Cat, Komatsu, Deere were the top financed excavator brands in 2017 | Dump Truck Company

Top new machine financed in 2017: the Cat 336F L.

By number of units sold, Cat, Komatsu and Deere were the top financed brands of new mid- and large-size excavators during 2017, according to an analysis of EDA data.

EDA is a division of Randall-Reilly, parent dump trucks charlotte nc of Equipment World, which tracks UCC-1 filings, used by lenders when a machine is financed.

During 2017, more than 23,300 excavators were financed by 16,200-plus buyers, with 45 percent of that total involving transactions for new machines.

For this analysis, we included both crawler and wheeled excavators, and excluded compact excavators below 8 metric tons. (While many manufacturers designate 8- to 10-metric ton machines as compact excavators, EDA starts its mid-size segment at more than 8 metric tons.)

Nearly 18 percent of all new and used excavator sales in 2017 took place in five states: Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, New York and Florida. Texas easily took the first-place position with 1,354 machines sold, 628 more units than second-place Georgia.

New excavators

Cat sold almost one-third of the new excavators financed during the year: 3,160 or 30.3 percent. Buyers financed 2,186 new Komatsu excavators, or 21 percent of the total; there were 1,681 Deere financed, or 16.1 percent of the total.

The most popular new financed models, in terms of number of units sold, were the Cat 336F L, Cat 323F L and the Komatsu PC360LC-11.

Used excavators

The majority – 55 percent – of excavators financed in 2017 were used.

Financed used sales somewhat mirror the totals seen in new sales, with the same three manufacturers taking the top positions. Cat excavators made up 31.1 percent of the total; Komatsu, 17.9 percent; and Deere, 17.1 percent.

The Cat 320E L, Cat 336E L and Deere 210G LC took the top used sales positions.

Depending on the type of machine, financed machines can represent 40 to 75 percent of the total number of machines of that type sold in the United States. While machines can also be bought by cash or letter of credit, which are not tracked by EDA, buyers of larger, higher priced machines tend to use financing.