Used Carpet Cleaning Equipment
When starting out in the carpet cleaning business or expanding the services of an established business, it is a
good practice to consider used carpet cleaning equipment. Many times you can find some excellent buys.
There are some things to consider whenever buying used equipment. The first thing is to realize that when
speaking about any used equipment, buy only well known commercial brand machines with good reputations. Beware of
those who might want to pass off common place home use machines as commercial equipment.
New & Used Carpet
Cleaning Equipment
Secondly, research the type of machine you are considering. For example, if you see many "type X"
machines for sale there might be a reason. Maybe they are dedicated to a specific type of cleaning which doesn't
get the job done. Visit online forums by searching out the names and brands of whatever machines you consider and
see what actual users have to say. If you are a reader of the business plans sold on this site, you know that you
should never listen to sales people or machine distributors for objective opinions of any machine. It always
is a good practice to ask any seller why he is selling any specific machine. If an established business is
selling a used machine because they found the machine simply doesn't do the job for which it was advertised, you
don't want to find yourself in the same situation in a couple months.
Next, be reasonable when judging the price. Remember if the price is too low, there might be a reason for
it. It is never a good idea to purchase any equipment not in working order. If the seller mentions it
"only needs a belt", tell him to replace the belt and then you'll inspect the machine.
If you are considering high end commercial equipment, you should realize that the condition and amount of use a
machine has received is much more important then how old a machine might be. Someone might have something
used in commercial cleaning but never used it because they did residential cleaning primarily or vice versa.
I'd strongly recommend never buying used equipment without prior testing unless you are absolutely sure you can
trust the seller. Good commercial carpet cleaning equipment is well made and usually a bit heavy. If
you pay a substantial amount for delivery, you'll be losing money trying to ship an inoperable piece of equipment
back to the seller. That is even if the seller would refund you the selling price to begin with. If you
buy new on the web, you'll probably deal with established businesses who have a reputation to be concerned
with. Obviously this is not the case when buying from a private seller. So its best to limit yourself
to used carpet cleaning equipment being sold within reasonable driving distance of your home.
You can occasionally find some large suppliers selling used equipment. This can be a good deal but in most
cases the prices will not be as good as you'll find with private sellers. But you'll at least be confident
that the equipment will be operational.
The bottom line is, just use good common sense when buying used carpet cleaning equipment. From time to
time, we have associates selling used equipment and we'll post it through the links below.
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