In a candid conversation with Monitor, Scott Ribeiro and Tim Bowling lay out how tariffs, price shocks and technology are reshaping equipment purchasing, life cycle planning and secondary markets, one pragmatic decision at a time.
Tariffs and shifting trade policy have added new volatility to an already complex equipment market, and the ripple effects are unmistakable in how companies buy, maintain and dispose of assets. In a recent discussion with Monitor, Gordon Brothers’ Scott Ribeiro, who handles machinery and equipment dispositions, and Tim Bowling, who focuses on transportation and construction, described an industry resetting its assumptions. Their message to equipment finance leaders: embrace disciplined planning, broaden your options, communicate with data and expect the used market to carry more weight for the foreseeable future.
TARIFFS PUSH BUYERS TO HOLD LONGER — AND LOOK HARDER AT USED
According to Ribeiro, the immediate impact of tariffs has been straightforward: “Tariffs have made new equipment more expensive.” From there, the decision tree changes. “We’re seeing companies wanting to hold assets for longer, focusing on the maintenance of those assets,” he says. In the same breath, he notes a rising sophistication around end-of-life planning: “[Companies] are considering more the end value of that asset, where in the past, maybe they considered just a scrap value.”
That shift dovetails with a more open stance toward used equipment. As Ribeiro put it, “More companies are now considering used equipment versus strictly only new equipment.” He illustrated the point with a concrete example: at a recent Gordon Brothers auction, “a major automotive manufacturer” showed up to evaluate used equipment — an unusual move for an OEM whose default had long been to buy new.
Bowling sees the same recalibration across fleets. Companies are digging deeper into budgets and contracts and re-evaluating the balance between new and used on a project-by-project basis. Extending asset life is on the table more often, as organizations weigh “how those maintenance costs and extending the longevity of the equipment” compare with today’s new-equipment pricing.
THE COST OF OVERREACTING: SHORT-TERM THINKING, LONGTERM PAIN
Volatility has a way of prompting extreme moves. Ribeiro pointed to a familiar pattern: when fear spikes, some companies overbuy; when uncertainty drags, others shut their wallets. Neither approach ends well. “A major misstep is short-term thinking where you see companies either buying too much inventory or machines, or just not buying anything at all,” he says.
He drew a clear line from the pandemic to today: “We saw the same thing with COVID where you had companies building up inventory … and then, when the market normalized, they had huge inventories.” One liquidation we evaluated included “a million wheelbarrow wheels,” an emblem of how quickly an overbuild can turn into an anchor. The antidote, in Ribeiro’s view, is discipline: “Make your equipment purchases more rational … consider the cost of the equipment, the life cycle of the equipment, the current need and also the exit value of that machine.”
Bowling echoed that companies are “diving into the details much more now,” scrutinizing operations and analytics rather than buying on speculation. The result is fewer “1,500 assets now, figure it out later” bets and more decisions keyed to actual backlog, margins and utilization.
FLEXIBILITY RISES: LEASING, RENTING & PROJECT-BASED DECISIONS
Higher sticker prices naturally push buyers toward flexible models. “When equipment prices rise … you’re going to see more companies look to alternatives, whether it’s leasing or rentals,” Ribeiro says. The strategic goal: preserve the option to pivot if a machine underperforms, sits idle or becomes obsolete faster than expected.
Bowling says many organizations have moved from a blanket three-to five-year replacement rhythm to a “project-by-project” approach. Rentals, leases and other alternatives are in the mix, especially as operators fight “skinnier margins” and look for ways to manage P&L volatility without overcommitting capital.
SECONDARY MARKETS: PREMIUMS FOR LOW HOURS, PRESSURE ON THE HIGHMILEAGE TAIL
Tariffs don’t just push buyers toward used, they reshape pricing tiers inside the used market. Bowling says low-hour, low-mileage assets are commanding “a significant premium,” especially after OEMs pulled back production in recent years. He describes transportation specifically: there’s a “gluttony” of tractors in the 500,000- to 800,000-mile range, while 100,000- to 300,000-mile units fetch premium pricing compared with 18 months ago. Ribeiro agrees: “Late-model equipment is doing very well.”
The logic is straightforward: as companies hold assets longer, the pool of truly “lightly used” shrinks. Meanwhile, the cost of new remains elevated. That scarcity dynamic also shows up in procurement choices. Ribeiro recounted a sale for Nikola Motors that included “15 to 20 sets of vehicle column lifts that were late model and in great condition,” and says a dealer sought to buy them all because “the cost of a new set has risen due to tariffs.” The used market becomes a pressure valve — if you can find the right hours, condition and provenance.
DATA, DOCUMENTATION & PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE: PROOF DRIVES PRICE
Both experts stressed that maintenance data is now a core part of remarketing value. “Whenever we handle a liquidation sale, we always ask for maintenance records,” Ribeiro says. Preventive programs remain common, but he is seeing “more of the predictive maintenance … where they can detect problems before it occurs.” For a buyer, proof matters: “A buyer is going to pay a premium on any machine that you could show the actual usage … and have written record of that.”
