Best Used Mower For Homeowner Use for $1000 or under?

[bertsmobile1]

Stop and ask yourself.
Why is this person selling a current model mower for around 1/2 the new price ?
particularly in the light that there were a lot of teething problems with the engine this one has fitted .

 

[Boobala]

 

[Darryl G]

My link was supposed to be the result of a search on this site for "Kohler Courage" where there are 3 pages of threads. You can tell just by browsing the thread titles that it's an engine that it's probably better to steer clear of. And yes that mower has the Courage in it if it's a Kohler. I'd make sure there are no current engine problems and you're on notice that you could have problems in the future. If it hasn't failed yet it might have a good one in it. :smile:

 

[badninja]

My link was supposed to be the result of a search on this site for "Kohler Courage" where there are 3 pages of threads. You can tell just by browsing the thread titles that it's an engine that it's probably better to steer clear of. And yes that mower has the Courage in it if it's a Kohler. I'd make sure there are no current engine problems and you're on notice that you could have problems in the future. If it hasn't failed yet it might have a good one in it. :smile:

lol ok. Noted. I'll probably steer clear of it.

 

[badninja]

Stop and ask yourself.
Why is this person selling a current model mower for around 1/2 the new price ?

So if the asking price is on the low, it must have issues right? So make sure I pay more to make sure it doesn't have issues? I'd say that a person could easily sell the same lemon at what you may consider a "proper" price. Only difference between you and I is; I will have paid less for my lemon lol. The fact is, that paying more money isn't going to magically make it better. A lemon is a lemon. Most people are usually going to state issues and why something is priced so low as opposed to expecting people to just know something is up with a low price tag. So for me, that low price tag doesn't mean anything. I'm going to be just as skeptical of that one as I am one that I would pay twice or 10 times that for. There is always a risk of getting a bad deal when buying used regardless of price. However, the previous reputation that this engine has speaks volumes and I will probably steer clear for that.

 

[bertsmobile1]

So if the asking price is on the low, it must have issues right? So make sure I pay more to make sure it doesn't have issues? I'd say that a person could easily sell the same lemon at what you may consider a "proper" price. Only difference between you and I is; I will have paid less for my lemon lol. The fact is, that paying more money isn't going to magically make it better. A lemon is a lemon. Most people are usually going to state issues and why something is priced so low as opposed to expecting people to just know something is up with a low price tag. So for me, that low price tag doesn't mean anything. I'm going to be just as skeptical of that one as I am one that I would pay twice or 10 times that for. There is always a risk of getting a bad deal when buying used regardless of price. However, the previous reputation that this engine has speaks volumes and I will probably steer clear for that.

Try taking a slightly different tangent.
If the price is very low then the person is desperate to sell it.
There has to be a reason why they are desperate to sell it.
They could be moving interstate or to a smaller house.
They could have gottten to old to mow any more
or the mower could be total trash.

Price is no guarantee of quality but just as with a new mower, very cheap is seldom very good.
Occasionally you get mechanical idiots who sell their mower that won't start because , the battery is flat , or the spark plug is fouled or it has run out of fuel.
However they are few & far between.
The mowers other have been talking about were all quite old and thus a low price is justified due to age.
However a relatively new mower with a below market price should ring bells in an intelligent well informed purchaser with a functioning brain.
Unfortunately the glow from a glorious "bargain" seems to blind a lot of people.

 

[badninja]

Try taking a slightly different tangent.
If the price is very low then the person is desperate to sell it.
There has to be a reason why they are desperate to sell it.
They could be moving interstate or to a smaller house.
They could have gottten to old to mow any more
or the mower could be total trash.

Price is no guarantee of quality but just as with a new mower, very cheap is seldom very good.
Occasionally you get mechanical idiots who sell their mower that won't start because , the battery is flat , or the spark plug is fouled or it has run out of fuel.
However they are few & far between.
The mowers other have been talking about were all quite old and thus a low price is justified due to age.
However a relatively new mower with a below market price should ring bells in an intelligent well informed purchaser with a functioning brain.
Unfortunately the glow from a glorious "bargain" seems to blind a lot of people.

