Fire Truck Selling Tips

    If you are selling your used fire truck, wish to get the best market value price for it, and sell it quickly (some time between today and 90 days), there are a few key considerations.

    1.    Clean up your used fire truck "Parade Pretty". - This speaks for itself.

    2.    Take the best photos you can. - Providing good quality photos is important, if you wish to quickly sell your used pumper.

          Some of the suggested photos are:
          1.   Front
             2.   Full Driver's Side - Most important photo!
             3.   Pump Panel
             4.   Rear
             5.   Passenger Side
             6.   Cab Seats/Dash
             7.   SCBA Seats
             8.  Any special equipment or features

    3.    Consider Your Selling Price. - If you wish to quickly sell your used fire truck, or it hasn't sold in over 30 days, do not over price it.  Too often departments ask too much for their apparatus (or a broker has inflated the price/profits), to then only find after a year that they have paid far more in insurance, maintenance, and storage costs than had they asked the amount of these costs alone less than their inflated/over-priced published asking price.  Contact us at 407-615-6436 to give us information regarding the used fire truck you have for sale for what may be the fair market value.

    4.    Organize and provide as much information as you can. - Have things ready such as maintenance logs, repair logs, service manuals, apparatus condition disclosure sheet, and any other documentation you may have to show the care, quality, and condition of your used fire truck.

    5.    Select someone who has a high search engine ranking for used fire truck sales to list your truck for sale. - At the VFD-Fire Group we have many top search engine ranking web sites, receiving a lot of visitors looking to purchase a used or new fire truck.

    6.    Don't list your used fire truck with someone who has a large inventory, if not hundreds of fire truck listings on their web sites in magazine ads. - There are those who have large numbers of fire trucks in their inventory and although they may boast how many fire trucks they have listed, what they are really saying is they have a huge number of fire trucks they cannot sell or do not know how to sell.  Do you really want to add your used fire truck to the large list of apparatus that has not sold in a year or more?  Some may be out of date listings, but regardless that last thing you want/need is to have your truck lost in a large inventory.

    7.    Do not spend more money on commissions and fees than may be necessary. - If someone is charging you any fee above five percent (5%), you are paying too much.  Certainly if they say there are no forms or paperwork and all they wish to do for a high fee/commission is give you a name and phone number, because selling a used fire truck does involve the need for paperwork and contracts for insurance, ISO, and many other legal reasons. 

          To say there is no paperwork or contracts in the process of selling a fire truck is a bit less than honest, or is the proclamation by someone who really doesn't know anything about fire trucks or selling fire trucks.  If your marketing agreement provides for more than a 5% commission to the broker/dealer, get that in writing in a contract.  Without a marketing agreement, you do not and should not pay any broker fees, commissions, or costs.  There may be a reason such a broker/dealer does not want to have a paper trail leading back to or involving them.

    8.    Select someone who will assist you and the buyer in the processing of acquiring your used fire truck. - Fire departments don't sell or buy fire trucks every day.  At the VFD-Fire Group, we do.  Let us help you make this process easy, quick and comfortable for you and the buyer; using our processes and our forms.

   9.    Select someone who has internal financing options and assistance for your buyer. - Fire truck brokers and dealers, who use 3rd. party financing sources add another layer of confusion and costs for both sellers and buyers.  Too often the financing deal is not a deal at all.  Avoid at all costs those who say "no paperwork" for fire truck sales and only "one page application" financing.

    10.    What is the best and fastest way to sell a used fire truck?  For more information, please look at all of our information and PowerPoint presentations/slide-shows, or call us at 407-615-6436 to explain the process to you, help you determine the fair market value of your used fire truck, to answer any questions, and to begin the process of quickly selling your used fire truck.