When it comes to buying equipment, whether it’s John Deere, Caterpillar, or Komatsu, it can be difficult to decide whether you should opt for used or new machinery. While buying new can be tempting, buying used offers a lot of advantages that most people don’t consider. To help you get all the facts before you make your purchasing decision, here’s the breakdown of how buying used can help you.

You Save Money and Don’t Sacrifice Quality

First and foremost, choosing used equipment means you save money. New equipment suffers massive depreciation in the first year after purchase even though the equipment doesn’t become any less effective at its job. Therefore, if you’re interested in getting great equipment but don’t care about having the shiniest coat of paint possible, choosing used equipment can save you a huge amount of money. If you need to get multiple pieces, the savings can quickly add up, allowing you to afford pieces of equipment that you might have considered optional or luxury purchases.

For many, there is a fear that paying less corresponds to a decrease in quality, but that’s not the case with heavy machinery. If you think about it, a dozer might last a decade before it needs serious repairs or replacement. If you buy a used dozer that is only two years old, you still have 80% of that dozer’s lifespan ahead of you, but you’re only paying a fraction of what you would pay for a new dozer.

You Don’t Have to Deal with Depreciation

The other side of the depreciation coin is that someone has to deal with it no matter what. If you buy a piece of machinery new, a lot of that value will vanish in the first year regardless of whether the machine is damaged or pushed to its limits. However, if you’re buying a piece of used machinery, then someone else has already bit the bullet and taken that penalty.

This can be particularly useful when it comes to mentality and how you treat equipment. If you’ve got a nagging thought at the back of your head that a scraper is losing you money every single day, then you might push it harder and approach jobs with a biased perspective. You could wear the machine down and drive up maintenance costs later. However, if you know that someone else already ate that cost and that you don’t have to get the absolute most out of your machinery every day, you might take a more objective approach.

You Can Resell and Make Your Initial Investment Back

There is another angle when it comes to depreciation: resale value. If you buy new, then the possibility of reselling becomes less and less profitable with every day that passes. Once a year has passed, you can’t expect to get anything more than a fraction of what you initially paid. If you find that you don’t need the piece as much as you thought or if it becomes obsolete after only a couple years, then you’re either stuck with the piece or forced to sell it for a pittance.

However, if you buy it after it’s already depreciated in the first year, then the value won’t drop all that much as the years go on. If you do decide to resell eventually, then you can probably get pretty close to what you originally paid. This is particularly useful when it comes to pieces that you probably won’t need to use for their entire lifespan. If you only need an excavator for a couple jobs, then buying used and selling it after you finish can result in a minimal expenditure on your part. In many cases, you can end up paying even less than you would need to spend on renting the machinery for the same amount of time.

You Pay Less for Insurance

The simple fact of the matter is that insurance premiums depend on how much it would cost to replace a piece of machinery, not how useful the piece of machinery is. You’re going to pay a lot more insuring a piece of new machinery than you will on a piece you bought used. Moreover, you have a much greater incentive to get insurance on a piece of new machinery. After all, it cost you a lot more than you would have paid had you bought it used. If a used wheel loader breaks down, replacement might not be all that expensive.

You Know It Works

When buying from a legitimate seller, you have a guarantee that the used machinery works. Many people worry that buying used means they might get a dud that simply doesn’t function, but that’s not really how it works. It may be a legitimate concern when dealing with sales between individuals and shady exchanges in the dark corners of the internet, but big businesses have their reputations to worry about. If a major used equipment seller were to mistreat their customers, it would be reflected in their reviews.

You Can Take Advantage of Additional Services

In many cases, used equipment sellers offer additional services that can be of great value to the customer. From warranties that can give you peace of mind in the short term to comprehensive repair services that can save your machine if it starts to break down in the future, you can come back to the seller if you have any problems with your used equipment. This can end up being a lot cheaper than going to a general service center and getting assistance there.

You Get More Flexibility

Some of the previously mentioned advantages can open up new opportunities for your business. If you have to buy a piece new and commit to getting the most out of it, then you may be locked into taking one type of contract for up to a decade. The compulsion to get the most of the investment may be as much psychological as financial, but that doesn’t make it any less real.