I agree with sport05 who said it well. I apoligize for my generic answer. We condered all product support items before we settled with Cat. We based our choice on product support items such as, parts & service. Good product support after the sale has helped with our uptime, so all the manufactures mentioned are good, but you should match the machine to your application, and take a good hard look at product support.
All of the brands mentioned are good. The issue is which one provides the best package in a specific application in a specific geographical area. That is why a buyer needs to look at more than just the brand and the price. Considerations such as which brands have dealers within a reasonable travel distance for service. What level of technical expertise and experience do those dealers have with the type of equipment and the technology in the equipment being considered for purchase?
What kind of parts availability does the dealer have on the parts for the type of truck being considered? Do they have back up equipment with similar specifications in theri rental fleet? How many of the type being considerd have been sold into the market? All of these things will have an impact on the total cost of ownership which should be the the primary consideration in choosing a lift truck.
linde or toyota for a busy place
That being said, if you only plan on using it once in a while, the cheaper brands like Tailift will do just fine.
I certainly wouldn't recomend a tailift for some triple-shift high-production application though.
geek,
Taillift is a fairly new player in the US market. The trucks are made in Taiwan and they are limited in terms of specifications and models. Over the years there have been several companies from Taiwan that have made attempts at coming into the US market but have failed due to poor parts support and lack of good quality dealer representation.
If I were you I would stick with a known brand like Yale, Hyster, Nissan or Cat. Get proposals from all of them and then look at the local dealer for each brand in terms of service capapbilities and reputation. Ask each one to tell you about the total cost of ownership for their trucks. Remember, the real cost of owning and running a lift truck is not in the acquisition price but rather in the cost of operating it and maintaining it. Make sure you consider all of those aspects and pick the brand that you feel is best equipped to deliver the lowest cost of ownership/operations to your company.