Yes.. that is true to a degree, Rich but that doesn't make it a machine to shy away from. Really top notch rental companies take very good care of their equipment. They expect it to come back clean if it it doesn't, they charge a fee to clean it. In addition, the shop is required to check the machine over very carefully for any damage and repair that damage before it goes out again. They are also scrupulous when it comes to servicing.
Rental shops must have their equipment in top shape at all times because customers don't tolerate equipment failures. When you rent, you pay top buck for the use of that equipment and you have every right to expect it to do the job it was intended to do and not fail on you.
Quite often, you can get some really excellent pieces of equipment from rental shops because they turn their stuff over fast while it still has good residual value. Now... there are exceptions to the rule but the chain stores all follow a formula set down by head office. They buy at a special price, recover that amount very fast through rentals and then flip the item so they can buy a new one. Mom and Pop stores will often keep an item until it breaks down too often but they don't get much for it because Buyers can see that it's been beat to death. This machine looks good but photos do lie.
If anyone is in need of a loader/hoe, this one would cost you $22,000.00 in the money of today if you could buy one but you can't these have not been made since the old Ingersoll declared Chapter 11 in 2004 and they were $18,000.00 plus at that time.
Besides, we all know that it's hard to kill one of these due to the reliefs that are watching all of the hydraulic circuits. What's mostly at issue here is slop in the bushings in the hoe and loader. If you operate both ends of the machine, any slop will be apparent.
