Opinions on picking up Hilti TE-905 from rental yard

[NJjarhead]

So I was checking the cost of renting a mid sized demo hammer while picking up some small items from HD last night when the associate mentioned they would be selling their rental 905 for about $500, or the equivalent of 2 weeks rental (I was going to rent it for a week).

Before I jump on this i wanted to see what you gents thought of the idea. I did fire it up and break up the floor a little to make sure it worked, and none of the trouble or service lights came on. It does look like it has been used, and used hard, but I figure that is what a demo hammer is for and Hilti should hold up better than most.

Brand new it retails for about $1500, but I can also pickup the newer Dewalt about the same size for about $750.

I'm at a loss as how to proceed, any opinions about that machine or the situation in general are greatly appreciated.

Barry

[Lavrans]

Find out how old it is, see if you can see the service records.
You might call Hilti to find out the service life of those hammers.

Then- if you do buy the hammer, make sure they contact Hilti to change ownership of the machine into your name. Hilti references the serial number to the registered owner. If you send it in for repair without changing the name of the registered owner, they will send the tool back to the original owner at the address they have on record.

[Hoover]

As suggested, check out the record of the tool. Since you were going to rent it for a week anyways, I would talk to the store and do a week rental but see if after a day or two you can just switch that amount over to buying it.

[MarkMc]

My few experiences with HD rental have been ok, but then the tools were all almost brand new. The service guys were not terribly well equipped to go beyond wiping stuff off, though they may well have been serviced by outside contractors. Unless they are eliminating that product from their line up, then two things pop to mind; their cost/risk shows it to be retirement time and/or they have used up all tax advantage in owning, neither of which they're gonna share with you. Value to you will be based on frequency of use and average cost of that first service if you send it out. Is it coming with assorted goodies?

[David Meiland]

I would try first to buy one from a private party. There is a ton of good gear on craigslist these days, stuff that is little used and very affordable. eBay is another source of quality tools, although you are not likely to see it in person first. A used rental tool would be my last choice unless it was something that was virtually unbreakable, like a screw jack or scaffolding or something.

[David Meiland]

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=hil...ilti&_osacat=0

[dave_k]

You know David I don't know if I would agree with you on that. The rental yards use their tools hard but they are well maintained. I bought a used Honda generator in 1993. It's still running. When I bought it the oil was clean and it was tuned to perfection. Some of the contractors that I've worked for don't do any maintenance on their small tools so something like a generator will have twice the wear on it with half the hours. I guess the thing is there is always risk involved when you buy something new. I got to know the owner of the rental yard I bought the genny from he said once a unit has paid for itself he's happy to let it go and he just buys a new one. He also said he wouldn't sell anyone a piece of crap because in any community that's bad business. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to talk to other private rental yards, provided you can find an honest guy..

When I worked for big GC's doing concrete we used Hilti chipping hammers. They're made to take a beating day in day out. We had those things going all day every day

[David Meiland]

I guess it depends on the rental outfit. What's the chance that HD is having their Hilti stuff maintained by a decent tech? Wouldn't it be more economical to drive it until it's close to breakdown and then sell it off? Since they own hundreds or thousands of them it's a good bet they know just about how far that is.

But I could be completely FOS. Happens all the time. Still, the only thing I would buy from the local rental place is used trench plate.

[Lavrans]

David- I'm betting Hilti does the service on all the Hilti products. They are pretty much set up for it, HD would have a Fleet contract with them so Hilti could keep tools rotating in and out. Hilti's got the shipping contracts in place.

[dave_k]

Originally Posted by David Meiland

I guess it depends on the rental outfit. What's the chance that HD is having their Hilti stuff maintained by a decent tech?

That I agree with. I wouldn't trust those guys. I rented a flooring nailer off them and some clueless git flooded the gud with WD 40 and it sprayed black goo all over my nice lime green paint job.

Originally Posted by David Meiland

Wouldn't it be more economical to drive it until it's close to breakdown and then sell it off?

Not if you sell someone a lemon and they never come back to your store. of course you have to be smart enough to realize the consequences.

Originally Posted by David Meiland

But I could be completely FOS.

Me too. I like to play devils advocate. If you would have argued the other way I'd likely change my view too.

[David Meiland]

Originally Posted by dave_k

Not if you sell someone a lemon and they never come back to your store. of course you have to be smart enough to realize the consequences.

You're pretty safe selling a lemon. It will at least work the first time the buyer uses it, after that when it breaks and he brings it back you can cast aspersions on him, and besides, you already have his money. Simply replace the broken item with another almost broken item and get the original fixed just enough to sell it again.

Do I have a future as a big box manager or what?

[dave_k]

Originally Posted by David Meiland

Do I have a future as a big box manager or what?

Good? Employee of the month good!!!

[David Meiland]

Excuse me, I have to go call the lumber supplier and have them pick up all these short molding scraps that people have been returning by the lineal foot. We only pay for footage that stays sold.

[NJjarhead]

Thanks for all the advice and the OT entertainment. Sometimes this place reminds me of a convention of ADD kids, and that sad part is I fit right in... :)

I stopped back in today to talk to the dept manager and he couldn't give me the S/N because of store policy and the label is missing off the machine so I'm out of luck with contact Hilti directly to find out the machines history.

I did ask him about flexibility on price and he agreed it should be lower than they were currently asking. He was waiting to hear back from someone higher up the phone chain on current depreciated value and that would be as low as he could sell it for. Only plus is that because they won't be carrying that model anymore I could get whatever bits he has on hand.

If the price comes down enough with a couple bits I'll pick it up. Either way I'll post back to let you know, hopefully with pics of the new/used toy.