Schmidy's is a SCAM - Dishonest, Shady, and Will Sell You a Machine NOT READY FOR WORK!!!! If you're thinking about buying from Schmidy's, DON'T. RUN. This dealership is a shady, lying, corner-cutting joke that will take your money, send you a half functional machine, and then ghost you the second you need them to follow through. How they SCAMMED me: I agreed to purchase a crane from them in December 2024 and flew out to inspect it. What I found was a disaster. The crane was completely unready, had broken controls, leaks, and obvious mechanical failures. I told them straight-up: It wasn't worth their asking price in that condition. They knew they had been caught selling junk, so they promised: They would repair everything before shipping. They would make the machine right. I would get a crane that was fully functional and properly inspected. They LIED. What they actually did: Barely cleaned it up to make it look passable. Put the covers back on and reattached a turn signal--basic cosmetic fixes to make it look like they did something. Fixed the upper throttle (one of the easiest fixes possible). That's it. They did the absolute bare minimum to get out of the deal with as little effort and financial loss as possible. They didn't care if it was safe, operational, or even legally compliant. What they IGNORED (Despite Their Promises): Massive Oil Leak - The oil pan or rear main seal was visibly leaking, yet both their service guy and DOT inspector magically missed it. Total incompetence or outright fraud--take your pick. No Upper Fire Extinguisher - A basic safety requirement completely ignored. Their crane inspector didn't even note it. Computer NOT Calibrated to the Crane - Are you kidding me? The computer that runs the entire crane wasn't even set up correctly! But their inspector somehow signed off on it anyway. Shady, Corrupt Inspections Their service tech, DOT inspector, and crane inspector all conveniently ignored major safety and mechanical failures. Either they're completely incompetent, or they're knowingly signing off on bad equipment. Either way, Schmidy's is sending out unsafe machines and calling them "ready to go." Post-Sale? Total GHOSTING Once I got the crane and saw the scam they pulled, I called Brandon immediately. I was promised by him that Schmidy's would follow through. Didn't happen. I'VE SENT COUNTLESS EMAILS.... I've texted Jesse, the owner, directly, telling him to check his email so we could figure out a solution. Ignored. I followed up. Ignored. At this point, Schmidy's has taken my money, sent me a crane that's not "work ready", refused to fix their mistakes, and is actively avoiding all communication. Schmidy's Business Model is SIMPLE: Sell junk equipment under false promises. Slap on a few quick, worthless repairs to trick the buyer. Lie about inspections or have shady inspectors sign off on unsafe equipment. Take your money, deliver a machine that is not ready for work, then disappear. DO NOT BUY FROM SCHMIDY'S. They are scam artists who will lie to your face, ignore real mechanical issues, and leave you holding the bag the second you need support. I'm currently pursuing legal action because they refuse to step up and fix the disaster they created. If you value your money, your time, and your safety--go somewhere else. Schmidy's is nothing but a shady operation that will sell you nothing but false promises and run when confronted. read more

Great place nice people easy to work with willing to help across all needs medium or heavy duty

I bought a nice 75 ft elevator bucket truck from Schmidys Machinery it is a great truck, they offered free delivery to our shop. I can only brag on how good of a company they are to deal with, even after I took delivery and found a hydraulic leak, they offered to pay all expenses to repair truck. you can feel assured that you are dealing with reputable people. Thank you all for a great deal and super follow up service. At Your Service Tree Co LLC Bristol, TN read more

See all

There is GOOD REASON why Schmidys Machinery has such low ratings. Jason Deerwester is a not a good business man. We were hired to haul a load, load was picked up and delivered. However Jason decided to do a charge back for $700 claiming we were committing fraud. The load was delivered to him, we have a SIGNED BOL. I WOULD ADVISE YOU TO COLLECT PAYMENT BEFORE DELIVERING ANYTHING TO THIS PERSON OR AVOID WORKING WITH JASON DEERWESTER ALL TOGETHER. read more

I just completed a purchase of a 2011 International 7400 4x4 with a DT 466 Maxxforce and an Altec LRV57 double over center boom on it. I am completely satisfied with the entire purchase and the handling of an issue in a very professional way by Jesse Schmid, owner. Great staff with Jessica in the office to Enrique in sales and customer service. Great selection, check out their very cool website. I would recommend them to anyone purchasing a truck or machine and would not hesitate to buy from them again when, not if, it comes time to buy another unit to add to my fleet. Jesse is a man of his word. Cheers to them. read more

I drove 2026 miles to finalize a transaction with Jesse. He was true to his word and made everything go easy and smooth. Thanks Jesse! read more

Schmidy's Machinery - Commercial Truck Dealers Near Me - Clinton, Illinois

They lie do not deliver your truck when you pay for it, and will give.you every excuse in the book to try and cover up their lies, also check your truck if your a duck and do buy from them, the sales photo and the one they try to deliver are definately not the same. I am sueing them read more

Schmidy's Machinery - the one they described as perfect and the one I thought I was buying. This truck advertised is not the one they will give you - Commercial Truck Dealers Near Me - Clinton, Illinois

