1. Depreciation expence per IRS codes on a forklift is 5 years. This year IRS code 179 says a company can claim 100% depreciation for capital purchases up to $112,000. A company may or may not be able to take advantage of this. Depends on how the fianancial person in charge "cooks" the books.

2. Throwing the accounting stuff away - it is a bit important to track cost per hour of usage for each vehicle. The cost need to be separated into normal PM costs, repair costs & abuse costs and teh hourmeter reading at each date. This can be done simply on an Excel spread sheet which makes it convenient to have cost summarrizes by reaprt cost catergory & easy cost/ hour calculations. On a standard configuration 5k, truck w/LP. triple mast, side shift and not working in a "pickle foundry", when the cost per hour of operation starts to exceed $2.00 per hour it is time to be concerned and investigate the cause, if the cost seems to steadily increase then it is time to consider replacement. Obviously, significant abuse costs should not reflect heavily on the machine but the opreator(s) needs a KITA.

I use this format with customers who have kept records on file but never anaylized. They like it & suddenly that "good ole" 1969 forklift that is sentimental to some folks it costs the company $25.00/hour to operate - because all the hard repalcement parts are made at a local machine shop.

3. You know here in GA here every one seems to be a forklift mechanic & they can keep 'em running themselves for years & years & more years & they all seem to have a friend that can get them parts cheap. Or at least that what they tell the owner. This is easy way to "quantitatively" make the customer understand.

4. This a a simple "Fleet Management" program