Buying a used machine or a towable trailer sight-unseen is a reasonable thing to do, provided you know which questions actually matter. This is the guide we would give a friend.

Start with the job, not the machine

The most expensive mistakes we see are machines bought one size too big or one size too small. Before you shortlist anything, pin down three numbers: the heaviest thing you need to lift or haul, the narrowest gap you need to get through, and what your existing truck can legally tow. Those three constrain the answer more than brand preference ever will.

On trailers, tow capacity is the one people get wrong. A 7,000 lb GVWR trailer loaded to capacity behind a half-ton pickup is a different vehicle to drive than the same truck empty. Check your door sticker, not the brochure.

What hours actually tell you

Hours are a proxy for wear, not a verdict. A 3,000-hour excavator that has spent its life on maintained sites with a single operator is usually a better buy than a 1,200-hour machine that has been rented out weekly. What matters more:

Service history. Documented intervals beat a low reading every time.
Undercarriage on tracked machines. It is the single largest wear cost, and replacing tracks, rollers and sprockets can run into five figures.
Hydraulic condition. Look for weeping cylinders, hose chafe, and how quickly the machine builds pressure from cold.
Cold starting. How a diesel behaves on a first start says more than an hour meter.

What to check on a used trailer

Trailers look simple and hide their problems well. The four that matter: the floor, the frame, the axles and the wiring. On aluminium trailers, rust through the floor is not the risk that it is on steel — but crossmembers, wheel bearings, tyre date codes and a working brake and light test are. Tyres with good tread but a seven-year-old date code are a blowout waiting to happen on a hot interstate run.

New versus used

New units carry the manufacturer’s factory warranty, passed through to you on the manufacturer’s own terms, registered in your name at the point of sale. Typical compact equipment coverage runs 12 to 24 months, with longer terms on powertrain and emissions components. Used units are sold as inspected, and what we can and cannot verify is written into each listing. Full detail is on our Warranty page.

The honest rule of thumb: buy new when downtime costs you more than the price difference, and used when it does not.

How buying from us works

Ask. Call or email about a specific unit. We will tell you what we know, and say so plainly where we cannot verify something.
Hold it. A deposit takes the unit off the market for 10 days, longer if you are waiting on a lender. Fully refundable up to dispatch.
Pay. Card, ACH, wire, or invoice on an approved business account. Handling starts when payment clears.
Delivery. Flat $550 freight to any address in the continental United States, whatever the machine weighs and however far it runs. Handling is 2 to 5 business days, transit 2 to 10 depending on the run.
Inspect on arrival. You have 30 days from delivery to return a unit. Note any transit damage on the bill of lading before the driver leaves — that is the single most useful thing you can do at handover.

Questions worth asking any dealer

Not just us. Ask what the inspection actually covered. Ask what they could not verify. Ask who pays freight if the machine is not as described. Ask whether the photographs are of that specific unit or of a representative one. A dealer who answers those four straight is a dealer worth buying from.

Call (334) 294-5043 or browse all available equipment and trailers.