How to avoid these types of machinery scams abroad

The acquisition of used machinery is usually an excellent decision as long as the purchase is based on an affordable price, documentation in order, collation of data, and carrying out the pertinent revisions to the equipment, thus ensuring total integrity in components.

The case that we will show in this post is that of an excavator acquired in the Asian Market from a machinery supplier advertised on NON-SPECIALIZED portals with a Doubtful reputation, and subsequently imported to Mexico and which complied with documentation, review and a good price but whose outcome was in a scam.

The company that acquired the excavator provided all relevant information to Gotoyard to prevent other users who wish to purchase equipment from falling for the increasingly sophisticated scams that are performing in the international machinery market.

Initially, the dealer announced a Caterpillar 320D excavator with the year of manufacture 2010 that was reviewed in person by an external agent hired in the country where the equipment was, and once the payment and import process, the following abnormalities have occurred:

• • Replacement of the equipment with a different model than the one announced by the dealer.
• • External and internal damage to the equipment not covered by the report during the review.
• • Total modification of product identification numbers to match those set out in the documentation.
• • Partial alteration of external components of the excavator.
• • Partial alteration of the excavator’s internal components.

These abnormalities were found once the machinery arrived at the company’s workshop, and after an exhaustive review of components such as the engine, hydraulic pump, exteriors, diagnostic review with software, etc. It was determined that the excavator received was treated like a 320C model that is a generation past the expected 320D and 6 years older.

The data is in the following table:

The equipment, having severe damage, required investment for repairs to rehabilitate its use and to validate the property documentation. Remaining as a summary of the following:

There are suppliers of used machinery with a small reputation or of recent incursion in the market that work legitimately and that offer low prices, is advisable to be cautious when hiring inspection services, intermediation, and especially verifying all the data of the company that sells equipment.

The company that acquired this excavator was able to cushion the losses once it repaired the equipment by putting it up for rent.

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