RTV 500 or Mule 610?

[Gary Fowler]

I think so too, however lots of folks only like to buy new and get the warranty etc. That in itself is not a bad idea till you look at what you get. Practically speaking, 99% of the time, new items only require minor repairs or adjustment and these are taken care of by the original owner. I would much rather buy a used machine with a couple hundred hours on it if it looks clean and maintenance records look good. Chances are that the first owner went thru all the headaches of returning it already for minor issues and adjustments and you are ready to enjoy the fruits of his labors and pains for a substantially less investment. Having a warranty doesnt mean cost free anyway, you still have to transport the machine to the dealer at your cost OR pay them. My brother in laws brand new NH boomer had to go back 3 times in the first year for repairs and each trip cost him $200 transport. The first one was just a broken weld on a linkage, maybe a $5 fix for the dealer but they made $200 for pick up and delivery and my BIL was out of a tractor for a couple of weeks while it was being fixed. Low hours machines will have these type items already fixed and you can just enjoy them.
SOMETIMES you even get lucky like MR. Blackplague and get one for a song that the "transmission was bad" and it turned out to be a collasped HST filter was about all that was wrong. I guess he also replaced a couple of brass swash plates for $200 and ended up with a low hour fairly new machine for $3200. Not bad but he could have been out more so you never know.

 

[DIXIEDOG]

Some times used works great, sometimes not so much. Alot of folks buy new with full intention of trading the unit in every year or two.....they use them hard and do zero maintenance. You've got to be careful buying used sometimes, with a new unit you know how it was broken in and what it was used for. If you were the unlucky individual that got one of the utvs that the power or gas companies traded in it might be about done with a few hundred hours on it with the way they use stuff at times. :laughing:

 

[Gary Fowler]

I would never buy a used anything from a company. They use them up and then sell them, whatever "them" happens to be. Most companies are like that, very little maintenance, they just wait till it breaks then fix it or sell it if it is too expensive to fix. You can however find individuals with ATV, RTV, Motorcycles that buy them with great expectations of use that never really materialize and the machines mostly set around being polished and accessorized till they one day find another hobby to occupy their time, then they sell the one toy and get something else. Those are the bargains to look for. I have seen motorcycles with 50 miles on them for sale. Buyer rode them home and never got on them again for various reasons like wife, maybe a close call to an accident and they may set for a year or more with the owner maybe running them a few minutes a month just to keep the battery charged etc. before finally realizing that they really will never use them. THEN you can get a deal. If they visually look ragged out, then they probably are mechanically used up too.