Featured guide
How to Buy Used Heavy Equipment Without Killing the Deal
A practical checklist for reviewing hours, service history, photos, seller details, financing, transport, and price before you commit to the deal.
Read the guideHeavy Equipment Guides
Practical guides for serious equipment buyers and sellers — what to inspect, how to compare machines, how financing changes a deal, and when a machine is worth the asking price.
Start With the Deal Question
Each guide pushes you toward one useful next action: inspect, compare, finance, ship, sell, or request help.
Buying Guides
Compare machines, ask better questions, and avoid expensive surprises.
Explore →Inspection
Hours, undercarriage, hydraulics, records, photos, and red flags.
Explore →Financing
Understand payments, terms, down payments, and approval factors.
Explore →Selling
Price better, show records, and attract buyers who can actually close.
Explore →Featured Equipment Guide
A practical pillar guide — what serious buyers check before they commit.
InspectionHow Many Hours Are Too Many for an Excavator?
What hours mean, what records change, and why condition matters more than the meter alone.
BuyingUsed Dozer Buying Checklist
Undercarriage, blade, hydraulics, transmission, final drives, and job history.
FinancingFinancing a Used Heavy Truck or Trailer
What lenders look for and how payment-first shopping helps buyers close faster.
ShippingHow to Ship Heavy Equipment Across Canada or the U.S.
Dimensions, weight, permits, loading, route planning, and quote timing.
Guide Library
Organized by deal intent so you can find what you need and move to the next step.
Buying9 min readHow to Buy Used Heavy Equipment Without Killing the Deal
A practical pre-purchase process for used construction equipment — how to read hours versus real condition, where machines actually fail, how to verify records and sellers, and how to line up financing and transport before you make an offer.
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Selling12 min readHow to Estimate Used Equipment Value Before You List
How to estimate what used heavy equipment is really worth before you list it — using realized auction comparables, the three appraisal values (fair market vs. liquidation), provable condition from oil analysis and undercarriage wear, hours, records, location and emissions tier.
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Selling10 min readWhy Financed Buyers Help Sellers Get Stronger Offers
Why buyer financing helps sellers: most equipment buyers finance (82% of US businesses; construction leads every sector at 85%), how that widens demand, what makes your machine easy to finance, and the Section 179 and bonus-depreciation incentives drawing buyers in.
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Selling11 min readWhat Sellers Should Know Before Shipping Heavy Equipment
A seller’s guide to shipping heavy equipment: what counts as a legal load under federal size and weight limits, when a move needs oversize permits, escorts or a superload classification, how machines are secured under federal rules, and what shapes a buyer’s landed cost.
Read guide →Inspection10 min readHow Many Hours Are Too Many for an Excavator?
Why there is no single hour cutoff for a used excavator, and what actually determines its remaining life and value — reading hours in context, why oil analysis and condition beat the meter, what to inspect (especially the undercarriage), and how to spot hour-meter tampering.
Read guide →Buying11 min readUsed Dozer Buying Checklist
A pre-purchase checklist for used crawler dozers — why the undercarriage is roughly half the maintenance cost, how wear is measured, the final-drive and drivetrain signs that matter, what oil analysis reveals, and how to verify hours, records and liens before you buy.
Read guide →Financing9 min readFinancing a Used Heavy Truck or Trailer
How financing a used heavy truck or trailer works — what lenders look at, how the unit’s age and mileage affect approval, what documents you need, and why shopping payment-first helps owner-operators and small fleets close faster.
Read guide →Shipping10 min readHow to Ship Heavy Equipment Across Canada or the U.S.
What it takes to ship heavy equipment across provinces, states or the border — the cost drivers, legal size and weight limits, when you need oversize permits and escorts, trailer types, cross-border basics, and how to get an accurate quote.
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Buying9 min readHeavy Equipment Buying Checklist
A run-it-in-order pre-offer checklist for used heavy equipment: verify the real hours, inspect the undercarriage and wear systems, test hydraulics and fluids, check structure and welds, clear the title and liens, read the records, and price the true landed cost before you commit.
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Inspection9 min readHow Many Hours Are Too Many for a Skid Steer?
Why there is no fixed hour cutoff for a used skid steer or compact track loader, and what actually decides its remaining life and value — reading hours against age and application, testing the hydraulics and loader arms, the compact-track undercarriage cost trap, attachments, records and fluid analysis, and spotting hour-meter tampering.
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Selling8 min readHow to Prepare Your Machine Before Listing
A pre-listing checklist for sellers of used heavy equipment: clean and fix the easy things, complete basic service, assemble service and fluid-analysis records, verify the serial/PIN and clear any lien, photograph honestly, write a defensible description and price, and get inspection- and transport-ready so the machine sells faster and for more.
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Financing9 min readWhat Gets Approved for Heavy Equipment Financing?
What lenders actually weigh when financing used heavy equipment — your credit and cash flow, the machine itself as collateral (age, hours, private-party vs dealer), down payment, loan term and the application-only paperwork threshold — plus how to improve your approval odds and what differs between Canada and the U.S.
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Buying10 min readBuying Used Forestry Equipment
What to check on used skidders, feller bunchers, harvesters and processors, knuckleboom and log loaders, and log trucks — the heat, debris, impact and fire damage that forestry duty hides, plus the attachment and undercarriage wear systems that decide whether a machine is a bargain or a breakdown.
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Buying9 min readHow to Buy Used Attachments
How to buy a used attachment without a costly mismatch — fitment first (carrier weight class, hydraulic flow and pressure, and the mounting interface), quick-coupler types and the safety checks that prevent fatal attachment detachment, and the wear points to inspect on buckets, hydraulic breakers, grapples, thumbs, augers and mulchers.
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Financing7 min readHow Down Payment Changes Your Equipment Buying Power
How the down payment on used heavy equipment changes what you can actually buy — how money down lowers the amount financed and the monthly payment, the trade-off between down payment and term length, how a down payment de-risks a weaker credit or age/hours file, the used-equipment loan-to-value gap, and how much to put down.
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Shipping11 min readCrossing the Canada–U.S. Border with Heavy Equipment: Customs, Tariffs & Brokerage
What it really takes to move used heavy equipment across the Canada–U.S. border in either direction — the customs broker and entry, processing fees and 5% GST, whether the U.S. steel tariff and the IEEPA tariff actually hit your machine, how USMCA/CUSMA origin keeps it duty-free, and the emissions and vehicle-compliance rules. With a standing caveat: confirm current rates before you ship.
Read guide →Have a machine to price or sell?
Guides are great, but real deals need real numbers. Send us the basics and we’ll give you a practical valuation direction and a plan to get it in front of serious buyers.