The trade-in conversation
What your old machine is worth, who decides, and how to have the discussion with the number in front of you.
We consider trade-ins against a purchase. This is what actually happens in that conversation, written down, because a trade-in is the part of a deal where the fog usually rolls in.
Two numbers, not one
A trade is a purchase and a sale happening at once. That is convenient, and it is also how the discussion gets murky: a strong trade allowance can hide a weak price on the new machine, and a sharp price can hide a poor allowance.
So ask for both numbers separately. What is the machine you are buying, on its own? What is the allowance for the machine you are leaving, on its own? Two numbers you can each check against the market. If a yard will not split them, that is the answer to a different question.
What sets the allowance
- What it is. Model, year, hours, configuration.
- What it did. Application drives condition more than hours do, and it drives what we can honestly say to the next buyer.
- What it needs. Wear parts due, anything deferred. That comes off, because it is coming out of somebody's pocket.
- What it is worth here. Demand for that class in this market, not in a national listing.
- The record. A machine with a service history sells faster and is worth more, to us and to whoever buys it next.
How to get the best number
- Send the details earlyModel, serial, hours, photos, with your request. Not at the end, as a surprise.
- Be straight about the faultsWe will find them. Finding them ourselves is what turns a firm number into a cautious one.
- Bring the service recordsThe single highest-return thing you can do. A boring, complete history is worth real money.
- Clean itNot to hide anything — so what is there can be seen. A clean machine reads as a maintained one, and usually is.
- Know your alternativeWhat would it fetch if you sold it privately? That number is your floor, minus the hassle of the sale.
When a trade is the wrong move
If the machine still fits your work, keep it. A trade that funds a purchase you did not need is the most expensive kind of tidy. And if it is a strong private-sale machine and you have the time, private will often beat any allowance — that is not us being modest, it is the market.
Where we win is convenience and certainty: one conversation, one date, no tyre-kickers, and the new machine arrives as the old one leaves.
