Price of used equipment

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neverbilly

Burning Hunk
Dec 27, 2015
177
Arkansas, USA
Seems to me that people often ask too much for used equipment. Especially log splitters on Craigslist! I am not going to pay somebody $800 when I can buy a brand new quality machine for $1000! And don't get me started on boat prices, lol. (I have bought two bassboats and two small boats in the past five years, and I just wait for a sensible seller, lol.)

Right now, I am looking for a tandem axle utility trailer to haul my side x side and golf cart buggy and just general use. Hauling firewood, etc. A local man has a 2012 model 16' x 7' (usable space) John Deere tandem axle utility trailer and it looks real nice. Good tires, in good shape, looks like not a lot of use. He used it to haul a tractor. Has 8 lug wheels, pretty heavy angle iron bracing, a real good hitch, heavy wiring, I think 6-leaf springs, drive-on ramps. It doesn't have a tailgate, I kinda wish it did. He paid $2,100 and is asking $1,750. That seems kinda high to me. I don't know how much such a trailer would sell for new in 2017 but getting 83% of what you paid seems like a great deal for him but not so much for the buyer. What do you think?
 
Not sure but I'm thinking utility trailers hold their value well. There really is not a lot that can go wrong with them and they don't consist of too many wear and tear maintenance items.

Do you live in a state that requires registration on small trailers ? If not your also saving on the sales tax over buying new which sweetens the deal a little
 
Agree on log splitters, they always seem to want almost new prices, trailers are hit and miss.
 
First off I highly doubt that Deere made the trailer, most likely someone put decals on it.
A GOOD trailer will bring $1000 minimum, Look it over close for frame damage and straight axles. There is a guy here that has a trailer on CL that looks to be around a 10000# trailer with a picture of a full size bulldozer on it. Nothing like showing how you abuse your equipment!
 
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I had a 17 year old mtd splitter that was burning a significant amount of oil a buddy told me to put it on Craig's list for $ 800 a day later it was gone. It's crazy but people will line up to buy them.
 
I don't believe John Deere ever made a utility trailer, they do make pull behind carts but as far as I know that is all. I know several companies will custom paint a trailer for you. Even JD green with the yellow pinstripes.

Being 8 bolt wheels it should be standard 8x6.5 hubs with 7000# cambered axles. Depending on how the trailer was used the axles could have some camber gone if it was overloaded much. Easy to tell by looking at rear of empty trailer and seeing if tires are straight up and down or lean very slightly inwards at bottom. If they lean outwards at all I would pass as the trailer has been overloaded.

Do you know if it has working trailer brakes? Wood or steel floor? All lights working?

For a 5 year old trailer I would say 1750 is somewhat steep. I would ask more q's, then make a lowball offer.

Pics would help.
 
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Trailers hold their value pretty well around here, assuming they haven't been bet up to bad. Wood splitters are crazy, you don't really see them for less than $800 no matter how ragged they are.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
I assumed that the seller bought this trailer new; he said it is a 2012 model. It is John Deere green with yellow wheel hubs and John Deere decals. It has a wooden floor in good condition. I wondered about this whole thing when I googled John Deere trailer and didn't find anything. I just assumed John Deere did, in fact, rebrand a utility trailer with their colors/logo, but now I am beginning to wonder. I still think he is way too high. Asking 1750, if originally bought for 2100, that is selling it used for 83% of what you paid. Great deal for him! Again, I would prefer it had a tailgate for hauling this and that, such as firewood but I guess it would stay on there. I also will be buying a tractor someday. One tractor I was looking at would have 2" to spare on each side of this trailer's 7' wide usable width. That seems too tight a fit! I guess you'd need an 8' wide usable space width to haul such a (75hp) tractor.
 
I have a 5 ton 16' trailer - new in 12 $3100, and was with a bit of a discount because we bought a 20 ft at the same time.
 
for DOT it would be combined load and weight of trailer for total rating. generally 1 ton = 2000 lbs so total would be 10000 lbs. So on my trailer roughly an 8000# load could be placed on it and still be safe if checked by the street ogers. long or metric ton is 2240lbs
have pay a yearly registration fee on it just like a car. I think anything below 7000# rating is exempt from reg. fee.
 
The seller's sign now says $1,600 neg., meaning "negotiable," so, I assume he will take less than $1,600. And I see things that are less than stellar.

