Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I'm trying to get a rough idea of "total cost of ownership" for various snow-throwers. Can you give me a rough estimate of your annual operating and maintenance costs? Oil. spark-plugs, belts, cables, shear-pins, and whatever else you'd like to include. Please include your snow-throwers' brand and model #.

Thanks

I owned my Honda HS624WA for 10 years at about 30 - 50 hours of use/year on average. During that time I replaced several sets of skid shoes, 1 scrapper bar, put tubes in the tires, did an oil change/new spark plug every year and went through about 8 or so shear pins. The scrapper bar was the most expensive item at about $80.00 if I remember correctly. I put tubes in the tires because they would lose air during the downtime and trying to get the bead to seat with an air pump was impossible - the tubes solved that problem. Aside from the tubes, everything else was a typical wear item that eventually requires replacement due to usage.

IM45us, thanks for your response, and good luck with your new machine. Sounds like your old Ariens had quite a good run.

I'm buying my first snow-thrower, and trying to get an idea of typical service requirements. I suppose depreciation should also be factored in total cost of ownership.

Thanks again.

drifter wrote:

I bought my Honda when it was 2 years old at a yard sale for $ 800.00 and sold it this past August for $ 750.00. I probably could have got a bit more if I held out until this time of year. Not a bad ROI - I feel like I leased it for $ 5.00/year over the 10 years I owned it!

I got mine from my father-in-law when he moved south. I sold it for $300 the first day I listed it on Craiglist. Old quality blowers sell well and fast.

I wish I was looking at that kind of math. As it stands here in Quebec,  those new Hondas and Yamahas I'm looking at will cost me roughly $4000. +tax,,,$4600. If I re-sell in three years, I'd be hard-pressed to get $3200 I suppose. That works out to $466./yr in depreciation costs alone. Of course, those numbers get much better with long-term ownership.

The used Hondas are very scarce in my neck of the woods. They get snatched up immediately.

drifter wrote:
You far from the US? Buy one across the border.
Here in NL, there is a guy that imported 15-20 brand new hs928's from the US and sold them off at $3100 each(no tax because it is a private sale). Thats a huge savings on buying locally.

I was finally offered a bit of a deal locally on the manual-start HS928. $200. off,,, so $3199. Not bad I guess. Mind you, tax adds $500. roughly.

I also got a Yamaha dealer to knock off $200. on the new YS928J, and I think that's the machine I'm going to go with. It's a beauty, and soooo quiet. $4350 tax incl. I saw used Yamaha YS828's that were pre 1995 models, and those were still selling for $2300.+ tx incl. They didn't have any of the fancy stuff you see on the new YS929J.

drifter wrote:

You won't need the electric starter - these engines turn over on the 1st or 2nd pull every time if they are properly maintained.