When it comes time to sell your forklift, there are many different things to consider. Obviously, everyone wants the best price they can get for their machine and to sell it within hours of putting it on the market, but we all know that’s not always possible. 

What you can do, however, is give yourself the best chance possible to sell your forklift quickly and get a reasonable price for it. With a little bit of planning, a smidge of luck and a smattering of the right timing, you can sell your forklift fast and get a good return on the sale. 

Things you need to know before selling your forklift

Private sale, trade-in, or just keep it?

There are different pros and cons to each of these approaches. If you’re thinking about heading down the private sale road for selling your forklift, it’s guaranteed to take extra time to sell, so if you’re looking at selling your forklift quickly, a private sale might not be the best option for you. 

If you have all the time in the world and are only interested in getting the best price possible for your forklift, then a private sale is probably a good option. 

A trade-in is a great option if you’re considering upgrading your forklift or want to trade it in for a different model because your business requirements have changed or altered recently. 

Keep in mind that a trade-in price will often be much lower than a private sale, similar to a car, in that as soon as you drive it off the lot, the resale price lowers considerably. Things that can contribute to a lower trade-in price are high hours, poor condition, the forklift if very old, or it’s not a model that sells well.

Find out what the market is doing

It’s worth looking around and seeing what the market is doing. If the market is flooded with the same model and type of forklift you’re trying to sell, there’s a good chance you’re not going to get top dollar for your particular unit. If you’ve got a forklift that everyone wants, but no one can get their hands on, you have some negotiating power and wiggle room for the sale. 

Good brands matter

Like anything else on the market available for sale, there are always preferred brands with a better reputation than others, which is typically for good reason. When it comes to forklifts, it’s no different. Some brands are reliable, work well and keep their value, then other units are cheap, nasty and difficult to get parts for. 

You usually get a decent forklift if you purchase anything made in Japan. TCM, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Hyster Yale are all great units with good reputations that are fairly easy to get parts for. Sure, you can import a cheap forklift from overseas, and it may save you a few thousand dollars upfront however, in the long run, when it breaks down, is difficult to get parts for, or you discover parts are of low quality, you typically end up spending more than if you had have purchased a decent unit in the first place. 

Having a service history will help with accurate pricing

If you’re selling to a dealer like Eureka Forklifts, we will want to see the vehicle's service history, as this will give us a better understanding of how the machine has been treated. A unit in terrible condition with poor service history isn’t going to inspire us to offer a great price as we’re going to have to spend a considerable amount of time, effort and money to get that unit to a standard where people will want to purchase it. 

Think about transportation

If you want a dealer to pick up your forklift as part of the sale, they will need to factor this into the price they’re giving you. If you can deliver the unit yourself, that also gets factored in. 

Be realistic in your expectations

Finally, speaking to a few different companies is important to ensure your expectations aren’t too far out of the realm of possibilities. If you think you should get X amount for your forklift and 4-5 different dealers are telling you that price is way too high, it’s more than likely you have too high expectations about the value of your forklift. 

We always recommend people speak with at least 2-3 different forklift companies if they’re looking at selling through a dealer; this way, you can ensure everyone is staying honest and you’re not over or underpricing the forklift you’re looking at selling.