What is a used forklift worth in the UK?

UK price guide

What is a used forklift worth?

A 2.5-tonne diesel counterbalance from 2009–2017 asks roughly £4,000 to £8,000 plus VAT. The same capacity in electric runs £10,750 to £12,750, and almost all of that difference is the battery. Hours matter far more than the year on the plate.

Researched 23 October 2026. Asking prices, not sold prices — see the limits at the foot of this page.

What the market is asking, per truck, 2.5t counterbalance

Measure	Asking	Source
Diesel 2009–2017, typical asking band	£4,000–8,000 + VAT	Aggregated from the listings below
2009 Doosan 2.5t diesel, triple mast and sideshift	£4,950 + VAT	Autotrader Plant
2014 Heli 2.5t diesel, similar specification	£5,450 + VAT	Autotrader Plant
2011 Toyota 8FGF25 2.5t	£7,995 + VAT	Autotrader
2017 HC 2.5t diesel, container specification	£6,450	Gumtree
Electric 2.5t counterbalance	£10,750–12,750 + VAT	Trucks Direct UK and Camforklifts (seller-published)
Newer or fuller-specification diesel	up to £16,250 ex VAT	Unilift Fork Trucks (seller-published)

Why the range is that wide

Electric costs roughly double diesel at the same capacity, and the gap is mostly the battery. A replacement pack on a counterbalance truck can be a third of the price of the whole machine, so an electric truck sold without a battery test is the most expensive assumption a buyer can make. Among diesels, the spread between £4,950 and £7,995 for trucks two years apart in age is explained by hours, mast specification and whether there is a current thorough examination record.

What moves the number

Hours, not years

A 2019 truck on 14,000 hours is older in every way that matters than a 2014 on 3,000. The year tells you about emissions standard and parts availability; the hour meter tells you about remaining life.

Thorough examination record

A legal requirement under LOLER, not an optional extra. Its absence is itself information, and it is the first thing a serious buyer asks for.

Battery condition on electric trucks

The single largest swing factor on an electric truck. A tested pack with known cycles supports the top of the range; an untested one does not support any of it.

Mast, chains and forks

The wear items that get quietly excluded from the phrase 'fully working'. Mast type — duplex, triplex, free-lift — also narrows or widens the buyer pool considerably.

Attachments and tyres

Sideshift, fork positioners and container specification add real money. Tyres are a known, quotable cost, which makes them an easy deduction for a buyer to argue.

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The limits of these figures

These are asking prices from live listings, not transaction data. No published UK price index for used forklifts exists to check them against — that absence is why this page exists.
Some source listings were around 100 days old when checked.
Figures marked as seller-published come from businesses that sell forklifts.
VAT is excluded where the listing stated it, and listings vary in whether they say so at all.

If you know this market better than these figures suggest — and if you trade in it, you probably do — tell us and we will correct the page. hello@lotloop.co.uk.