This graph illustrates the average total usage for each equipment type along a 20 year lifecycle
Key Takeaways for Decision Makers
CONTRACTOR / FINANCE / INSURANCE: It is critical to compare an asset’s lifetime usage to a benchmark for comparably aged machines when assessing its value. One should be wary of purchasing or owning an asset that has reached a plateau level of usage for its equipment type.
An analysis of over 1.45 million unique sales records provides a market-driven benchmark of typical usage rates over an asset’s lifecycle. This analysis demonstrates significant differences in the usage lifecycles of different equipment types; Loader-Backhoes and Telehandlers are the most heavily used equipment types in the sample, with annual usage of around 300 hours, while scissor lifts are the least commonly used, less than 100 hours/year on average. Aerial Work Platforms, particularly Articulating Boom and Scissor Lifts, seem both to have less total lifetime usage and to reach a plateau at an earlier age than other equipment types. In fact, though there were more Scissor Lifts in the sample than any other equipment type, there were very few listings for machines over 15 years old and only one with an age of 20.
In the graph below you can see the average annual usage by equipment type recorded in the market for the past three years.
This graph displays the results of linear regressions estimating the average annual usage of each equipment type based on year of sale.