Used mini-excavator inventory drops 20%

Dealers continue to lean into strong rental demand to keep used construction equipment off their lots, while lenders see ample financing opportunities.  

The summer construction boom is driving demand for used medium- and heavy-duty equipment, with rentals serving contractors’ short-term needs on some projects, Sandhills Global Equipment Lease and Finance Manager Jim Ryan told Equipment Finance News.  

However, dealers must be prepared for a potential glut of rental returns at yearend, and off-loading via auction could be the best way to alleviate this challenge, Ryan said. 

“That’s what makes the auction market so captivating to a lot of those end users, because you can go to these auctions and you see 15 [machines] running through and you can have your choice,” he said.  

Meanwhile, used construction prices continued to stabilize in July as asking and auction values changed marginally from June, according to Sandhills Global’s Aug. 6 report on used-equipment trends.  

Used heavy-duty equipment  

• Inventory fell 7.7% year over year and 0.7% month over month, driven by an 11.1% YoY drop in used crawler excavator inventory; 
• Asking values declined 3.1% YoY and 0.3% MoM; and 
• Auction values were down 0.6% YoY and 1.5% MoM. 

Used medium-duty equipment 

• Inventory decreased 9.5% YoY and 1% MoM, with the used mini-excavator category seeing the largest YoY decline at 19.9%. 
• Asking values fell 0.3% YoY, but rose 0.02% MoM; and 
• Auction values rose 2% YoY, but dropped 0.8% MoM. 

Used aerial lifts 

• Inventory increased 4.1% YoY and 2.1% MoM; 
• Asking values were down 5.6% YoY and 0.5% MoM; and 
• Auction values dipped 2.9% YoY and 0.6% MoM. 

Lenders capitalize on strong construction activity 

While dealers’ growing rental fleets may be cutting into retail sales, large infrastructure projects still offer financing opportunities in the used market, John Gougeon, president of Ann Arbor, Mich.-based UniFi Equipment Finance, told EFN. 

“Being in Ann Arbor, Mich., our governor promised to fix the damn roads, and she’s fixing the damn roads,” he said. “I can’t drive anywhere without seeing scrapers and wheel loaders. There’s equipment all over the place. … I think that there’s sufficient work out there. There are shovel-ready projects that are taking off every day.” 

And despite high input costs, tariffs and other economic challenges, lenders are seeing a “steady application flow” for a range of equipment types and prices, including larger-ticket items, Jody Ray, relationship manager at BMO Bank North America, told EFN. 

“We’ve recently completed a $1.45 million dollar loan for a single, family-owned operation,” he said. “So, the demand we see ranges greatly from the single-operator irrigation company buying a trencher to businesses providing large-scale infrastructure construction needing a Warlock W12 Vac Truck.” 

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