Sponsored: German (re-)engineering - Quality to rely on

21 December 2016


Liebherr has sold used cranes since 1974, with the business established as its own department in 1980. It has sold almost 10,000 cranes in 42 years, and offers customers around the world a way to find the used crane they want, backed up by the support of one of the world’s most respected manufacturers. Used cranes have a long history within the mobile crane business of Liebherr.

The department was first founded in 1980, but the company had sold used cranes since 1974. By the end of 2015, the company had sold 9,500 used cranes, and is on track to have sold 10,000 by end of 2017. Total turnover of the used crane business since its inception is €2.5bn Used cranes are all sold through the Liebherr mobile cranes headquarters in Ehingen. The business also works through branches in Spain, the UK and USA, as well as other sites around the world.

In Ehingen, Liebherr has its manufacturing plant for mobile cranes, including all terrains, its new rough terrains, and larger crawler. Alongside this is the workshop for the repair, inspection and painting of used cranes, as well as the sales team for the used crane department. The company invested in a 2,500m2 hall for used cranes in 1983. The company wanted to offer not only a used crane, like a dealer does in the condition it came in, but ‘as new’ cranes, with inspection, repairs, repainting and owner branding, and even a warranty if the buyer wants.

Liebherr handles new and used mobile crane sales around the world from Ehingen, along with its international sales staff and partners.

The same sales people talk to customers, whether it is a new or used crane.

At Ehingen, Liebherr has a team of technical specialists to inspect used cranes and also specialists to assess their value, with a clear view of their market price and in close collaboration with the new crane departments. Very often, the buyers of new cranes are the same people who are selling used cranes.

Liebherr Used Cranes has two more branches in Germany, near Berlin and near Cologne, complemented by repair and inspection facilities for used canes in Spain, the USA, UK, France, Brazil and Australia.

Most used cranes come into Germany from sellers close by in Europe. As the European market is saturated, when customer buy a new crane, they often want to sell their old one. Over the last year though, the company has seen cranes traded in from further away, including some large mobile cranes from China and a large crawler from Russia. As a large organisation, Liebherr can take back even the biggest cranes from around the world and sell them internationally.

Liebherr Used Cranes helps buyers minimise risk. With a dealer or auction house, buyers get the crane as it is. The company values its reputation for quality, so makes a detailed inspection, and will repair any safety critical parts. It will advise on any other components, and when they might need repairing. In a world where cranes are sometimes offered for sale fraudulently, customers know that Liebherr owns the cranes it sells.

Sellers know that they will get paid immediately. Where dealers might make an offer but pay later, Liebherr takes all its used cranes as trade-ins.

The deal is made immediately, the seller gets their money immediately, and everyone has security.

Five years ago, it was rare for Liebherr to see big used cranes. But, with changing markets around the world, and demand moving long distances from, for example, Australia to the USA, many customer now choose to sell these bigger machines back to Liebherr rather than trying to find a buyer themselves.

Today, Liebherr Used Cranes offers almost every size and age of crawlers or wheeled mobiles. Where used crane buyers would once have had to go to a dealer, they can now go direct to Liebherr.