Toro Australia notes rise in demand for used turf care equipment

Small regional golf courses, rural councils and amateur sporting bodies are increasingly turning to Toro Australia for good quality used turf care equipment to stretch already tight budgets.

Toro Australia Business Manager Laurence Bingham has seen the market for second- hand and used Toro turf equipment become increasingly popular in recent years.

Bingham explains "it's a market that's always been solid, but because of the current tight economic times, we are finding there is more demand for good quality machines that may have been traded in.

"We inspect all machinery we get as a trade-in or that is returned to us at the end of a contract or lease period and decide whether they are suitable for the second-hand market.

"Some machinery will be upgraded, some of it serviced and some offered to the market as received.

"For smaller golf courses, councils and sporting organisations, buying good quality used machinery that meets their requirements can provide significant savings over new equipment."

A recent purchase by Greg and Annie Carter, owners of the Cockatoo Rise War Veterans Retreat near Bairnsdale in regional Victoria serves as an example of this trend.

Greg is a Vietnam veteran and with his wife Annie has developed an 18-hole golf course on the 50 acre property, making it available to fellow war veterans and their partners.

They recently purchased a second-hand Toro Groundsmaster 3280 ride-on mower to replace a tractor-pulled mower they had been using to keep the fairways and greens under control.

Greg Carter explains "it's enabled me to cut mowing time down from just over three days to around a day, while the zero turn capabilities means it's far easier to mow around trees.

Having planted more than 1400 trees along the fairways, Greg Carter adds that the course

"had reached the stage where we required better equipment to maintain and prove the course."

As a result, the Carters spoke to their local Toro representative, Dean Hill, who Greg Carter explains "kept an eye out for a suitable second hand machine which he was able to provide at a significantly reduced price."

Hill found a Toro Groundsmaster that had been used on a metropolitan golf course, had been traded in by a contractor on a new machine and was perfect for what the Carters required.

Hill recalls "I had previously spoken to Greg and seen the course and had a pretty good idea of what was needed.

"We did a bit of work on the machine that was traded in and tidied it up a bit, before selling it to them."

Hill confirmed the growth in the second-hand market was growing having provided many small country courses with the opportunity to purchase metropolitan course quality machines at significantly reduced cost.

Click here to contact Toro Australia via their entry in the Australasian Leisure Management Supplier Directory.

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