ForestryFinance

Will call you tomorrow Saul. I can explain the balloon vs no balloon etc and we can figure out what’s best

I know a lot of the lenders I deal with have a minimum advance of £5k, but I also have plenty that have no minimum. What you might find though is that rather than coming up against minimum advances, your budget will mean you are looking at older vehicles, and then you will struggle to get anyone to lend due to the age of the asset. For cars etc for example a lot will say no older than 10 at end of term. Contract hire was mentioned above, but I would strongly recommend you avoid that, as it’s not as easy to exit as with an HP deal. Also Close Asset Finance mentioned above they have recently tightened up their underwriting so less likely to look at bad credit. Although not sure how bad you’re meaning... Asset finance tends to assess credit a bit differently, so you might be ok. I’m a broker - would be happy to have a chat and look at your options if you like?

Yep, I'm a little biased, and of course I base residual values on what is for sale rather than what I've ever been offered on trade in (I've never bought or traded one in myself). There are clearly flaws with this approach as was pointed out somewhere above because of the way Redwood treat their trade-ins. Residual value comment aside, they're good chippers for a lot of reasons. I think they are more popular up North of the border here which again will affect my perception. Everyone has a brand they like, and for varying reasons. Having never chipped a branch in my life, I like Forst. When it comes to forestry I love Ponsse, even though I've never cut down a tree either... I think this forum is a little bit anti-Forst, perhaps partly because there's no Forst people here and there's TW and a Greenmech dealer, so I guess I just want to fly the flag for a brand I care about. Anyway, it turned out to be totally irrelevant to the conversation here as they are probably in the small chippers bracket currently, but we've all had fun regardless.

Ah ok - 10" I would probably say Bandit also....

Yes, but I'm sure we were talking about 8" machines above somewhere?

Fair enough, I do only really deal with Forst dealers so that will skew my perception of it, however what you mention about trading in a Forst with a Forst dealer, the same could be said about almost every other brand. You will get stronger money on a TW from a TW dealer, Jensen from a Jensen dealer.... Especially TP actually...not sure I know anyone who would take back one of them.

The internet knows everything. I would be surprised if any of the chippers quoted as "sub-750" were actually that when they have a bellyfull of oil and a tankfull of fuel. What the internet or even the operator manuals says won't do you much good when you get waved on to the weighbridge. As someone above has said, just do the test!

I would throw Forst in as an alternative. They are incredibly capable - ST8 if you're wanting tow-behind. If you're buying new, they're amazing in terms of warranty and support. They also hold residual value unlike any other.

Very sketchy use of the word "professional" here...

Too right they are! Yours look great.

I've had a shot of the Cast loaders as I know a dealer up here. They're brilliant, and pretty well priced as well I would say.

Stu since you're in sunny Scotland, I know all the dealers who will supply various types of chippers to you. You said "unfortunately" its going on finance - what's so bad about that? Have you had a bad experience somewhere? For the brand of chippers that I know most about, a lot of value is retained in the first few years, and I regularly have the conversation with people that instead of looking at a 2 year old machine, its really not that much extra to get one new. Then you get the 3 years parts and labour warranty, and if bringing it in and then collecting is a problem, then I know the dealer I work with do on-site repairs a lot where appropriate. Might be worth you and I having a chat and I can give you an idea of figures for monthly payments etc?

Mascus is pretty good, and will get a bit of visibility. Can you send me info of all the kit they are looking to sell? I can see if I can match it with buyers. Send me a PM

Would love to see one in action - what are the chances of making that a reality....?

I do love some of the big bandits, especially the Beast range. I think your stand was just at the other side of mine over the back at the expo recently and I must admit I stared quite longingly as some of the machines on it

Not a lot of experience with the PTO chippers personally but I know you will definitely struggle to find a used one. I don't think even Forst have a used one on site at Andover. Any reason why you're set on used? Just the price? Certainly on the ST and TR chippers the difference in price between new and used isn't massive, they really hold value well in the first few years so would you think about going for a new one? That way you can get a demo and see what its really like, and you will also get the full warranty etc and like someone has said above, Forst aftercare is second to none. Some do seem to have issues, but they are taken care of.

£250 to be sure of 3 whole years of warranty (parts and labour)? Bargain

We've really derailed this thread now, but this is getting very interesting now. I had always known that the 10%+2 theory was based on inaccuracy of car speedometers, but I also thought that as technology had improved this would change, and really the grace was to allow for inaccuracy of actually reading the needle on the dial (affected by the angle you look at it etc), as well as differences due to wheel size, tyre pressures etc. BUT THEN, just the other day I caught 5 minutes of a show on some terrible TV channel called Cop Car Workshop. It caught my interest as they were dealing with a couple of BMW motorbikes to be converted into police bikes. They mentioned that apparently the first thing they do is send the console/dash unit straight back to BMW to get calibrated, as it comes out the factory, from new, about 5mph out! I was gobsmacked, especially as it is like most bikes nowadays, a digital readout of numbers, rather than a needle on a dial. Bonkers that it comes out of the factory like that, and they know it does.

Yes true. The same TC has also given me a lot of useful insider info about the average speed cameras which blight the motorway that goes up past me. I've always had a level of immunity as I tend to only speed when I'm on the motorbikes, which are immune to most of the average cameras up here, but I did always wonder about the dual carriage way A9 which is on national speed limit, and if I was at risk from driving a commercial vehicle on it. My TC informant told me though that the drain on the PNC in identifying which vehicles were commercial and which were not would be unsustainable, and so the 70mph limit is applied to all. In actual fact, a more important nugget that let slip during that conversation is that as well as the cameras giving 10% grace and then some, they are only ever switched on at maybe 1 or 2 sections at a time (a section being 2 cameras), as the administrative burden to having the full A9 switched on at all times would be more than the police can handle. Importantly, the police themselves see these cameras as a deterrent, not an enforcement tool, and I would say they do work like that, just because people can't really get their heads around how they work and it takes way less thought to just drive at 68 and be done with it. Annoying if you're trying to stick at 99 on the bike though...

Even the traffic cops don't know the rules about pickups. I have a good mate who is a TC and I was following him somewhere one day in my Ranger. I made a joke with him about how he was going 70 all the way and he had no clue. He thought it was a "mixed use" vehicle or a standard car, by no means did he reckon it should be strictly commercial speed limits.

Good choice Jamie, great motor.

I've not heard many good things about the new 2 litre twin turbo Ranger. I have the 3.2 litre one and its magic. I love everything about it.

That looks class! Although I would say a lot of people use a pickup here as a “mixed use” vehicle or as their every day vehicle and might not want their family-type car to look as worky as that. Still I reckon it could work here, but need to just really carefully think through how you market and promote it to make sure you hit the right type of buyer

I know a local company - I will make some enquiries and PM you if I can get anywhere?

Haven't used one myself, but I've dealt with few of them over the years. Are you looking at buying one, or hiring one with an operator for this job? For either option, I have clients near enough to you that could give you a hand.