Hitachi 17u buying advice

[extremecapture]

Hi

New to the forum, so a big hello to you all.

Im from the UK, and about to look at purchasing a second hand mini excavator to take to France with me.

I have been offered a Hitachi 17u zaxis 2012 with 500 hours on the clock for £9000. It is totally genuine, bought from new by current owner, who has found that his work has progressed to larger projects and currently rents larger capacity machines.

If anybody could advise me as to whether this is a good price for a clean machine as such would be greatly appreciated, and also whether there are any issues with that particular machine that i should be looking out for.

Many many thanks in advance, i really want to make the right decision before i shell out any kind of money like that.

Regards

Paul :-)

[Muz]

Hi & welcome to the forum . The general rule of thumb is for a digger to be worth 50% of what it cost after 3 years. Some higher quality makes like Kubota will do better than that, but others dont. Hitachi make some very good products, very good indeed, Ive owned quite a few, although never this particular model, but they've also made some complete dogs .. such as the 3/4 tonner they used to have (unless it was a branded unit).

9k could buy you quite a lot right now, I gues you need to satisfy yourself that its going to be big enough. Plus i'm not really a fan of these ultra short tail machines, as the balance is so poor, and the digging ability gets compromised as such, however it should be a good reliable product that retains its value well

[extremecapture]

Hi & welcome to the forum . The general rule of thumb is for a digger to be worth 50% of what it cost after 3 years. Some higher quality makes like Kubota will do better than that, but others dont. Hitachi make some very good products, very good indeed, Ive owned quite a few, although never this particular model, but they've also made some complete dogs .. such as the 3/4 tonner they used to have (unless it was a branded unit).

9k could buy you quite a lot right now, I guess you need to satisfy yourself that its going to be big enough. Plus i'm not really a fan of these ultra short tail machines, as the balance is so poor, and the digging ability gets compromised as such, however it should be a good reliable product that retains its value well

Many thanks for the reply.

To be honest, the reason im interested in this excavator is really because it is so new and has low hours, and is being supplied by somebody we know(to a certain degree). In my in-experienced head this tells me that it should give me pretty trouble free use for a few years. My experience is very limited, and to be honest im getting very confused on what to look for after trolling through e-bay and plant trader for the last couple of months. In a ideal world, i would like a 2.5 t machine, which is the max i can tow with my vehicle which has a 3500kg towing capability. And my biggest worry is buying a dog, that is going to cost me a fortune once im in France. The purpose of the machine, is for some light groundworks on my property, but then with a vue to rent myself out as machine and driver on the odd occasion.

Thanks again

Paul :-)

[Muz]

Many thanks for the reply.

To be honest, the reason im interested in this excavator is really because it is so new and has low hours, and is being supplied by somebody we know(to a certain degree). In my in-experienced head this tells me that it should give me pretty trouble free use for a few years. My experience is very limited, and to be honest im getting very confused on what to look for after trolling through e-bay and plant trader for the last couple of months. In a ideal world, i would like a 2.5 t machine, which is the max i can tow with my vehicle which has a 3500kg towing capability. And my biggest worry is buying a dog, that is going to cost me a fortune once im in France. The purpose of the machine, is for some light groundworks on my property, but then with a vue to rent myself out as machine and driver on the odd occasion.

Thanks again

Paul :-)

Well one of things I like about Kubota is the parts are not silly money like Volvo for example and they have a European assembly plant, so you can 'get' the parts easily enough, one reason I stay away from the likes of Takeuchi is because their parts back up isnt the best ... but then .. your not likely to have to throw a spanner at that machine very often either. Hitachi in the UK is handled by HM Plant .. and I never had a problem getting parts, they weren't the cheapest though, but I didn't need much... Ive had FH130's EX60's and EX135's and they were all brilliant machines, with high resale values.

[Mike.raddin]

Hey Paul,

I saw this discussion and found exactly two mini excavators you guys are talking about up in auctions and as you want them to ship to France, these guys have shipping service through Uship.com.

Here are the two MINI excavatoras I am talking about

http://trademachines.com/1-mini-exca...33-u-3clr-sw-1

http://trademachines.com/mini-excava...ubota-kx-41-3v

Also have more of those from different manufacturers also here http://trademachines.com/excavators

Good luck with your buy!
Cheers!
Mike