Buying mini digger.

223vmax

I am a part time farmer without a VAT number. I'm planning on developing some rough ground next to my house to house fowl. I'm in the market for a mini digger to help with the clearing but most dealers + VAT. Can I use my PPS number so as not to pay VAT? Seems a bit strange that I'd have to be registered as a business and over income theshold to get proper business VAT number.....What do you lads do?

stock>

No PPS won't do as a vat number, two options you have are buy private and do a cash deal but watch the revenue as you wont be able to claim any write off.
Go legit pay the vat and deal with a dealer have warranty etc and as a farmer possibly have a right off for tax purposes.

Another option is to bring in a contractor, as all his take is a right off. Now depending on the size of the machine you want to buy then you would get a lot of work done for the cost of buying.
If you have a share of work look at an older 10-13ton digger. or dry hire one for the job...............

ramboraf

Do a lot of work with a handy 3 ton digger in the right hands.Can always sell it when youve finished with it so not much depreciation if its second hand.

Luckysasha

Make sure you get th right size machine for the job. Although 3 ton diggers might be plentiful it might be a bit small for developing land. I know I made a mistake a couple of years ago digging out an area at the side of the house to make a patio area. In the end there was nearly 300 ton of Earth came out and it was slow going with a 3 ton. I was getting a deal on hiring a 3 ton digger and dumper which is why I went with them but I know if I had a 12 ton machine in I would have done it in half the time and still cost the same. If your looking at buying then a 10 / 12 tonne will cost about the same as 3 ton. Would a 3cx be a better option for the fact it's a multi purpose machine and can be used for other jobs around the farm

ramboraf

3 ton machine easier to move and sell than a bigger machine.A 3cx is pretty useless doing side drains around a field,tracks is the winner over wheels

tipptom

looking for an old 3 ton myself,they seem to be something that didn't suffer in price during the recession and you will pay top dollar for a clean one.

ramboraf

Depends how new or old you want one and whether you can fix it up yourself.rubber tracks are pretty expensive to renew if they snap.