular. Suspended payments are happening all the time between jobs. I don't see any companies using the auctions to liquidate if there is any warranty left on the machine. The dealers usually will provide plenty of incentives as there are lots of pots of money to dip into when trading used machines in. Down here you even get plenty of tax incentives to purchase new. If there are any major failures in process, the machine ends up in the auction. I see lots of high hour large company machines end up in the auctions. As the appraiser for a large machinery dealership for years, there is no way to make money on machines that need expensive repair work done before you can sell it. As with any purchase, buyer beware!
Exactly-If there is any warranty left on any class 8 truck the dealers want it and will give top on trade in value. Rigs with warranty don't end up at auction. After the crash of 2008 the Cat dealer in Pasco was loaded to the hilt with returned equipment of all kinds. A friend was working there at the time. Quote from him {Looks like good equipment from a drive by just don't stop and look too close}.
I bought my Komatsu D39-P1at an Iron Planet auction in 2008, it was at a construction company that might have been hurting for cash or pulling the plug. 1700 hours for about $20k, undercarriage was 90%. Good machine, no surprises. I was financially able to take advantage of a down economy.