Hi Trevor ,
Reducing values of equipment over a period of years as done by accountants is primarily for tax purposes to match up with Inland Revenue guidelines on Capital investments .
The true value for an actual sale after a period of years is simply what the company can get for it .
The primary job of a company accountant is to maximise revenue and minimise tax payments . Unless the accountant at your place is (hopefully) particularly dim he will find out what similar machines fetch on open market and set price accordingly .
You may wish to consider finding out yourself what market value of machine is and then putting in a stupidly low offer . You then have the psychological advantage and any negotiation of price will be upwards from your offer and not downwards from their possibly much higher asking price .
Nothing is ever quite simple is it .
Regards ,
Michael Williams .
Edited By MICHAEL WILLIAMS on 31/10/2012 09:41:21