Legit Rippa Dealers?

griesheimer · Jul 14, 2025

I'm in the market to purchase a new mini excavator with a few attachments. After much research, I have pretty much settled on the Rippa R18 PRO.
I'm having difficulty finding dealers whom I can trust. I live in southern Oregon, and the nearest Rippa dealers I can find are 3 in Washington, and 1 in California.
These are the WA dealers. My contact is Simon Ross. He represents himself as a principal in all 3 of the WA dealerships. Quoted prices seem OK, but the purchase protocol appears (to me, at least) to be a little sketchy. I'm supposed to send a down payment in the form of a certified check, together with a copy of my driver's license, before these guys will even send me a formal quote. I'm not used to doing business that way.
The California dealer is a designated dealership of JoyT5, which primarily operates out of Canada. This site shows the California dealership that I have not yet contacted. (I tried, but not very hard.) I have talked with Arkadiy Matviyenko, the owner. He appears very straight up, offered to help me purchase from his company's U.S. connection, but communication has been slow.
My usual "Is this company legit?" Google searches have not been particularly helpful. They waffle. Even the manufacturer websites get dinged as doubtful because they are registered (of course!) in China.
My question: Can anyone shed light, either pro or con, on any of these people? Do you have any ideas I haven't tried? I want to buy a Rippa R18 PRO, but I don't want to ship $20K to a scammer.
Please note that I emphatically am NOT accusing anybody of anything. I'm simply trying to protect my checkbook.
TIA for any assistance you might offer.

are the WA dealers

Chewwy · Jul 14, 2025

If it’s so sketchy to buy, imagine the problem getting service, parts, warranty work, etc.

flyerdan · Jul 14, 2025

Any outfit that wants a down payment for a quote needs to be avoided at all cost as that's a red flag as big as Texas.

Carl_NH · Jul 14, 2025

Robert Lee Ray in Albany GA gets good reviews as a solid dealer and they may be able to advise on a west coast dealer. Rippa Machinery Group | Albany GA Rippa also has warehouses across the country.

The R18 Pro is a machine that I like too, but the R22 is $3-4K more. Finally, you can buy direct from Rippa, and use Alibaba and save probably 15-20% vs through a dealer.

Either way, you need to part with $ before delivery, a dealer will want a % to order, then payment before delivery. Rippa will want similar, payment of like 1/3 at order, then balance at shipping. Also if you do buy direct, request DDP (delivered duty paid) to your door.

Carl_NH · Jul 14, 2025

Agreed - to ask for money for a quote, that's absurd.

Fishin-4-a-Livin · Monday at 9:41 AM

Having a good local dealer is my first priority when buying a piece of equipment.

I have learned that the hard way.

part-time-Farmer-NC · Tuesday at 10:30 AM

I HATE those facebook business presence sites. I don't have nor want a facebook account and when I go to a facebook link (like above) it shows about a 1/2 a page as I'm browsing and then I get another login page. I simply won't create a facebook account to look at businesses.

I was interested in the differences between the 18 and 22. That dealer isn't that far from me, I'd consider/would have considered using him.

That's just me...