Hour meter question

[Daddy M Dawg]

I recently purchased a used chipper from United Rentals. They recently replaced the engine, so the engine is new. My concern is the hour meter doesn't work on it. I don't like the idea of the chipper having a lot more hours than it states. Are there any rules governing equipment like the odometer on a car? My invoice states the hours on the machine which is false. Any recourse? Thanks for you replies.

 

[komatsuvarna]

Tennessee has no rules that i know of. Im surprised that it didnt work coming from united rentals. There is a few used equipment saleman in my area that are known for swaping out hour meters. They take a excavator with 5 to 8+ thousand hours on it, put a knew paint job on it and swap the hour meter to a lower reading one or put a new one in it, and bam, new machine! So they want you to think.

 

[Daddy M Dawg]

Thanks for your reply.

 

[gr8scott72]

You can search for an old post of mine about Harv's Sales. They sold me a Rayco 1625 grinder advertised as "Like new, under 100 hours". Come to find out, it was an old United Rentals unit that the last invoice they had on it, it had over 1,000 hours.

Harv repainted and put a new hour meter in it. Complete crook.


I don't think it's against the law to replace a meter as long as you are not misrepresenting the machine.

 

[steveJ]

Hourmeters

As an equipment dealer, we always advise our customers to be very skeptical of hourmeter readings unless they, or the dealer, are familiar with the service history of the machine. Beyond the occasional unethical tricks, hourmeters simply aren't reliable and are very prone to breakage.

For that reason, we never post an hourmeter reading on a unit unless we know with absolute certainty that it is the original hourmeter and it is functioning properly. Beyond that, the only way to judge a used machine is by Age, Condition, Specification and the reputation of the selling party.