Would you trade in your old car without knowing what it’s worth? Of course not! You’d probably enter your car’s information into a site like Kelley Blue Book to know exactly what similar cars are selling for, and then you’d use that information to negotiate the best possible price with the buyer. So why wouldn’t you do the same when making medical equipment trade-ins? As we saw in the last tip, trading in old equipment without knowing what it’s worth can be one of the most expensive decisions hospitals can make when buying new equipment.
Know what your equipment is worth before considering trade-in offers. By knowing the dollar value of your equipment based on its configuration and age, you’ll be able to see much more clearly whether or not you’re getting a good deal on a equipment trade-in offers. And if you’re an EVMS subscriber, you can use the Trade-In Optimizer report to know exactly what similar items are selling for to see if the price you’re being quoted is fair. When benchmarking tools like EVMS can provide you that kind of information for your trade-in, can your hospital afford not to know what your equipment is worth?
Recently, a hospital system was buying a new CT scanner to replace a mobile unit that was nearly 17 years old. The trailer had a rusted undercarriage and old system components, and its value had fully depreciated. The supplier of the new CT offered a mere $13,000 trade-in for the old CT and trailer. But after using benchmarking data to confirm the true value of the mobile unit, the hospital learned that it was worth more than $100,000! Instead of trading it in, the hospital found a buyer who was willing to pay even more. By utilizing the right data, this hospital was able to realize a financial return that was nearly 8x GREATER than the trade-in offer.