Earthmoving equipment supplier Goscor Earthmoving, an accredited dealer of heavy equipment manufacturer SANY equipment, has noted an increase in the popularity of used materials-handling equipment amid the current economic constraints caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the national lockdown.

“Because SANY equipment is imported from China and India, our current used equipment was bought at a favourable exchange rate and therefore the used equipment that our company has on hand is in high demand from a cost perspective,” says Goscor Earthmoving SANY operations manager Murray Leith.

He explains that when companies are under financial pressure, they are more likely to look for more cost-effective alternatives, consequently ensuring that used equipment gains popularity. “We have sold a significant number of machines during the lockdown period and have very few pieces of used equipment on hand.”

The launch of Goscor Earthmoving’s used-equipment division in 2018 came as a result of clients’ defaulting on payments for equipment bought on finance. The equipment would be recovered by Goscor Earthmoving and added to the inventory of used equipment for resale. This used equipment includes excavators, front-end loaders, rollers and graders.

“The used division of our company does not purposefully identify used equipment to purchase for resale. Rather, we resell refurbished equipment that has been returned to us by our clients.”

Reselling used equipment also requires the quality-control process which ensures the equipment is up to standard.

“In terms of preventive maintenance, a service-plan is included in the monthly instalments when equipment is bought through finance. This enables us to send a maintenance team out every 250 hours to carry out regular maintenance and attend to unforeseen problems,” Leith explains.

Further, owing to the corrosive environments at mine sites, the client is provided with a checklist upon purchase that equipment operators can use to monitor the equipment on a daily basis.

“This enables the client to call our maintenance team if any criteria of the checklist is not met,” he adds.

Moreover, once the equipment is returned to Goscor Earthmoving for resale, the workshop carries out a full assessment. Depending on the outcome of this assessment, the company can conduct any additional and/or necessary maintenance before the equipment is resold.

“This maintenance adds to the resale price. We, therefore, allow clients to buy the piece of used equipment as is or after additional repairs at an additional cost,” concludes Leith.