Auction equipment.................discuss.

Akmc5 said:

I figure anything I buy at auction I'll need to work on so when something goes wrong I dont get too freaked out about it. Maybe if I can figure out how to get rich I'll start buying new. But I don't think I'll ever stop going to the auctions.

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That is the most important thing, going in knowing it will need work and taking that into consideration when placing a bid.

The people and companies that get burned the worst are those who don't read the inspection reports with an open mind.

There are plenty of "disclaimers" in there to let you know what has been checked and to what extent.

If anyone thinks even the best mechanic can walk up to a machine they have never seen before and in an hour or so know everything that is or might be wrong with it they are just fooling themselves.

Just for insurance reasons I can't see any company letting a stranger come on their property and actually put a machine through a real series of loaded tests and I don't think the inspectors would not want to jump on a machine they have never seen before and really put it through it's paces!

I buy quite a bit at auction. I've got some tips:
1. Don't trust anything that isn't CLEARLY stated in the inspection report.
2. Don't buy emissions controlled equipment
3. Don't buy equipment with a lot of electronics (ie a 97 Mack might be a good deal, but a 2010 Mack is too high a risk)
4. Have a budget for repairs
5. Be patient. I might bid on 100 machines before I get one

jhark123 said:

I buy quite a bit at auction. I've got some tips:
1. Don't trust anything that isn't CLEARLY stated in the inspection report.
2. Don't buy emissions controlled equipment
3. Don't buy equipment with a lot of electronics (ie a 97 Mack might be a good deal, but a 2010 Mack is too high a risk)
4. Have a budget for repairs
5. Be patient. I might bid on 100 machines before I get one

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This guy "auctions".......

#5 is especially important.....I've seen clapped out tilt-trailers with a nice "Taco-Bend" at the pivots sell for the same price as a new one because a couple guys got too excited.

I can set a pretty close value for the machines I see, when closed in on the high side I walked away no matter who had me go look at buying it.

I had a budget and really was looking for a JD loader, 544/44 size, pref E model or north of that, Found a 644 in Michigan, 800 some miles away, can't recall if it was iron planet or one of the big metal rags. it was $15k so called a local dealer to get an inspection, they wanted $650 for an inspection. Sheesh, on a whim called a dealership further away, $250 for an inspection. Results came back with a lot of minor defects and some more major ones, bad cener pin and no brakes, eng and trans seemed to operate normally with a bit of blowby and it had solid filled tires. Got it onsite for 3k shipping, and set it to work moving 1800 yards of material that it did handily. Dropped 10k in parts, pieces and used tires and now its a good looking (auction paint job was a plus) and good running machine. The directors wanted me to buy a Kubota 4x4 tractor and were willing to spend 40k. for 25k and a bunch of labor I've got a 50k machine that'll do several orders of magnitude more work that a small kubota. Also its really good at ripping stumps out of the ground.

Oh and found out, the two inspection prices were both from the same dealer chain, high price had to drive 10 miles and the low price had to drive about 35 miles.

Someone will be getting chewed on for the low price. That price won't pay the mechanic's wags let alone the truck and fuel for the round trip. Congrats one the successful purchase.

John C. said:

Someone will be getting chewed on for the low price. That price won't pay the mechanic's wags let alone the truck and fuel for the round trip. Congrats one the successful purchase.

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Maybe! but it was the service department that provided the quote for a 2 hour pre purchase inspection, I dont think there were any surprises found, the inspection had most everything spelled out. Now shipping, I went through uship as I've done before, they tried to nick me for overwidth permit fees but the width was called out on the bid request, I wasn't having any of that, I did readily accept the charges for overweight as instead of the typical 34000 I figured on 38000 with an additional counterweight, well its got the double sized counterweight and had solid filled tires, I forgot to figure that, so actually it was closer to 48k pounds, so needed some extra for those fees. The driver even went a little beyond in transporting, arriving almost in the dark nearly an hour after sunset. This is for a shooting club and well the state police do a lot of shooting here so I figured we'd maybe get a pass, it wasn't an issue, I tipped the driver 100 bucks for taking the risk. Gotta be a reward right?

