Proper care and maintenance of your equipment throughout its working life, combined with the right presentation at sale time, can ensure you get those extra dollars for it. Komatsu Australia`s national used equipment manager, Bill Capell, gives a few tips.
When it comes to selling a piece of earthmoving equipment, either as a trade or as a straight sale, the two key points are appearance and history.
Appearance: As a start, the machine`s overall appearance should be clean, with minimal panel damage and no broken glass. If you take pride in a machine`s appearance from the start, it`ll pay off when you come to quit it. If a machine has been well looked after all its life, it shows.
If a machine doesn`t have a ROPS cab (where applicable) or the ROPS has been damaged, that may have a drastic effect on the resale value. Most construction sites these days won`t accept a machine without a certified ROPS. Any buyer of a machine without ROPS will have to factor that into their price.
History: The first question asked by most customers when they inspect a machine especially when it gets up in hours is: `Do you have a service history?` Understanding a machine`s history is the key to being able to put a true value on it.
Any machine with a well-documented record of scheduled maintenance, carried out by the dealer or the contractor`s workshop staff, will be worth more than one which has no evidence of regular maintenance.
Also ensure that daily greasing and regular oil changes which are important for extending component life are carried out, and documented. Always keep receipts for parts and labour for any repairs carried out.
You should be having regular oil sampling; make sure you keep all the results. The true value of oil sampling is the trends it shows up not the one-off sample at the time of purchase.
Call Komatsu for a valuation
Our used equipment specialists would be happy to provide a valuation of your machine. Either call us, and we`ll come out to your premises or jobsite, or drop in to our premises.
Just call your local Komatsu Australia branch for a valuation.