Mike Arora and his company, Ace Equipment, specializes in buying, selling, renting, and servicing forklifts in Texas. Eight years ago, he got his start purchasing two forklifts from Ritchie Bros., which he fixed up and flipped back through the auction, making almost double what he paid for them—he quickly found his calling.
“I started with a small warehouse—about 400 square feet,” said Mike. “We had no electricity, no water, nothing. In the beginning I didn’t have a big budget. I would work my full-time job during the day, saving up and reinvesting into my business, where I would work at night.”
Thankfully Mike’s work ethic paid off almost immediately, as he went from 400 square feet to 2,500 in six months. By the two-year mark he had grown into a 20,000 square foot warehouse.
“When I was learning the market there wasn’t a lot of margin for error—I didn’t have a paint booth, we didn’t have our own tires. I would make $500 off one forklift, $1000 for the next one, $3000 for another, but some I would take a loss on. It took time to learn and adjust my process, but I’ve always loved buying from auctions. IronPlanet is an especially great way to buy because of its IronClad Assurance, which provides details on what may need to be fixed on the forklift.”
Fixing & flipping forklifts
Today Mike has a team of employees fixing and flipping forklifts through Ritchie Bros. auctions, focusing mainly on Toyota units because, according to Mike, “Toyotas bring a lot of money at Ritchie Bros.”
“Generally, if my team isn’t able to fix and sell a unit from our warehouse within two months the forklift gets sent to Ritchie Bros. to be auctioned off,” said Mike. “Ritchie Bros. has brought a lot of revenue to my company.”
With the great migration to online shopping at the onset of COVID lockdowns in March 2020, the demand for material handling/warehouse equipment like forklifts has taken off exponentially.
“The market is so hot right now I’m trying to send as many units as possible to Ritchie Bros. I’m paying my team bonuses based on how many they can get fixed up and ready for sale. Right now, we are trying to get 50 units ready for the upcoming Fort Worth auction.”
The limited contact world of COVID could’ve destroyed his business, but Mike leaned into the digital world and trusted Ritchie Bros. as his sales channel.
“I have kids and my team has kids. I wouldn’t let anyone into our warehouse without face coverings. Selling with Ritchie Bros. has been profitable and kept us safe. In fact, if it wasn’t for Ritchie Bros., we wouldn’t have made $1.5 million in revenue these past couple years and I would be struggling as a business owner.”
Finding new efficiencies
Mike is always looking for new ways to make his business processes more efficient and thinks he may have found it with Ritchie Bros.’ free inventory management system (IMS). At any one time, Ace Equipment can have hundreds of forklifts in its warehouse/inventory. With the IMS they can all be loaded and tracked digitally, replacing spreadsheets and other inefficient systems. After each unit is loaded into the system it can be sent to any Ritchie Bros. sales channel with a click of button.
“The IMS will help me send items quickly and easily to IronPlanet. We have done so well with liquid propane forklifts through Ritchie Bros. Fort Worth site, but I have a lot of electric forklifts I want to try selling through IronPlanet.”
The inventory management system is also equipped with Ritchie Bros. Price Results tool, which provides up-to-date median selling prices for each unit so Mike and his team can act fast on upward pricing trends.
“Ritchie Bros. has been a fantastic partner for my business. I’m excited to have access to more data and info through the IMS. I can’t wait to see how these new tools will help me grow in the future.”
If you have equipment to sell, contact Ritchie Bros. today – we can help you sell when, where and how you want to take advantage of this unprecedented market.