5 Reasons why buying a Used Ride is a GREAT idea

Parks are always looking for new ways to attract a larger and wider audience, but many think making large investments in brand new attractions, retail and hospitality outlets is the only answer…

Many overlook the benefits of used rides and how they can be a way of helping a park to offer up something new for the season without a huge investment. So we’re here to highlight some of the perfect reasons to consider purchasing a used ride this time, rather than new.

With buying a brand new ride there’s a lot of costs for the manufacturer that fall on the park, these can include the preliminary designs required, engineering and development costs of something bespoke for the space, the writing of detailed design documentation, the procurement of materials and the labour costs for completing all of these. Therefore when looking for a new ride to refresh an area of the park it’s beneficial to consider whether it necessarily has to be something ‘never seen before’ or custom designed, rather than just something different and new to the park itself. Choosing Used is going to be kinder on your pockets, therefore allowing you to refresh more rides at once, or more frequently.

When choosing to purchase a new ride, many parks will weigh up their options by shopping around, getting proposals from a range of different manufacturers, to find the best price for the product they are looking for and often, budget may dictate the choice they make, versus the quality they may be looking for. Parks usually opt to go for well-known and reputable manufacturers, but if the budget is restrictive they may have to compromise on the scale of the project or choose a cheaper manufacturer without that same reputation. However by choosing a used ride, parks can attain that big brand name without the massive outlay. Often it may be a product that the manufacturer is well known for, that will have sold well over the years making it a fan favourite.

Interlink is recognised as a popular ride broker for used rides. Offering parks that are selling their rides advertising services on their website – and those buying, supervised installation by a specialist from their team to ensure smooth sailing throughout the fitting.

By choosing Interlink to buy a used ride through, a park has that piece of mind that it’s all being installed correctly and efficiently, as well as ensuring the delivery of the ride to the park itself all goes smoothly.

By choosing a cheaper ride to refresh your park, you can spend that money saved on other things.

This could be spent on elaborate theming, used to enhance and compliment the new attraction. It could mean purchasing two rides for the same price as one, allowing the park to refresh a whole area rather than just a single ride. Or it could just mean enhancing other amenities around the new attraction, such as renovating the hospitality offerings in the vicinity or adding a giftshop nearby to generate extra income off the back of the new ride.

One of the biggest pros for choosing a used ride over new, is that you get rid of the manufacturing stage from the process of implementing a new ride. As the ride already exists, it does not need to go through a lengthy procurement process and then manufacturing stage where hiccups and unexpected hold ups may cause delays on your upcoming project. So if you’re running short on time before the start of the season and looking to improve footfall, a used ride might be just what you need to shake things up and add something fresh to your ride mix, attracting a whole host of new visitors.