Another thing I don't like about this trailer is that there are no tie down rings. It's a larger trailer than most trailers, surprised these were not welded on. You would need to tie down to the vertical or horizontal pieces of the angle iron. At least, it's pretty heavy duty angle iron, looks like about 3" angle iron. He said he hauled a tractor, I wonder how he tied it down without buggering up the angle iron, because the paint job is not buggered up.

Another thing of note is that I don't know if he paid $2,100 new or $2,100 used. If the latter, it makes it a better deal but... this trailer (underneath) looks older than five years. A major bummer to me is that the wood floor will need replacing pretty quick. I don't know if it would be okay to replace one board or one section of one board, but the upper part of one board is rotted pretty bad. These are 2x10 lumber. There are seven 2x10's and one that was ripped to be about 7" wide. So, replacing them will be some expense. And, the wiring for the lights goes under the boards, and is attached in several places, so, that makes it more troublesome to replace the boards.

The way the back end is made, there isn't any easy way to have a welder put a gate on the back.

Lastly, the springs are five leaf, not the "six or seven" that he told me.
 
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Walk away...go buy what you need...
 
When the price of used equipment seems too high, just buy new. The best thing is to keep several grand in your pocket until the right deal comes along. We purchased an older BetterBuilt trailer, tandem axels and brakes and rated at 10k, for $800. With the fresh coat of paint and new tires on it, I wouldn't take less than $3k, ifins I was desperate. I have had several requests to sell it. Something is only worth what you can get for it-when one decides to sell it.
 
Ok, New deck, no problem. find a sawmill and have him cut cut some 6/4 hardwood .
new lights & wiring as long as the deck is off.
Show up with $1200 CASH in your hand and ask him where the other buyers (with cash in hand) are.
 
I have a few more questions.

The trailer isn't exactly what I would like to have but it is a nice trailer, with a few drawbacks. It would be nice to have for certain uses. The seller has come down from $1750 to $1600 and tonight, he actually called me and said he would take $1,475. I mentioned that the deck probably needs replacing. There is one board that is "rotting" in one spot on the top, like where a tractor tire rested. These are 2x10x16 boards. I don't know, but what about replacing one board, or a part of that board?

He then said if I buy the lumber he will put them on. That would mean rerunning the lights underneath, as they are attached to the underside of the deck in more than one place. He would do that. If I were to use pressure treated 2x10x16 lumber from Lowes, it would cost me $250.

If you replaced the deck, would you use the Lowes lumber?

Would you replace the lights and if so, why? How much would that cost?

I see a lot of trailers that are 83" wide. That is what this trailer is (the deck), one inch shy of 7 feet wide. Is the 83" width a maximum size allowed for trailer decks? I can't find that info on a google search.

EDIT: I have not seen a spare on this trailer. An 8-lug hub/tire, anyone have any idea if a used one is readily available or are these hard to find? How much do you think a used one would cost?

As for a deal, I was thinking of offering $1,100 and if I have to get the deck replaced, that would cost another $250, plus any lights if I replace them, plus I would have to buy a spare hub/tire.
 
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For our rental trailers I like to only use hardwood. People tend to abuse the hell out of rental trailers and softwood boards just don't hold up.
 
Really simple........if you dont like the price that someone is selling an item for dont buy it. Everyone thinks their stuff is gold when they are selling it. But when they are buying suddenly it loses a lot of value.
craigslist is out of hand sometimes because the ads are free. So a lot of people will post a POS for a high price thinking some fool might buy it.
 
8 lug wheel/tires sounds like it could be mobile home axles. Are the hubs "spoked" or solid? Tires for those things are weird sizes and from what I understand, very pricey. Just something to check out....
You can change a single board, but avoid changing a partial board. That doesn't work well. If you need to rewire the rig, check out the newer style led lights. Yes it is an added expense, but I find them far more reliable than the old bulb style found on most trailers.

If you are not buying the trailer you really want...you will eventually. Mark my words.;)
 
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I bought a trailer off of cragislist last year. Took about 6 months.

There are plenty of sellers of all kinds of gear out there who paid double the retail price at a dealer, so they think that full retail is a fair deal since it's used and needs some parts.

I have actually contacted a couple of those people to point this out ('Look, chainsawsdirect will sell me that saw brand new for less than you are asking for a used one'), but they didn't want to hear it, so now I just let brain damaged dogs lie. :p (We have a running thread to mock those guys in though, check it out here!)

Just be patient. I like to grab stuff that either has obvious cosmetic damage or has an obvious problem that's not expensive to fix; that stuff usually doesn't sell and drifts down to the lower end of the price range over time. Plus it's easier to negotiate with a seller who has already had a few buyers come look and walk away. :)
 
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