Did I pay too much?

[davco1]

Went to a distributor here in Dallas today and bought a new Mercato4000 for $3350 and a used AP Ultra flex for $3000.

I'm kinda new to full sized machines but I feel like I did OK, not great but OK.

Tell me what you folks think.

[AZVendor]

You will pay your highest prices for machines from a distributor, but if you require new machines your only options are a distributor or directly from some manufacturers if you know exactly what you want.  You can often get financing from a distributor with a meaningful down payment. The distributor should give you at least a 90 day labor warranty and a factory 1 year on parts for new machines.  Some parts may have a longer warranty.  The value of the warranty is only as good as the distributor is in the sense of the quality of the repair techs they employ and the number of parts they stock, especially for the machine you bought. 

 

If you have the option of an AP distributor, I would look hard at what the AP distributor has as well and pit them against each other.  You may not have any other options for new machines in Dallas though.  Here in Phoenix there is no AP distributor anymore.  The new machine market is so bad that the guys here who do rep for manufacturers hardly have any inventory and have to order everything. 

[davco1]

AZ,

You seem to be one knowledgable player on here. How long have you been in the business and how many machines are you running?

[AZVendor]

Thanks for the kind words.  I've been in vending since 1985 when I started my vending company with 4 Choice Vend soda and 1 Fawn.  I built it up to 300 machines across 3 routes and then sold it in 2001.  I've been doing service and repair, used equipment sales and machine moving ever since.  I've been there and almost done everything.

[davco1]

Aha,

You've been repairing and dealing machines. That helps explain your uncanny knowledge about the machines!