See all

I purchased at 2018 Freightliner Business Class M2, with a 6.7 Cummins diesel motor with only 43,779 miles. According to all of my research this is one of the best Forestry trucks put together. I was assured all the proper checks and balances were in place and they delivered the truck to me in Florida. Within a thousand miles of driving the engine is gone, the hydraulics are shot, not to mention it looks like the vehicle had major damage to the front end. It was purchased in Nov. '22 and has been in the shop since Jan. '23. I accepted the risk of buying a used vehicle but no one should be defrauded this much. I made one phone call and put them in touch with our mechanic here in Florida but since then there has been no contact. My mechanic said that after talking to Jason he hadn't a clue what he was selling and didn't care if it was safe or even worked as long as they got paid. I'm out almost $150k and have lost at least that much in business because i can't afford to buy another truck. At this point I'm lost and feel like a fool. I don't know how they live with themselves. I can't find one good review on this company; I should have done more research. I run a small landscape business in Florida and this might just be the end of it. Steve N. read more

I purchased a $57,000 bucket truck from him in September 2014. I flew from Omaha, NE to Clinton to drive it home. On the drive home the truck's suspension was bottoming out over bridges making it difficult to maintain control of the vehicle. Once home, I had the truck weighed: the front axis is rated for 8,000 lbs, but it weighed nearly 10,000 lbs. Without chips in the box, it was 2,000 lbs over what it was rated to support. Further, when fully loaded with chips, the truck would have been 7,000 lbs over weight. I took the truck to the International dealer: they said they could not retrofit the truck. The problem is fundamental and could not be fixed. To the best of my knowledge, the truck was not legal to drive. I had spent $57,000 on a truck that I was not going to be able to legally nor safely use. Long story short, after two weeks of extraordinary anxiety he took the truck back. After I returned the truck to him it took him a week to wire the money back to my lender. I got a call today from the new owner of the truck who is having the same problems I was. read more

I wish I could give this guy a lower rating. He is dishonest and is un-professional. I was referred to him by Todd Mickey from Clearview financial. I purchased a bucket truck from him late last year. It was a pile of junk. Jesse assured me his trucks were D.O.T inspected and ready to go to work, in his words. When it arrived I noticed it was leaning hard to the drivers side. It had two broken leaf springs in the rear. $1000 repair. Next I found it was very hard to start and ran horrible. $2400 repair for new fuel pump and all new injectors. Next the pony motor wont operate the lift. $800 repair for new pump. Even though he provided me with a boom inspection I didn't trust anything he gave me regarding the truck since it was in such bad shape. It needs new turret bolts and a few other odds and ends to be up to date. None of that was noted in his provided inspection. I called Jesse and spoke with him about all of this. He became very nasty and in some choice words told me it was my problem. He tried to explain I should expect to get a truck in this condition for $34,000. All he had to do was disclose all of this to me and that would have been a different story. As you can read from the other reviews this guy does this often. I would never have purchased this truck if he had told me about all of these problems. I did a little research and found Jesse is no stranger to being sued over his sales practices in the past. You can look for yourself. Warning to all potential buyers this guy lied to me and many others. He is dishonest. I contacted Todd Mickey and told him of my experience and told him what I had learned about Schmidy's. He expressed great concern but I noticed he still advertises on the bottom of Jesse Schmidy's ads in the Equipment trader magazine. read more

This rating should be lower than this. As a small family owned business I would have expected better. We were told they could go through their financing services and were pre approved for a loan to cover a bucket truck in full. My husband stayed the night to do paperwork the next day. Boy, did the story change. Now they wanted to only finance 50% of the truck. My husband then decided he'd have to get a loan back home. They said they would start getting.thw truck reconditioned if he put money down. He was concerned with doing this as we didn't know what our bank would say for a higher priced truck. We had been pre approved for a lesser amount. Jason said no big deal, they'd refund the money if it didn't go through. We wired $5,000 to him the next day. Well, loan fell through and now they refuse to refund the money. Further more they won't let me speak to anyone but Jason. He was rude and short with me without even trying to listen to me. Very arguementive and he even hung up on me when I asked to speak to the owner. I will be contacting my lawyer! read more

Just a quick note to let you know the 2 chipper trucks I bought were absolute rats. I buy hundreds of trucks in the US and 99% of the dealers are very honest about what they're selling over the phone. But you guys certainly fall in the other 1%. I spent $18,000/truck to get them where they could be used properly. I'm a big boy and always expect to spend $4000 or $5000 on a truck but you guys win first prize for dishonesty. read more

Flew all the way from Hawaii to look at a specific truck .I put a 1000 dollar deposit & Jessie Agreed a few things wold be fixed prior to my return. One day before my flight back to Illinois his office Errand boy said reluctantly not to come . I had to pry it out of him that Jessie sold the truck out from under me . I got my deposit back a week later but time lost and flights could not be recovered. Thus guy is a real pos and id beware of buying a truck here . read more

