Top tips on truck refurbs

Refurbished forklift trucks can offer tremendous value for money under the right conditions, but don’t be caught out warns Neil Warren, Jungheinrich UK’s Used Equipment and Short Term Rental Director.

Buying a second-life model may not be the first thought for businesses on the lookout for a truck, but there are plenty of good reasons to consider it. Many large and small companies across a broad industrial base are starting to get wise to the significant savings – between 30-40% – that can be made by turning to the refurbished forklift market.

BITA figures indicate that just over 30,000 new forklift trucks were sold in 2014. But, interestingly, estimates are that around 15,000 refurbished trucks are sold every year and those numbers are growing. Market experience shows that a considerable number of large ‘blue-chip’ businesses are now buying refurbished trucks where appropriate.

Buying in haste, with little research, can have significant repercussions, so, consider these five points.

What duties are expected of the truck?

If you are looking at an intensive operation where a forklift will be required to perform three shifts ‘day-in, day-out’ then a new truck may well be best. However, if a vehicle is only to be used for five or six hours a day, such as at the end of a production line or for less intensive loading duties and yard work, or more occasional usage, then a high-quality refurbished forklift truck may well be a suitable option. Basically, a good second-life product is ideal for a 1000 hr to 1500 hr application.

Look for quality

If a refurbished truck is what you’re looking for, then quality, safety and value are top priorities. The quality of refurbished trucks can be highly variable. Many reconditioned trucks on the market are well over five years old, often ten years or so, and can be on their third or even fourth life. Workshop refurbishments are the norm, with standards and attention to detail on replacing moving parts a moveable feast.

With one engineer working on the entire refurbishment, which is often the case in a workshop environment, consistency and quality is hard to maintain. Look for evidence of rigor in the refurbishment process, check just how old the vehicle is, how many hours it has worked and ask for its full service history.

At Jungheinrich our Ready to Go refurbished trucks are all built to a consistently high European wide standard, because they are all stripped down, assessed and rebuilt on a production line in a dedicated factory in Dresden. We are the only manufacturer to do this. In addition, only trucks that are at the end of their first life, so only five years old, are refurbished and sold for a second-life by our sales network. We only refurbish a truck once. And as all the trucks we send to the plant for refurbishment have been under contract with Jungheinrich, the full service history is known.

Check for safety and compliance

Health & Safety is another critical consideration. With authorities becoming ever more watchful of compliance to safety standards – and with directors now exposed to litigation for failure to ensure that safety compliance has been adequately followed in the event of an accident – important things to check are that any truck you buy has a CE mark, which means it has been approved for European use. Also, it is important to ensure that lifting chains and forks have been inspected in line with the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) and the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER). Failure here can also invalidate insurance in the event of an accident.

Keep it simple

More often than not, refurbished trucks are offered under a bewildering range of deals and standards – Silver, Gold, and Platinum etc. Look for easy to understand offers and ensure that warranties include both parts and labour. Ensure too that electric vehicles come with properly reconditioned batteries and that the warranty extends to the battery.

What’s in the deal?

Most reconditioned trucks are available under similar contract rental and purchasing agreements as new vehicles and maintenance contracts may also be applied. However, something to watch out for is that a large number of suppliers will only offer their reconditioned trucks under three year contract, which doesn’t say a lot for their confidence in their own product. 

A leading question is: How long should a refurbished truck last? Of course that depends on the quality of the rebuild, the duties the truck is put through and the standard and frequency of maintenance carried out. 

At Jungheinrich we expect our Ready to Go products to last at least another five years and so offer our second-life trucks on similar finance packages and full maintenance contracts as our new vehicles. 

The Jungheinrich Ready to Go dedicated forklift refurbishment plant in Dresden can refurbish some 6500 trucks per year.

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