ArlyA
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You might be looking at a different class of used machines than most here are.
Another rant about buying used
- Thread starter Paystar
- Start date
I'm selling my Dmax, 3500 dually, 07, 410k miles, but it has a service body, no rust other than slight in bed, also full rack. 510 459 3367
rScotty
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This seems like weird thread to me. I've bought machines used all my life and still do. There are a lot of stories here about people being taken advantage of, and some sound more like folk tales to me.
My own experience is different. Maybe half of the machines I've looked at were poorly described, and it is easy enough to tell if that was done deliberately. If so, the seller is a jerk so best to just leave. What's to say?
The other half are good used machines described honestly. Those are the ones I look over to see that everything works as it should. A machine that looks good and has worked for a few years with everything is working normally is likely to keep on doing so. I often end up wondering why the owner is selling it.
In fact, figuring out why someone is selling something that works well is a fascinating part of buying used equipment.
rScotty
My own experience is different. Maybe half of the machines I've looked at were poorly described, and it is easy enough to tell if that was done deliberately. If so, the seller is a jerk so best to just leave. What's to say?
The other half are good used machines described honestly. Those are the ones I look over to see that everything works as it should. A machine that looks good and has worked for a few years with everything is working normally is likely to keep on doing so. I often end up wondering why the owner is selling it.
In fact, figuring out why someone is selling something that works well is a fascinating part of buying used equipment.
rScotty
Pecosbill7
Member
I bought a 50 year old car on eBay and naively believed what the seller told me. His ad described the tires as having "zero miles on them." Now wouldn't a reasonable person believe that means the tires are new? Well, when the car arrived the tires were old, cracked and nearly bald. I called him up and asked him about that and his reply? "Yes, the ad said they had zero miles on them. That means they have zero miles LEFT on them." What a jerk. Learned a lesson though.
It's a fairly simple process. You first need to get an agreement with your vendor. You can ask for CIF cost (which includes Freight and carriage insurance)
or FOB which includes delivery to the departure port/airport (basically means ready to load) but you pay for the freight (and insurance) yourself.
In both cases the export process is handled and paid by the vendor. You dont want Ex-Works because local transportation and the export process become your responsibility. Although it is not impossible to do, it makes things way more complicated and often more expensive.
Depending on the size of the equipment it can be shipped in a closed container or flat rack container but can also be shipped on RO-RO vessel (Roll On-Roll Off) if rolling equipment or LO-LO (Lift On -Lift Off). RO-RO, when available, is often the cheapest option but is normally reserved for vehicles or machinery that have a propulsion system. It is basically a floating multilevel parking lot. Some companies might accept trailer type equipment but that would need to be verified with the shipping line.
Closed containers will generally be more expensive than RO-RO but offer the advantage that the equipment is protected from the elements and from possible tampering.
The shipping agent of the vendor should be able to guide you in that respect.
Then you need to get yourself a customs broker that works out of your local seaport, whom normally should be able to handle everything at your end.
You will have to pay import duties, applicable sales tax and various handling charges and of course your broker's fee.
All in all not that complicated...
D
Deleted member 371759
Guest
I like getting the story behind things when I buy them. For me that is a large part of the experience. My OBS Ford truck was sold to me by a man whos brother had died suddenly and it was left to him. It got to the point where he could not do the repairs himself and could not afford to have a mechanic do the repairs. OIl pump, trans, clutch. Big stuff. I bought it from him and he cried, then his wife started crying. It was horrible and great all at the same time. He made me promise to send him pictures as the project progressed. Last year I sent him pictures of the interior with new door panels, new headliner and the truck just generally made right again. Right now I have the truck in my shop doing body work and getting it ready to paint. I will send him another set of pictures when its done. Sometimes when a item is poorly described its because there is sentimental value attached to it and other times the owner really does not know better.
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One common denominator of the good deals I have found on used stuff, is that I know the history of the item. The last one is a good example. There was a 1950’s Farmall Cub parked in the back of the factory where I have worked the last 20 years. It had a snowplow on it. I saw it used one time, my first year, and not once since then.
The factory maintenance guy told me that his father (who had the same job before him), had bought it with a sickle bar, to mow along the perimeter fence line. That attachment had been scrapped years before. The snowplow didn’t work so well around the factory, as everyone preferred moving snow around with a bobcat type loader machine instead.
New management came in and decided to “clean out the junk”. I was high bidder on the Cub at the silent auction last fall. I bid, to the penny, what I thought it was worth ($783.17). The tractor looked to me like it had less than 400 hours on it, based on observable wear.
I winched it onto a trailer I borrowed from my favorite Farmall mechanic, and dropped it off at his shop on my way home. He took his time over the winter, changing all the fluids, tuned it up, and replaced the radiator hoses and carburetor (charged me $445).
This thing runs and works like a new tractor now:
My favorite thing about it is that I can haul it around in my old pickup truck.
That old pickup was another sweet deal. It was owned by an uncle who kept it in Florida in the winter and it don’t have a spot of rust on it (cost me $5k with 60k miles on it).
The factory maintenance guy told me that his father (who had the same job before him), had bought it with a sickle bar, to mow along the perimeter fence line. That attachment had been scrapped years before. The snowplow didn’t work so well around the factory, as everyone preferred moving snow around with a bobcat type loader machine instead.
New management came in and decided to “clean out the junk”. I was high bidder on the Cub at the silent auction last fall. I bid, to the penny, what I thought it was worth ($783.17). The tractor looked to me like it had less than 400 hours on it, based on observable wear.
I winched it onto a trailer I borrowed from my favorite Farmall mechanic, and dropped it off at his shop on my way home. He took his time over the winter, changing all the fluids, tuned it up, and replaced the radiator hoses and carburetor (charged me $445).
This thing runs and works like a new tractor now:
My favorite thing about it is that I can haul it around in my old pickup truck.
That old pickup was another sweet deal. It was owned by an uncle who kept it in Florida in the winter and it don’t have a spot of rust on it (cost me $5k with 60k miles on it).
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gstrom99
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I ALWAYS ask "why are you selling it?", and hope/question(?) that the answer is believable. Even if I've brought a trailer (max ~ two hour drive away for me), I'm not afraid to come home empty. Has only happened a few times for me ...
tacticalturnip
Elite Member
D
Deleted member 371759
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When I see something I already know I want, a lot of times I stop the seller from talking. Then I say... I'm going to buy this, I dont care whats wrong, please now just be 100% with me about what is going on. It works almost every time.