BUYERS BEWARE! Do not trust Jesse Schmidt! His word is garbage! I just bought a truck from him. It got delivered to me across the country. It showed up and it was a nightmare. It took $8500 just to get it on the road working. It would only go 45mph down the highway. My mechanic said everything was just scabbed together improperly. Jesse made promises about the condition of this truck before I bought it and it did not come close to living up to those promises. I have bought a lot of trucks from a lot of people. This is the worst experience ever. Don't get scammed like I did. The owner Jesse is very accessible and nice until he gets your money. Trust me. Don't do it! read more

In 15 years buying trucks this company is worse to deal with, The truck I purchase was 60K andwas delivered with injectors problems just to start with, and Jesses said he would reimburse me for the cost to fix. Well he did not! He is dishonest as they come. Trying to get truck to pass inspection was another joke it cost me another $3000.. Stay clear of this company. We are filing a complaint with the attorney General. And will be suing him. I did a little research and found Jesse is being sued over his sales practices in the past. You can look for yourself. Warning to all potential buyers this guy lied to me and many others. He is dishonest. Stay clear and run. Do your own research you have been warned read more

Unfortunately We didn't do our homework before purchasing a 2006 GMC 5500 4x4 42ft bucket for street and comm. line pruning. A hard to find unit with low miles, set up with outriggers and a proper headache rack for tree work. Great right? Not so much. We are having to put an entire Rebuilt Duramax engine after 3 miles!!! Its going to cost us between 10 and 12 thousand!!! Even after checking all fluids before setting off, the engine overheated and seized up! This is after paying a proper price of $37,000 for truck and delivery (We should have received a good used rig at this price and age) The truck didn't even make it to the DOT inspection! I believe this company is simply buying trucks at auction, putting them on a low-boy trailer and setting them down on their lot (with as little driving as possible)....with a tremendous upsale, without having gone through the truck and making sure it is sound and fixing any problems. Instead they are simply living on "plausable deniability" of any problems they should otherwise disclose and either fix or reduce the price accordingly. Also, we were promised delivery within a week of purchase when in fact we waited a full month, getting the run-around on daily phone calls to the main salesman Brandon. One day we were told the delivery truck broke down in route, then another day told another story. Eventually we were told the unit was in Kansas City Kansas. Being very perturbed I finally called the local police department. Unfortunately for us, the truck had actually been picked-up for delivery, otherwise we could have gotten our money back. The State of Illinois should shut these people down on ethics violations alone, as they are living a half-step North of the legal line. Do yourself a favor; find another dealer, buy at an auction at a much lower price where you understand the risks or simply take your money to the local casino...You may not loose as much! Joel VP Beaver Tree Service Inc. read more

Schmidy's Machinery from Clinton IL. sold me a 2008 Ford F750 for $44,000, after we completed the paper work and I wired them the total amount, they stopped communicating with me. When I finally got a hold of them, they told me there was a mistake and they sold my truck to someone else, and they will be sending me my money back plus one thousand dollars extra for the mistake, however, it has been 2 weeks since and everyday they say they are sending the money right away, but they still won't return any of the money. I have just filed a police report for fraud, and filed a complaint with the Illinois Secretary of State Police against their dealer license. I'm in the process of contacting a local lawyer to start a lawsuit for my money, plus damages this situation has caused my business. read more

Bought 2 trucks off him both had major issues. He even met me at the border with no plates on the truck so I received multiple infractions with MTO entering Canada. I spent 3 hours trying to call him and the man that was so helpful 2 days ago never ever returned any more calls from me. If it looks good sounds good its probably not. Please do not believe anything this man says he is a terrible person. read more

Jesse and his entire staff are liars and cheats. He lied about the condition and work needed. It's been three months, $7,000.00 in repairs and I still cannot utilize this vehicle. I've been doing this for a while and anticipate having to put some money into a vehicle, but this is unacceptable. Don't even call these people. You'd be better off buying from a crackhead. read more

The only thing keeping them in business is '' sold as is". Expect no disclosure. Truck was running when we arrived from Ohio, as they were expecting us. Little did we know, the truck wont start when cold. Nice cover up having it running when we arrived. I should have read all the negative reviews prior to buying. read more

This guy will promise the world and deliver a piece of junk that you will need to invest 10's of thousands of dollars into before you can make a dollar with it. We bought a 2002 elevator bucket truck for $59K in August of last year and just this April we think we can finally schedule work every day with it. If we had been a small tree service we would have went out of business. To this day we are a little over $24K out of pocket with major repairs. Pony motor inoperable upon delivery, upper boom cylinder purging hydraulic on second day, PTO idler computer shot, clutch lasted 2,000 miles, transmission had to be pulled and all new synchro's installed. Basically Jessie buys these trucks destroyed, slaps new paint on the outside, throws in new tires and rims (outside duels only) and marks it up $40K a week after he buys them. Hey Jessie, still waiting on that $10K refund...what happened, oh wait you never planned on refunding us a dime. Clean your life up. read more