What to do with that tired old truck

In response to the economic instability, many companies have held onto a slowly depreciating asset for far too long, their forklift. After years of service your forklift may have passed its economic life, but you cannot simply put it in the bin.

A forklift’s economic life ends when the cost to operate your machine is higher than the value it offers. However, there are many factors to consider including hours of operation, maintenance costs to productivity and utilisation rates.

For now, let us say you have decided it is time for forklift retirement, now what do you do with that old truck?

Reassign it.

In some circumstances, it can pay to reassign a truck to a less demanding job

It will cost more per hour to operate than a new one, but it may still be cost-effective for applications or facilities requiring fewer hours. A successful redeployment requires that the truck meets certain cost, safety and reliability criteria.

Keep it as a spare.

When a truck has become too expensive to operate on a regular basis but is still on a depreciation schedule, it might make sense to keep it as spare equipment—something every facility needs. For instance, an older truck could fill in when a newer one is down for maintenance. If you regularly experience seasonal or short-term spikes in volume, it may be more cost-effective to keep a well-maintained retired truck on hand instead of renting an extra one for those periods.

And if you have a good-sized fleet, you might even consider keeping an old forklift for spare parts as there are times when the parts might be worth more than the truck’s resale value, plus you save time if you don’t have to wait for next-day parts delivery.

Trade it in.

Dealers often like to get used lift trucks to fix up and sell as reconditioned vehicles. Any trade-in should be young enough—10,000 hours or less—to retain its resale value, though, otherwise, you won’t get much for it.