Looking after your vacuum truck is not only essential to it working safely, smoothly and efficiently. A clean well set up vacuum truck will retain its value when the time comes to sell it! Buying a vacuum truck also requires similar thought processes as well read on for some relevant tips.
Here are some areas for you to consider, one is a blatant plug for VTS of course!
- Buy your truck from a quality vacuum truck builder! It’s a known industry fact VTS built trucks retain higher resale values than any other manufacturers! Be wary of the few imitators out there!
- If selling your truck let the original manufacturer know, they may have a list of potential buyers.
- Attempt to keep it in the same condition as it was designed and delivered to you. Keeping the truck “as built” will make it easy for the next owner to look after it as all of the original design work and documentation will still be available from the manufacturer. VTS keeps all of our builds on file. This is part of our commitment to standing behind our products for their entire working life, regardless of who owns the truck.
- Don’t fall for the trap of making short term back yard type fixes. Sure, duct tape will fix a vacuum leak but fix the issue the minute time is available. Leaving these back yard mods on your truck won’t inspire your customers that you are on top of your game. In order to maximise your margins, your vacuum truck and equipment needs to look expensive and act accordingly…
- A clean truck is paramount. Again, not just for your customers but for a potential purchaser of the truck. A clean truck is often well serviced too.
- Regular maintenance is key to not only reliable operation but keep the records and have them ready to show a potential purchaser. This shows your attention to detail and again give the purchaser confidence that they are buying well maintained equipment. A maintenance log is extremely helpful. The VTS manual contains templates for you to copy in order to facilitate this.
- A roadworthy truck is absolutely essential. This keeps you, your drivers and other road users safe! It also means your truck is worth more to a potential buyer as they are buying equipment that is ready to go straight to work.
- A “fit for purpose vacuum truck” means its built to do a specific job. A grease trap or septic doesn’t need a huge air flow vacuum pump. why? Because running un-necessarily large gear adds to your operating and maintenance costs. How? More airflow often requires more HP. More HP equals higher running costs, fuel and maintenance all add up here over the yearly costs. Selling a “fit for purpose truck” will often be worth more on the second-hand market than a cobbled together Frankenstein with a mismatched vacuum system.
- Everyone wants more capacity/payload, be careful of vacuum trucks which are overloaded. Of course, some wastes are heavy, and some are lighter but as a vacuum truck builder we can only calculate waste weight at the weight of water 1 litre = 1 kg. If you are selling provide correct documentation to back up your claims. If you are buying request to see the correct information. Often the original quotation will provide information to give the potential buyer confidence in your claims.
- Ensure your vacuum tank is structurally sound. A worn-out vacuum tank is one that it too thin to withstand the correct vacuum to do the job required. A thin vacuum tank is at risk of imminent failure. If selling it helps to provide a current thickness report to verify that the tank has plenty of life left. The more life the more value in your sale. If buying, ask how old the tank is and what has it been transporting over its life. Ask the seller if they have had it thickness tested. If not hire a tester and do it yourself. You could be buying a tank with a very short operational life left in it! On the other hand, a sound vacuum tank wil be worth a lot more as it will have a long earning life span.
- A worn vacuum pump will also generate lower levels of vacuum. As an operator this will be evident in its efficiency or lack thereof. As a buyer this may not be apparent when checking the vacuum truck over. If possible, ask to see the truck doing the job its built for. Pump out a septic or grease trap or what ever is required. Assess the time taken to do the job will give an experienced operator some idea if the pump is worn and how well the vacuum system works.
- Buy and sell through reputable avenues. trucksales.com.au is a good starting point. Back in the day some of the monthly truck sales magazines where invaluable but less so these days. Be careful of Facebook though as it seems to be a popular place for scammers to hide.
Feel free to contact us with some of your own experiences and we can add to this in the future.
Article by Rod Glue
