Not so.. My husband and I do not live in an exclusive county and our nearest dealer was priced $7000 higher than the one we bought from a neighboring state. It is brand new, less than 3 hours on it. Even the local dealer was impressed! He is happy stating that we bought a bobcat because he knows he will be getting all of our service business as well as selling us parts or various attachments we need. You have every right to check around... get the most for your money!
As a former salesman/sales manager at a Bobcat dealership (and now a full time teacher and part time landscaper), I just want to clarify that I think it is important for customers to get treated fairly. By that I mean that they should expect to buy a product that will be sold at a market driven price, supported in a manner that minimizes any down time in the event of a failure, and they should be dealt with by professional and courteous dealer personnel.
I also want to point out that dealers are assigned territories with enough geographic size so that they can sell enough machines to make a living profitably (customers expect to make a profit at what they do as well). This territory size is agreed upon by Bobcat and the dealer based on the ability of the dealer to cover and support it, and the historic market opportunity of that territory (how many SSLs, mini's, CTLs, etc. are sold every year and what market share can Bobcat expect to get). The dealer relies on a secure territory so that they have the opportunity to reach those market share goals agreed upon between themselves and Bobcat reps. This breaks down if other bobcat dealers start selling into his territory. This is amplified in a down market. That local purchase also keeps a local salesman in your community employed and his family fed.
One thing most customers don't know is that in the event of a failure under warranty, OEMs will only pay the dealer a "flat hour rate" for that repair, they don't reimburse the dealer for travel (why you usually get charged), they don't reimburse the dealer for the time it takes to troubleshoot a problem on a machine, they don't pay for shop supplies, factory required service tools, diagnostic equipment. The OEMs usually even charge the dealer for sending his mechanics to service training.
Assume that a failure occurs and the repair actually takes 6 hours because the machine is dirty, a few bolts are seized, etc., but Bobcat only pays the dealer 4 hours for that failure. Your local dealer that is extremely happy that you bought from another dealer a state away instead of his (sarcasm) just had to eat two hours of shop labor (probably at about $75 an hour) to support a machine he didn稚 make any money on. Additionally, part of that lower price you paid to the distant dealer was due to the fact that he knows he won't spend any of his own money having to support it.
Most smart dealers set aside part of the machine sales profit for product support that may not be covered under warranty. Have you ever gotten a loaner machine from a dealer while yours was being worked on? Ever receive a reduced rental rate, set of free filters, discounted repair? All of this costs the dealer money, and much of this support that the customer comes to expect from his dealer is covered by selling machines to local customers, not just by selling parts to customers who bought their machine a state away. Remember that local, loyal customers get the extra support. It's a fact of life, and it will come in handy one of these days when you're in a bind with a down machine, mot enough work to pay a service bill, etc.
In any case, a dealer that doesn't sell his product at acceptable local market prices goes out of business.