^^^ Pics were displayed in the above scenario on a website albeit tactfully done, price was close to NIB but out of production .....lol...
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HUO or not?
- Thread starter paddythegreek
- Start date
It's the same with most things.
If you're looking to buy a 3 year old car do you really want an old fleet/rental hatchback from Eurocar? It may well have been beautifully valeted prior to sale but every few days of it's life that car has had a new user who probably cared little for it.
There will obviously be exceptions to the rule but I'd be looking for a 'One lady owner' type car because it is more likely to have been taken care of.
OLO & HUO are guides to indicate that a purchase has had an easier life. 'Plays/games' is miles on the clock, which again depend on who's owned it. However if you place 10 HUO machines alongside 10 arcade/pub machines of a similar vintage I'd imagine most would be able to tell.
If you're looking to buy a 3 year old car do you really want an old fleet/rental hatchback from Eurocar? It may well have been beautifully valeted prior to sale but every few days of it's life that car has had a new user who probably cared little for it.
There will obviously be exceptions to the rule but I'd be looking for a 'One lady owner' type car because it is more likely to have been taken care of.
OLO & HUO are guides to indicate that a purchase has had an easier life. 'Plays/games' is miles on the clock, which again depend on who's owned it. However if you place 10 HUO machines alongside 10 arcade/pub machines of a similar vintage I'd imagine most would be able to tell.
Caveat emptor......... we've probably all been stung sometime by a description of something that's misleading so 'look (and try) before you buy' has to be the best option. This also reminds me a bit of discussion over whether when when faced with a choice of two 2nd hand cars of the same spec/price, you only consider the one that's had fewer previous owners. You wouldn't expect a pin that's been on site with incandescent bulbs burning for hours on end plus minimal servicing/hack repairs by an Operator to be better than a HUO equiv. But what about the HUO pin that's been sat in a damp conservatory, sold many times over (still to HUO), had drinks spilt on it and been well used by teenagers having a party? A couple of shows may technically remove the Only bit from HUO but a common sense appraisal has to prevail surely?
The worrying perception that is you take a HUO pin to an event then its desirabilty goes through the floor would lead to lack of newer games at said events. Site games with a few exeptions dont ger heavy play anymore so are folks more concerned that its been turned on for long periods rather than getting thrashed about?
I'd say a company car is more likely to have had regular servicing and thus any problems spotted at an early stage and fixed.
My last car purchase was bought from the original owner and had never been maintained to a high standard, various bits and bobs needed changing such as faulty rear view mirror, buttons fallen off stalks on steering column, air con regassing, etc. all known and time of purchase and taken into account.
I've never had a hire car that hasn't been anything but in 100% condition, due to it being maintained and serviced regularly.
Similarly, I've bought machines which have been HUO and not been maintained to my standards and the vast majority have needed attention. Sometimes through neglect, sometimes through ignorance. The owner of the DM I bought didn't know the claw was meant to move - it didn't because there was a ball stuck in the mech, others have needed boards replacing as the owner didn't know that certain bulbs weren't lit, etc. etc. machines with ball hang ups, were explained away, as "you only need to shake it or take the glass off to free it" - that wouldn't work for a sited game as it would be losing money.
A machine which goes to a show and goes the whole weekend without needing attention has had a thorough workout and I'd be confident buying it. You can always see any cosmetic damage but you will never be able to play enough games yourself when inspecting to guarantee there are no problems.
Taking a machine to a show is also normally the best forum to sell it as well - many more people get the chance to see and play it before making the purchase, it's also a great time to buy a machine as you can get other peoples opinions on it.
Any damage incurred when you take it to a show is likely to be caused by yourself in loading and transport. I can't recall a time when any machine I have taken has had damage to caused by people playing it - THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE DESIGNED FOR. If people are so precious about cosmetic condition, previous owners and number of plays it's best to buy NIB and keep it in it's box, or only turn it on once a week to look at the pretty lights.
