Riccar and Simplicity are great suggestions. I know they will last my family years. I used a few different tacony-made Clean Max Pro Series machines when I used to work for a rec center. they are reliable and never gave me trouble. I have personal experience with Royal too. It's well built and reliable. The others I have to try and see if they are indeed quality. As for the ebay offer, my father does not really trust eBay as it wouldn't have a manufacturers warranty and he is concerned about motor hours for one thing (he's impossible to convince to buy used). There is, however, an aerus dealer possibly not too far from me, and may try there as well. Over all, My only concern that is that the housekeeper would just lower a height adjustable machine too low causing a belt to wear out or a brush to wear out (I've already got a hoover in need of new brush strips, but that's another story), which may be resolved by just showing her how to use the height adjustment properly.