Purchasing a Used Reefer Trailer
A reefer trailer, also known as a refrigerated trailer or reefer, is built with insulation and refrigeration abilities for transporting perishable or temperature-sensitive goods from one place to another. This includes things like produce, plants, pharmaceuticals, seafood and more.
Reefers are built to move or remove heat from the insulated box with the use of a reefer unit. Since reefers have the ability to collect and pump heat, they can be used to both heat and cool shipments of various items.
The most common manufactured reefer trailers in use today are Great Dane, Hyundai, Wabash, and Utility. These trailers can typically run with little to no issues for about 30,000 hours while maintaining a good condition as long as routine maintenance is performed on the unit. Taylor & Martin suggests that a good indicator of performance and reliability would be seen on a trailer that puts about 2,000 hours of work in per year.
This makes it a very smart decision for most buyers to purchase a used trailer. Many used reefers can come equipped with a new or newer reefer unit. This means that the buyer can purchase a newer reefer unit with all its benefits without the higher price tag.
It is also important to note that when you are looking to purchase a reefer, they age differently than a dry van would. When purchasing a used reefer, it is not as important to examine the cross members, but it is essential to look at the condition of the reefer unit as well as ensuring that the panels are in good condition or that the buyer is willing to replace parts that aren’t going to withstand the demands of the workloads it will be hauling.
From January of 2017 to present day, Taylor & Martin has sold a wide variety of nearly 7,500 reefer trailers at an average purchase price of $13,611. These reefers varied in size, hours on the unit, make, model and age.
The average purchase price of a Great Dane manufactured reefer trailer consigned to a Taylor & Martin auction in those years has been $12,315, with the average hours of the units reading 16,296.
The average purchase price of a Hyundai manufactured reefer trailer consigned to a Taylor & Martin auction in those years has been $14,346, with the average hours of the units reading 14,858.
The average purchase price of a Wabash manufactured reefer trailer consigned to a Taylor & Martin auction in those years has been $13,838, with the average hours of the units reading 14,055.
The average purchase price of a Utility manufactured reefer trailer consigned to a Taylor & Martin auction in those years has been $14,240, with the average hours of the units reading 14,975.
No matter what you’re searching the market for when it comes to reefers, Taylor & Martin is bound to have something to fit your needs and exceed your expectations.