Alternatively support the growing number of places where you can go and play a machine on site - support those businesses and operators.
I believe that the main reason this has become such an issue is the fact that people expect to sell a machine for the same as they bought it PLUS whatever they've spent adding completely unnecessary 'tasteful' mods, ignoring the years/months (days in some peoples cases) they've owned and played it. What other commodity could you expect that to happen with?
Glad you had a good experience.
Lol....... it couldn't have been from Enterprise then?
Our fleet guy used these clowns for 13 years, we would keep a car for circa 6 months then hand it back for another.
It was a lottery, some good some bad, some very bad.
If the Enterprise branch didn't have your spec of car - say 2.0 ltr Mondeo titanium x, then you would have to travel to another branch to get it, sometimes to the other end of the country only to find they gave it to old man withers ... FFS!
Many times I would collect vehicle and the service was actually due, they didn't have time to do it. Other times they had tactfully parked it against a wall to hide pre-existing damage, hand me the keys saying "All good Mr Gray - sign hear, no damage all checked over" - yeah right!!! - can you pull it forward please and let me check!
I lost count on the amount of times they tried to pull that sh!t.
Also, as Field Engineers, we were extremely busy, on the road many times we would go well beyond the service interval before it would get maintained.
Enterprise do long term hire to businesses and the cars get thrashed big time and the services do lapse.
Ref pins.....
I would say most on here have been to an arcade in the 80s??
Most have witnessed people kick, shove, stub fags out on machine, spill all sorts of fluids on them.
Not saying the same level of abuse happens today.... but in a pub environment, , Isn't that why tilt bobs are set to sensitive? To stop users over tilting, kicking and slapping the **** out of the pin to prevent the known misuse?
But there is a flip side to this........ even in a home environment. Not Pin related but my stupid sister, even after repeated comments about don't drink over my pool table - must have told her 10 times. DON'T HOLD DRINKS OR PLACE DRINKS OVER THE POOL TABLE. I know she can't really handle her drink. What does she do? Spills a full fat tumbler of vodka + coke over my just re-clothed table....... FFS! Had to get it changed a few weeks later - silly cow.
"Arcades in the 80s"? That's 40 years ago!
You are certainly unlikely to see a machine in a pub having a ciggie being stubbed out on it, or having any smoke damage on it at all. Much more likely in a home setting. Machines now have a steeper glass on them compared to the old Ballys and the like, meaning you couldn't sit a drink on them if you wanted.
Tilts are on the machine to reduce the ball time. Without a tilt any half decent player could have the ball last forever, or until they get bored.
People who are rage slamming and kicking the machine won't take a blind bit of notice of the tilt and still are unlikely to cause damage. Although I've never seen anybody wilfully attempt to damage a machine, or even accidentally cause damage through being rough with it. Maybe ask the likes of @Chief , @Tilt_Birmingham , @Matt Vince or @steve brum how many of their machines on site have been damaged due to 'over exuberance' as opposed to normal wear and tear from play? The days of people scratching their highscores on the backbox have long gone.
Just because a machine is HUO doesn't mean that it has been maintained - you only have to look through this forum for the number of queries asking how to clean a machine, how to move a machine, when balls need replacing, the number of hacked repairs to see that the "expertise" of the majority of people don't know how to properly maintain or service a game. (That's not a criticism of those people at all - everyone has to learn, and how do you learn without asking?). That's only looking at those people on here who actually ask for advice, rather than blissfully ignoring the problem, or not even knowing PinballInfo exists.
Don't get me started on the descriptions on some of the For Sale threads where machines are described as 'refurbed', 'shopped' or 'mint'. When what they really mean is they've put a few LEDs in at the front of the machine, given it a wipe with a cloth in front of the flippers (as they couldn't be ****d to remove ramps and plastics to get to the awkward bits) and cable tied some plastic toy on to it.