What your trucks and equipment are worth in a sale
Equipment rarely adds to the price the way owners expect. What it actually does to a deal, and when the fleet becomes a real problem.
Owners often expect the fleet to add to the price. Usually it does not work that way, and understanding why saves an argument late in the process.
Equipment is assumed, not added
A buyer pricing your company off its earnings is already assuming the business comes with the equipment it needs to produce those earnings. The trucks are not a bonus on top; they are what makes the number possible. Handing him a depreciation schedule and asking for its value on top of an earnings-based price is a conversation that goes nowhere.
Where equipment does move the number is at the edges: an unusually young fleet means the buyer is not facing replacement in year one, and that shows up in what he is willing to finance.
When it becomes a real problem
An old fleet is deferred cost, and a buyer will treat it as a bill arriving shortly after closing. Equipment still under finance has to be paid off or assumed, and that comes out of the proceeds. Anything titled personally rather than to the company has to be sorted out before closing, and it is always more awkward than it sounds.
Specialty equipment the business genuinely depends on is worth calling out — not for its resale value, but because it is hard to replace and that is a point in your favour.
A Straight Answer
Make the list before you go to market: what you own, what is financed, what is titled where, and the age of anything significant. The list takes a morning, and every item you have not sorted out becomes a deduction once a buyer finds it.
BuiltEquity is a sell-side brokerage for trades and field-service companies. Nothing here is legal, tax or accounting advice. Your CPA and your attorney are the authority on your situation.