It sounds to me like they did a good job on the inspection. Did they give you a typed out report with photos or did you just discuss the condition of the unit on the phone?

Scan of a hand written report with a handful of photos

fast_st said:

Oh and found out, the two inspection prices were both from the same dealer chain, high price had to drive 10 miles and the low price had to drive about 35 miles.

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AIS?

Ayep, it was AIS, had to crawl through and look up the report.

The way i look at it is simple, in the current climate people rarely get rid of good running equipment, why would they? Any that is from a dealership/ trade in outfit have already picked out the good stuff to sell on again, and the rest goes to auction. So as long as you are prepared to spend probably half as much as you paid for it in repairs then you're golden.

sfrs4 said:

The way i look at it is simple, in the current climate people rarely get rid of good running equipment, why would they? Any that is from a dealership/ trade in outfit have already picked out the good stuff to sell on again, and the rest goes to auction. So as long as you are prepared to spend probably half as much as you paid for it in repairs then you're golden.

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Half!!!! you meant to type double didn't you

Have not seen many machines would even bid on at auctions, then sat back watching them go for three to four times what would consider a fair market value. Is a sucker born every minute and auctions tend to prove such.

I think it all depends on the auction. RB just had a 5 day sale here and lots of 2014 and newer low hour (under $4000) equipment. Not everyone going to auctions is looking for cheap 20 year old machines. Those that are good luck but it can happen. There was a large well established construction outfit that had an auction here recently. It wasn't through RB but the equipment was in good shape. The company was forced into receivership owing $35.9 million.

DMiller said:

Have not seen many machines would even bid on at auctions, then sat back watching them go for three to four times what would consider a fair market value. Is a sucker born every minute and auctions tend to prove such.

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Where do these guys continue to get the money to do this year after year is what I can't understand.

I take it you too have witnessed such Birken? Last auction I went to was a number of years ago, looking for a decent Excavator for a friend that had no time to go. Walked the line two weeks to auction, got the inspections and compared, half the inspections missed or ignored obvious faults the other half were written by someone unfamiliar with machines. Day of auction, first ten sold for better than four times could see value in, could buy the same machine used less hours off lots close to half same price. Finished listed machines, would not have dropped a dime on any. More than a third went to staging for trucks to haul to port, being shipped overseas. S Am. Asia, anywhere but Here. The remainder were still on the yard as the next loads started arriving then just disappeared.

It's like the fat ladies in Vegas pumping hundreds of dollars into multiple slot machines at the same time for hours on end. Where do they get the money???

^ Borrowed mostly I'd expect. Otherwise how would a fool earn it? I had an enclosed trailer, a 2004 model I bought in 2008 for 3,800 like new. I used the **** out of it when I was building houses, remodeling, etc. Sent it to auction and it sold for $4,350! Same trailer is maybe $5-6k new currently. By the time you replace tires, brakes, fixed the crack in the roof, replace some light covers, re-pack hubs, etc - where is the value?

Auctions are a social event....the heavy equipment owners prestigious ball. You go for the socializing and possibly get a good deal out of it, but enjoy it either way.

I have been lucky with most of the things I have bought. Like most everything else though patience is a virtue. There are times when certain things bring more.

Another avenue I like to investigate is all the other equipment in the auction. This is harder to do with the larger auctions pooling equipment for a couple months between sales, but if sale X is mostly year old county owned dump trucks and that is what buyers are looking for, the used welder is not going to attract near as much attention. Look at the amount of online bidders during a big auction.

I agree with about everything on the last three pages, especially knowing what you are looking at.

There can be good deals found if you look hard enough, know when to say no, and be happy you went whether you buy or not.

It does not hurt to look at stuff like pull type scrapers where you can see everything but the bearings either