What You Need to Know When Buying a Used Treadmill

You may know that good treadmills are quite pricey and not everyone can afford it. In this case, you can try your luck and buy a Secondhand Treadmill even though it’s quite risky! In this article, I try to give you some tips and help you to avoid some common mistakes when you are buying a used treadmill. Following the guide, you may be able to find an almost new treadmill for 2-5 times less price! This guide can be implemented to not just treadmills, but also to ellipticals, TreadClimbers and other types of running machines.

Firstly, let’s talk about pros and cons of buying used treadmills:

The Advantages of Used Treadmills

Sure things, the main and only advantage of used treadmills is that it’s cheap. For example, you can buy a treadmill, which normally costs $2000 – $3000, for $500. As you can see in this example you save about $1500 – $2500 and you could spend this money for something more worth like new fitness clothing and accessories.

The Disadvantages of Used Treadmills

The main drawback of used treadmills is a huge risk of buying broken or poor-quality treadmill which is the same as buying of other kinds of products. There is a great chance that the motor will stop working after few weeks after purchasing a treadmill. Fortunately, you can decrease a risk by just checking everything before buying or asking for some short warranty from the owner of the machine. But as you know: nothing ventured, nothing gained context.

So let’s have a look at the tips that I’ve prepared for you:

1. Buy Only Great Models from a Reliable brand

Firstly, if you want to buy a treadmill, look at its price for new one. It must be above $1500 because it gives you the opportunity to get a good treadmill for cheap. These treadmills usually have a great motor (at least 2.5 HP motor, it will fit almost all your needs) which can last for a long time.

Secondly, it’s a good idea to look for a treadmill from a reputable brand such as Life Fitness, Proform, AFG and NordicTrack. Any brand has its customer support and the more popular and reliable brand, the greater chance to get some help in case it’s needed. Also, all top brands try to produce a quality product and give you some warranty to ensure that the treadmill won’t be broken. When you are buying a treadmill, you may still ask for warranty from a manufacturer. In case, the owner doesn’t have it, ask him for his warranty to guarantee that the treadmill won’t broke next day.

2. Take a Test Run

If you are not going to buy a used treadmill online, ask for a test run. If you are rejected, then leave and buy one from someone else. Otherwise, try it for 5-15 minutes and check all features you may need for your workout such as incline, heart rate monitor and so on. Try to pay attention to any noise from the treadmill and some things that may make your running uncomfortable. If there is any, it may mean that there are some issue with motor which is the most important and expensive part of any electric treadmill. If you find some scratches and dents, tell the owner about it and ask whether he can give you some discount because of cosmetic flaws. If you are not satisfied with this treadmill, it’s the time to say goodbye.

3. Ask a Lot of Questions

It’s quite important to ask the questions about the treadmill and get satisfactory answers. You may even do it before having a test run. Ask at least these 4 questions:

• Why are you selling it?
• How often was the treadmill used?
• How many people have owned the treadmill?
• Where was the treadmill kept?
• Is there a warranty?

The best case would be that the owner almost never used this treadmill (probably, he bought it for New Year’s resolution and a few days or weeks later just gave up on it) and it was stored in a bedroom (at least it’s better than outdoor or musty basement). He is the only person who used the treadmill and he has manufacturer warranty (if not, ask for his warranty for at least one month). It’s the ideal situation. If you are buying a used treadmill from a gym, ask for service records for the treadmill maintenance because it’s always overused in gyms. Feel free to ask some questions if you have any uncertainties to clarify them.

4. Don’t Buy Too Old A Model

An age of a treadmill model matters because the older model is, the less chance that you can get your treadmill repaired in the future due to the inability to buy a part for this particular treadmill. The age of a model must be less than 5 years. The age of any treadmill you can find on manufacturer’s website or Amazon. Also, old models may not possess latest technologies and features, so it may impact on your workout.

Where to Buy Used Treadmills

There are three main ways to find a used treadmill:

• Secondhand stores/Pawnshops
• Gyms
• Online Stores

Speaking of secondhand stores, sometimes you can see some great deals there, so it must be the first place to go. There you can see treadmills yourself, so you can see general condition of a treadmill. If you read local newspapers or reading local news online, you may find gym closing notifications, so they will probably sell the treadmills out and you can find some used commercial treadmills for cheap. As I mentioned before, gym treadmills are mostly overused even though they have strong motor and premium features.

The internet is one of the best ways to find a used treadmill! There are two main websites where you can buy any used product: eBay and Amazon. It’s a quite good way to buy a used treadmill, but there is one big disadvantage – you can’t see treadmills so you can’t check it yourself and so on. Some people and websites says that you should avoid this method, but I think you shouldn’t avoid it since you have 14-45 days guarantee (not every seller provide it, so check it first).