Who makes the best forklifts or what forklift should I buy?

Well, that depends.

If you are buying a new forklift I would rate the quality of the lift at 50% and the reputation of the dealer at 50%. New forklifts come with a warranty which is only as good as the dealers’ technicians, parts availability and ability to fix it fast.

Today, forklifts as a whole are made well and are equally reliable in the first year of operation.

Toyota, Hyster, Doosan, Hyundai, Unicarriers and Caterpillar are proven brands that will give you good service for years. The dealers for these are typically larger, have better technicians, more parts inventory and are better organized to give great service.

Now, buying a used lift is quite a bit different. Typically the lower the hours the forklift has, will require less maintenance and have a longer life. LPG forklifts, if maintained properly, should last about 10,000 hours before major components wear out.

How important is price?

Of course it’s important, but you need a forklift you know will start and run when you need to offload a shipment from your supplier. In some cases, if the forklift is down, you are out of business for the day.

I can go on the internet and buy a new Chinese forklift for the price of a used one, isn’t that a good way to go?

As mentioned before, most new forklifts today are good quality. But all machines eventually break down. The achilles heel for all Chinese forklifts is parts availability. If a proprietary part fails that is only made by that manufacturer it could be months until you receive the part. That’s right, months.

Why buy a used forklift from Gunnar Forklift Sales?

We only sell solid established brands that are low hour forklifts.

Our reputation means everything. If you decide during the first 30 days of ownership that the forklift is not operating as promised, we will either refund your money or supply you a different forklift with a full credit towards the new lift.