A structured interview that exposes most of the risk in a used forestry machine before an inspection is even booked.
Use it: On first contact with any used-machine seller.
These twenty questions can be asked on the phone before an inspection is booked, and they will filter out most of the risk before anyone travels.
The value is not in any single answer. It is in the pattern: a seller with good records answers quickly and specifically, and one without will generalise, deflect or reframe. Both are useful information.
Question twenty is the one that matters most. A seller who will not allow the machine to be tested under load has answered every other question at once, and no amount of documentation compensates for it.
0 of 20 complete
Ask every one
Interpreting the answers
What a good answer looks like
Ticking a box is not the same as being satisfied with the answer. These are the lines where the response itself tells you something.
What you asked
A good answer
A answer that should worry you
Why is it being sold?
A specific, checkable reason — fleet renewal, contract ended, business changing direction.
Vagueness, or a reason that does not fit the machine's age and hours.
What production was it doing?
Species, stem size, terrain and annual hours, given readily.
Unable to say. A machine whose work history is unknown has a wear profile that is also unknown.
Records for rebuilds and replacements
Dates, invoices and who did the work.
"It was done a while back." Undocumented major work is the same as no major work when valuing the machine.
Can it be tested under load?
Yes, in material comparable to your own.
Any hesitation. This is the question that ends inspections.
Working through it
How to use this checklist
Ask all twenty on first contact, before arranging travel
Write the answers down — inconsistencies between phone and inspection are informative
Verify the checkable ones against the machine's own records during inspection
Treat missing records as a price adjustment, not a minor administrative gap
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Should I ask these questions even for a dealer-sold machine?
Yes. A dealer may have better records than a private seller, but the machine's history is still the machine's history. Dealers also frequently sell trade-ins whose working life they did not witness, so "dealer-sold" is a statement about the transaction rather than about the equipment.
What if the seller has no service records at all?
Treat it as a price adjustment rather than a deal-breaker, provided you can test thoroughly. Undocumented maintenance and no maintenance are indistinguishable at the point of sale, so value the machine as though the latter is true and inspect accordingly — particularly the hydraulic tests, which reveal condition that records would otherwise have told you.
Is a high-hour machine always a bad buy?
No. A well-maintained machine at 12,000 hours with documented engine, pump, boom, rotator and head rebuilds can have more economic life remaining than a neglected machine at 6,000. Hours describe usage, not condition, and this list exists to establish the difference.
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