If a person were to pass everything up without even looking into it based solely on the price being too low.. They have no business buying used. There is no point. That is the point of buying used, to get a better deal. Almost anything bought used can turn out to be trash, hell new stuff can too. I've bought plenty of things in my day that were "too cheap" and came out fine on 'em. Bought stuff that was too expensive too and ended up mad as hell that it was junk. Bought an '02 Wrangler years ago(2009), Paid over $10k for it. Bought it at 62,000 miles. Had to have the transmission replaced at 69,000 miles. I was lucky to have gotten a warranty on it. But still you'd think at that price I would have gotten a good vehicle to last a while right? My brother has an old early 90's ford Explorer. He paid $250 for it. Thing had just under 180k on it.. its still running strong now at over 230k. I bought a brand new Marshall JVM410H (guitar amp)and Marshall 1960A Lead Cabinet years ago, Spent over $3,000 on them. Less than a year later I needed quick money to finish up a 1940 ford pickup I was restoring to sell as an investment. At the time the amp was the only thing I had that would bring any real money. I let it go for $1,000. The guy stole it from me. Still had stickers on it and tags hanging off of both the amp and cab. Absolute mint condition and babied like hell. Money paid or asked means squat and shouldn't factor into a decision anymore than how much money you will be saving/spending. What does matter is listening to the seller, watching out for fishy things, thoroughly inspecting your potential purchase, and making the best decision you can off of the knowledge given about it.

 

[badninja]

Are Kohler engines just bad in general? Or was it just the Courage? Were they good before a certain point in time? Seems most everything has B&S or Kohler. Found one with a Kohler Command Pro 15 that may be of interest if thats not something to avoid.

 

[BlazNT]

If a person were to pass everything up without even looking into it based solely on the price being too low.. They have no business buying used. There is no point. That is the point of buying used, to get a better deal. Almost anything bought used can turn out to be trash, hell new stuff can too. I've bought plenty of things in my day that were "too cheap" and came out fine on 'em. Bought stuff that was too expensive too and ended up mad as hell that it was junk. Bought an '02 Wrangler years ago(2009), Paid over $10k for it. Bought it at 62,000 miles. Had to have the transmission replaced at 69,000 miles. I was lucky to have gotten a warranty on it. But still you'd think at that price I would have gotten a good vehicle to last a while right? My brother has an old early 90's ford Explorer. He paid $250 for it. Thing had just under 180k on it.. its still running strong now at over 230k. I bought a brand new Marshall JVM410H (guitar amp)and Marshall 1960A Lead Cabinet years ago, Spent over $3,000 on them. Less than a year later I needed quick money to finish up a 1940 ford pickup I was restoring to sell as an investment. At the time the amp was the only thing I had that would bring any real money. I let it go for $1,000. The guy stole it from me. Still had stickers on it and tags hanging off of both the amp and cab. Absolute mint condition and babied like hell. Money paid or asked means squat and shouldn't factor into a decision anymore than how much money you will be saving/spending. What does matter is listening to the seller, watching out for fishy things, thoroughly inspecting your potential purchase, and making the best decision you can off of the knowledge given about it.

I agree. Last summer I purchased a Toro Z Master 320 for $700 just because it was so low. I knew I could not go wrong unless everything was broken. It had 700 hours and needed all new tires. They were all bald. I used it one time and the PTO cut out on me 30 min in. Took it home and started working. Long story short. $300 later it is in perfect running order. Took all winter to do it because I do not like the cold. I have only put about 12 hours work into it. I would say I could sell it today for around $3000.

 

[Darryl G]

I prefer Kawasaki engines but Kohler Command Pro engines are good commercial engines. Briggs & Stratton makes some good engines too such as the Vanguards. The Kohler Courage is a budget engine and frankly it shows.