Del Nevius, owner of North Texas Crane, has formed a new service company called Auction Equipment Inspections Services (AEI). AEI is a division of North Texas Cranes.

The company is based in Lewisville, Texas, but has services nationwide. According to Nevius, the intent of the company is to perform onsite inspections of any machine that a customer may request so that the customer can bid online with confidence.

“In the past few years, online bidding via the Internet has really opened a new method for buying machines at auctions,” said Nevius. “The only problem with online bidding is that I have always wanted to ’kick the tires’ on any machine that gained my attention and bidding on something sight un-seen can be rather risky.”

Nevius added that the rising price of fuel has increased the costs of everything from machines to just traveling to the auction itself.

“Higher costs simply adds to the possibilities of a bad investment if the machine was not what it was proposed to be,” Nevius said.

Additionally, Internet bidding allows a contractor to be at multiple auctions at the same time.

“I noticed that I had missed the chance to bid on many fine machines just because I could not be there so I started sending my own people to do inspections, report to me and then I felt better about bidding,” Nevius said. “Sending your own personnel is really nothing new, but I had the idea that others would be interested in contracting an onsite expert to inspect a designated machine for a fee, report back to that person via cell phone or e-mail.”

Nevius said he did his research with people he met at auctions and got favorable reports about the need for this type of service.

“I decided to send teams of two experts with over 26 years experience to major auctions, including Ritchie Bros., about a week in advance so they would have time to inspect major machines and be onsite during the auction to do inspections on request,” Nevius explained. “This can all be done via the Internet with cell phones and lap-tops. The inspections are multi-level in that they range in costs from a basic standard inspection to custom inspections that can even include oil analysis and freight charges.”

Today's top stories

Make Eliminating Jobsite Distractions Company Safety Goal

Two Firms Give Burned Highway New Life

VIDEO: Komatsu Holds Demo Days at Cartersville Customer Center

ABC: Over Half of March State Construction Unemployment Rates Down From a Year Ago

Allen Engineering Hosts 60th Anniversary Celebration

Contractors' Plate Full On Interstate 35 in Texas

Space Coast Leaders, Residents Excited About Planned Brightline Rail Station in Cocoa

Attachments International Debuts Severe Service Demolition Grapple