Guides
Used vs new garage door service equipment: how to compare
How to compare used and new garage door service equipment on cost per available day, which items you should never buy used, and the checks before you buy.
Comparing used and new garage door service equipment is not a sticker-price question. This is the method: cost per available day, category by category, plus the items whose history you cannot verify and which therefore belong on the new side.
What to take away
- Compare on cost per available day, not on purchase price. A cheaper item that takes days out of the schedule is not cheaper.
- Split the decision by category. Vehicles and lifting equipment answer this question very differently from hand tools.
- Some items should never be bought used, and the reason is not price. It is that you cannot verify their history.
- Used equipment shifts spending from a one-time outlay to an unpredictable monthly one. Say which of those your cash position can absorb.
- Write the comparison down in variables and fill them from real quotes. Anything else is a preference dressed as an analysis.
The comparison, in variables
For any item, define:
Annual cost formula variables
- Cpurchase price incl. delivery
- Lyears you expect to keep it
- Ddays per year unavailable
- Mmaintenance and repair per year
Annual cost is ((C minus R) divided by L) plus M plus (D times J). Run it for the new option and the used option with your own quotes in place, and be honest about D and J on the used side. Those two terms are where the used option loses, and they are the two people leave out.
Illustrative example only. Used Fluke 117 multimeter: C $120, L 5 years, R $0, M $20 per year, D 2 days, J $150 per day. Annual cost is (120 divided by 5) + 20 + (2 times 150) = $344.
New Fluke 117: C $220, L 5 years, R $80, M $0, D 0 days, J $150 per day. Annual cost is ((220 minus 80) divided by 5) + 0 + 0 = $28.
These are illustrative, not quotes.
J deserves a note. It is not the invoice value of the lost job. It is the invoice plus whatever the customer does next, which for an emergency call is usually phoning someone else and staying with them.
Category by category
New usually wins when
- Service vehicle
- It is the only vehicle you have
- Ladders and access equipment
- Always worth serious caution
- Diagnostic instruments
- Accuracy matters and you cannot verify it
- Cordless hand tools
- You need the current battery system
- Racking and van fit-out
- The van is new and will be kept
- Door handling equipment
- Loads are near the rated limit
Used usually wins when
- Service vehicle
- You already have a spare, or the work is local
- Ladders and access equipment
- Rarely
- Diagnostic instruments
- The item can be checked against a known reference
- Cordless hand tools
- Batteries are included and testable
- Racking and van fit-out
- The layout suits your stock plan
- Door handling equipment
- Light and occasional use
The trap
- Service vehicle
- Downtime with no substitute vehicle
- Ladders and access equipment
- You cannot see the history of a used one
- Diagnostic instruments
- A reading you cannot trust is worse than none
- Cordless hand tools
- Buying into a battery platform that is ending
- Racking and van fit-out
- Refitting twice because the layout was somebody else's
- Door handling equipment
- Rated capacity that cannot be confirmed
What not to buy used, and why
The rule is about verification, not money. Anything whose safe use depends on a history you cannot see goes in the new column.
That includes equipment that carries load, equipment that arrests a fall, and anything whose condition is judged by an inspection you are not qualified to perform. The same applies to any tool the door or opener manufacturer's instructions specify for a particular task, where the instruction assumes the tool is in a known condition.
Your written approach to this should follow the employer safety material published by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on safety and health program management, plus whatever your insurer requires. Put the rule in writing so a technician buying something at short notice knows where the line is.
Two things a used purchase does to the accounts
First, it moves money out of the one-time column and into the recurring one, because maintenance rises. A shop with thin working capital sometimes prefers that and sometimes cannot survive it, which is a question for the money section of your business plan rather than a general preference.
Second, it complicates the record. Keep the purchase evidence, the condition at purchase, and every repair against the asset. That is ordinary practice, and the IRS overview of records worth keeping sets a reasonable floor for what to retain and for how the asset is treated in your books.
The inspection before any used purchase
- Ask what it was used for and by whom. A vague answer is an answer.
- Look for repairs that were done to keep it working rather than to fix it properly.
- Test it doing the actual work, not idling in a yard.
- Price the immediate work it needs and add that to C before comparing anything.
- Ask what happens if it fails in the first month, and get the answer in writing.
Step four is where most used purchases fall apart on paper, which is exactly where you want them to fall apart.
Pre-purchase used inspection
- Ask what it was used for and by whom
- Look for repairs that kept it working
- Test it doing the actual work
- Price immediate work and add to C
- Get first-month failure answer in writing
Where this decision meets the rest of the shop
The stock and tooling this compares against comes out of the equipment and setup guide. The item-by-item list you are pricing is the one in the equipment checklist for new owners.
Two further checks before buying. First, whether the work the equipment enables is work your team is signed off to do, the subject of the hiring and training guide. Second, whether that work carries a licensing or permit condition you have confirmed through the licensing and compliance guide.
Where the equipment relates to an automatic operator behaving correctly, the requirements to work from are the manufacturer's instructions and the federal position summarized in the CPSC's FAQ on residential garage door operators. Neither is a purchasing question, and both can rule a purchase out.
Common questions
Is a used van a false economy?
Only if it is your only van. With a substitute available, D and J both fall sharply and the used option often wins on the arithmetic.
How much should be deducted for immediate repairs?
Whatever a competent inspection says, added to the purchase price before any comparison. Repairs deferred into month two are still part of the purchase price.
Does buying used affect what a customer thinks?
A clean, signed vehicle reads as professional regardless of its age. A tired one reads as a shop that may not be there next year, which is a marketing cost rather than an equipment one.
What about buying a failing competitor's equipment?
It can be a good deal, and the same inspection applies twice over. Ask why each item was kept when the business was closing, and price the ones that were kept for a reason.
