I learned to inspect farm equipment the way most farm kids do — standing next to my father while he walked a used tractor and muttered about what the seller wasn’t saying. Eighteen years of professional appraisal later, the method hasn’t changed: check the machine in a fixed order, cold, and let the machine contradict the seller’s story if it wants to. Here is that order.
Before you visit: the paperwork screen
- Ask for the service records up front — a seller who has them sends them without fuss. A seller who stalls is telling you something.
- Confirm the ownership documents match the seller’s name, and that any loan or hypothecation on the machine is cleared before transfer.
- Get the serial number and check the year it actually corresponds to — "2019 model" sometimes means first registered in 2019, built earlier.
- Agree that you will see the machine cold-started. A pre-warmed engine at your arrival hides smoke, knock and hard-start problems.