Bowling agreed that the market rewards transparency: “The more information that you can provide to buyers in today’s day and age is only going to drive a premium value … [including] what region the unit has been working in [and] what type of application it was working in.” With buyers doing more homework, complete histories and clean documentation build confidence — and better bids.
RESHORING VS. REALITY: DIVERSIFY SOURCES, BUT DON’T COUNT ON DOMESTIC OVERNIGHT
Tariffs have prompted a fresh look at domestic sourcing, but constraints are stubborn. Bowling says companies are analyzing “where can I get my most bang for my buck, whether that be an import, or whether that be a domestic product,” and weighing added tariff costs by country of origin.
Ribeiro cautions that preference doesn’t equal availability. “A lot of companies want to reduce dependency on overseas supply chains, but in many cases they can’t,” he says. “Buyers may not always have a domestic option.” In his view, reshoring entire product lines can take many years, so change will be incremental, perhaps moving a particular product line to the U.S. rather than flipping a switch. Bowling added that as new tariffs arrive, citing the 50% section 232 steel tariff, buyers are scouting Europe, Australia and South America more diligently as alternatives to Asia.
BUILDING RESILIENCE: OPTIONALITY OVER ORTHODOXY
When asked how companies can build resilience into equipment life-cycle strategies, Ribeiro goes back to first principles: “Just by having options.” That means diversifying suppliers and staying ready to redeploy or sell underutilized machines. Bowling says he’s seeing more demand for “assets that are universal,” equipment that can flex across multiple projects instead of being locked to a single application. Flexibility isn’t just a financing structure; it’s a spec and deployment strategy.
On sector dynamics, Ribeiro flags distress where capital once flowed freely: “Industries that are heavily reliant on government grants or tax incentives” and those buoyed by waves of investment, such as alternative proteins, alternative energy vehicles or microbreweries, are now in shake-out mode as funding dries up. Bowling, on the transportation side, sees older firms exiting or being squeezed by bigger players chasing share while they wait for spot rates to firm. In this market, Bowling says the “premium right now is in the underutilized equipment that is low hour [and] low mileage,” while high-hour gear no longer has the buyer base it once did.
RETHINKING “FUTUREPROOF”: LONGER HOLDS, SMARTER FINANCING, BETTER MAINTENANCE
The classic buy-run-scrap model is fading. “The old model was you buy equipment, [hold] for 10, 15, 20 years, and at the end of that life cycle, you scrap it out,” Ribeiro says. Today, sellers should track used equipment values to decide whether it makes more sense to scrap an older machine or sell it. He also urges end users to explore more of the options, including leasing, rentals and flexible financing, so they’re not locked into expensive equipment.
Bowling expects fleet strategies to extend well past the three year cycle, as companies test whether with good preventative maintenance they can stretch to 600,000 or 700,000 miles rather than turning assets at 300,000 to 350,000 miles. The calculation hinges on maintenance capability and replacement cost — not habit.
Looking three to five years out, both anticipate longer holds and a bigger role for technology in preserving value. Ribeiro expects an increase in equipment values and activity in the used market and believes AI and predictive maintenance will help equipment last longer and have a higher resale value. Bowling adds that companies are investing in vendor relationships and in-house expertise, such as diesel mechanics, to extend life and offset the new costs, especially if tariffs escalate.
THE NEXT 12 MONTHS: PRICE DISCIPLINE AND REAL VALUATIONS
Pressed for one critical adjustment over the next year, Bowling urges leaders to stick to the math: “Look at the projects that they’re bidding on, ensure that they’ve got good healthy margins, account for [rising] costs and look at their budgets in a much more timely and efficient manner.”
Ribeiro focuses on valuation literacy. Too often, he says, decisions are anchored to accounting entries rather than market reality: “If you talk to the CFO, they’re talking about net book value, and that may not be the true value.” His advice is to get a clear understanding of asset values — current and future — to drive better end-of-useful-life choices. Bowling sees more firms hiring an outside appraiser or using data to forecast values by year and adjust remarketing timelines accordingly.
FINAL ADVICE: PLAN FOR WHAT YOU KNOW, STAY FLEXIBLE FOR WHAT YOU DON’T
Bowling encourages executives to start with what’s in front of them: “Look at what currently works today for the projects on hand and what solid contracts [you have] going into the future” before betting on potential pipeline.
Ribeiro returns to the theme of agility amid policy churn: “It could be shifting policies or long lead times, and I just think companies need to stay flexible.” That means considering “alternatives like leasing or rentals or different financing options,” factoring tariff exposure by destination and origin into decisions and always weighing “the scrap value [and] the exit value of that equipment at the end of its life cycle.”
If there’s a headline lesson for equipment finance leaders, it’s that resilience now lives in optionality — more ways to acquire, more ways to deploy, more ways to exit — and in the discipline to back choices with live data rather than habit or fear. As Ribeiro put it, tariffs have changed the math; the winners will change their playbooks accordingly.•
Rita E. Garwood is Editor in Chief of Monitor.
