How to buy a garbage truck: rear or side loading, body capacity
What the garbage truck is for and which system suits
Garbage trucks are bought by municipal bodies, housing societies and private waste collection companies. The jobs differ: in dense housing and narrow lanes you need a compact machine, in residential streets one that works quickly from door to door, and for container points another loading scheme. So start with the route and the type of containers, not the brand.
The main types of loading:
- Rear loading with a compactor is the most common. It is universal and suits both bins and bags.
- Side loading is for large containers; the driver often works alone thanks to a manipulator arm.
- Front loading is for large industrial containers.
- Multilift (removable containers with an open body) is for bulky waste and construction debris.
What affects the price
- Body capacity: from a few to about twenty cubic metres. A bigger volume costs more and weighs more.
- Chassis: domestic or imported makes. The make decides spares and fuel consumption.
- Condition of the body unit: the compactor plate, hydraulic cylinders, container lifter, wear on the body walls. This is often more important than the mileage of the chassis.
- Year and mileage of the chassis itself, and its emission standard.
- Owners sometimes sell the chassis and the body separately. Check what exactly is in the offer.
What to put in your request
- buy or hire;
- type of loading — rear, side, front;
- body capacity, for example 16 m³;
- chassis — a make or several acceptable ones;
- condition, year, mileage;
- city — for viewing and delivery;
- budget, if you want to state it.
Example: “I want to buy a used rear-loading garbage truck, 16 m³ body, not older than 2010, up to 350,000 km, running. Wellington, budget up to $100,000. I need photos of the compactor and a video of the container lift.”
How to compare offers and what to avoid
A typical mistake is to look only at the chassis mileage and later find that the compactor and hydraulics have almost no life left. Another is to take too big a body for narrow lanes where the truck cannot turn. People also forget the climate: ask about rust on the body and floor, which wet waste and the rainy season make worse.
Judge the chassis and the waste body separately. Ask for photos and a video of the compactor working, the state of the floor of the body, the hydraulic cylinders, and no leaks. Ask whether there are registration papers, whether the machine has passed inspection and who made the body (spares depend on it). It is normal practice to go and see the machine working, especially if the sum is large.
Also ask about the cost of delivery if the machine is in another state, and about the time needed for the paperwork. Do not pay for a machine until you have seen it and the papers.
How BlaBlaPrice helps
Specialised machinery is hard to find in one search result. You write one request, and sellers reply in the chat with photos, a price and terms. The system compares the offers and shows the best one first, so sellers compete for your request. Contacts stay hidden until you choose, and it is free for the buyer.
For other municipal work, look at municipal vehicles, and for carrying waste and construction debris, tipper trucks.
