New or Used

[75H2]

Long time lurker. Recently registered. Here is my 1st thread.

Question: Do you buy new or used & why.

In 6 weeks we are moving to our new house. 3.5 acres, long driveway lots of landscaping to be done. In short I need a bigger tractor (SCUT or CUT) Looking at MF GC2300, Kubota BX 2350, B7510, JD 2305, 2320.
New prices range from 12,200 to 18K I hate to spend money. But, I believe this is a one time lifelong purchase. Hopefully I'll wear out before the tractor does. Did you buy new or used? Do these small tractor depreciate enough for it to make sense ot buy after a few hours? Or, if there too much of a tradeoff & risks buying someone elses' unit. for the record, I've purchased 1 new thing in my life all the others were used. Give a newbee some advice please.

Thanks & Happy New Year!

 

[john_bud]

A lot of the answer depends on you. Are you comfortable inspecting equipment? Are you willing to pay to have it checked out, if you are not ? Should part of it break, are you able to fix it yourself? Able to part with the $ and time to have it repaired by a pro? Is the shiny bright paint worth an extra 30-70% premium over a fully operable unit with some "character"?

For many folks the answers point them to new tractors in the class you are investigating. For others, they are willing to buy used and balance off lower initial cost with the possiblility of repair cost and down time. Still others want a decent used unit and find that the cost for a 3-500 hour machine is 80-85% that of a new one or 2000 hours and it looks it! Some markets are hot for used SCUTs.

If you can find a BX class machine in good shape with 100 hours / year or less - probably a jump on it deal.

Good hunting,
jb

 

[flusher]

Long time lurker. Recently registered. Here is my 1st thread.

Question: Do you buy new or used & why.

In 6 weeks we are moving to our new house. 3.5 acres, long driveway lots of landscaping to be done. In short I need a bigger tractor (SCUT or CUT) Looking at MF GC2300, Kubota BX 2350, B7510, JD 2305, 2320.
New prices range from 12,200 to 18K I hate to spend money. But, I believe this is a one time lifelong purchase. Hopefully I'll wear out before the tractor does. Did you buy new or used? Do these small tractor depreciate enough for it to make sense ot buy after a few hours? Or, if there too much of a tradeoff & risks buying someone elses' unit. for the record, I've purchased 1 new thing in my life all the others were used. Give a newbee some advice please.

Thanks & Happy New Year!

Bought a new Kubota B7510HST with the LA302 FEL (4-ft wide bucket) in May05 for $12600 plus tax (10% down, 0% for 36 months). Decided to buy new since this was my first tractor purchase. Looked at pre-owned Yanmars, Ford 8Ns, Isekis but decided to go with Kubota and get the benefit of the 36 month warranty.

Used the 7510 a lot for landscaping around my new house and around my 10 acre parcel (flat pasture land). Bought a 4-ft King Kutter box blade and 4-ft KK rotary mower (brush hog) right after the tractor was delivered. Added KK middle buster plow and sub soiler that were great for preparing the landscaped areas. Also bought a pre-owned Yanmar RS-1200 rototiller (4-ft wide, $300) for landscaping work.

In July06 I bought a 1964 MF-135 diesel (45 hp engine) to do heavy plowing and discing work after I decided to get into haying. Paid $3600 for the 135 and spent a few months refurbishing it (cleaning, new gauges, rewiring, new paint/decals, etc). A great way to learn your way around tractors. Old iron is really simple compared to the new tractors with all the electronics, safety and pollution stuff. The 135 runs fine. New 45-hp tractors are way beyond my budget so buying used was the only option.

Eventually I get a used 60-70hp (engine) tractor.

So in my case buying new was an option for small SCUTs but was not economically feasible for larger utility tractors.

 

[mjncad]

I went new when I bought my JD 4200. Anything I found used with comparable specs was out of state and/or had high hours for not much less than new.

Plus I like to be the first to screw up a piece of equipment...

 

[MACDABS]

I was in the same boat you are in 2003 , looked in your area at several used machines that needed work or looked like it. At the time 0% 36 financing was available from JD and a 4310 was purchased. I just ordered a 110TLB, should be in mid Feb. , and my 4310 with hoe has 280 hrs. will be traded.

I have no idea what the dealer is going to ask for the machine, but I can tell you I wax it and store it in a heated garage. I can PM you the dealer I traded with is in a 60 mile range of your location. A 4310 is bigger than what you are looking for, but with the terrain you live in the bigger machine will work better. The front tires are foamed/rear calcium turf,430,forks 60'' hd bucket . I love the machine, wish I could keep both the 4310 /110tlb! I purchase the 4310 for my house and now I need to use it for work this spring and did not want to abuse it with the heavy rocky work that I will be doing for several site builds, the 110Tlb is more of a construction machine.
Macdabs

 

[gilbertmsg]

I would consider used with warrenty or new. I was in your shoes in Dec 06 and purchased used Iseki and have had lots of problems . New glow plugs, new/refurbished head, problems with PTO. Needless to say, I grew tired of working on tractor and purchased a new Kioti this month. If you go used, make sure you or someone can inspect tractor before you purchase. I did not loose a lot of money, but missed seat time with broke machine. Joke for today, the nickname of the old tractor was, I See Eddie Killed It (ISEKI).

 

[davitk]

Welcome to TBN, 75H2. I just purchased new, myself, after looking at several used machines. Bottom line to me was the 1 - 2K savings on a late model low hour machine with little or no warranty and no way to verify maintenance history (or lack there of) wasn't worth it - on a used car purchase I would probably spend that much on an extended warranty. By purchasing new (I ordered my machine, which was shipped from Kubota's central warehouse in Ohio) I was delivered a shiny new machine that had no "test drive" hours and no rain on the seat as do machines parked as inventory on a dealers lot. It arrived with .7 hours on the tach (from factory testing, loading and unloading from the flatbed, etc.) and was literally show room shiny when it arrived in my driveway (I took pictures to remember!)

On the flip side of that, 3 years ago I purchased a garden tractor on Flea Bay in superb condition with low hours for 2400.00 (less than 30% of the cost new) and have had only one minor problem with it. I may have just gotten lucky.

Good luck and remember, tractor shopping is almost as fun as tractor owning.

 

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

I got my dealer's "leftover model year demo machine" with 4 hours on it (the dealer used it to unload lawn mowers off the flatbed) for less than the used machines I had been looking at.
I've got a buddy at work who bought a smaller used Kubota that was expensive to work all the bugs from previous owners out of it, but has been a workhorse for him since. (was a "too good to be true" deal - once the repairs were done it was just a "pretty good deal")

good luck!

 

[kozak]

Welcome to TBN.

When I was initially looking to buy 4 years ago I was looking for used. I could not believe the high prices that used Tractors commanded. So started to look for new as it did not make sense to me to buy a 10 year old tractor with thousands of hours on it for 60 - 70% of buying new.

Fortunately, I came across a very slightly used (79 Hrs.) 35HP Beast of a Tractor at a NH Dealership. Saved $7,000 over new. Negotiated one free pick-up & delivery for future Maintenance along with 1 rear remote valve & 6 months warranty. (Tractor was already out of original warranty). So there are good deals out there but hard to find.....at least here in Canada.

Have had very good luck with tractor. Only two very minor problems that I was able to fix myself with troubleshooting help from this board.

You will note in my Profile that I only have 2.3 acres. When I was searching I wanted to make sure I went big enough the first time without needing to trade up. Well I am really happy with the 35HP machine. BIG & HEAVY enough to do all my tasks easily with lots of lift capability. IMHO, your selection of Tractors are on the small side. They will of course work depending upon what you will use the tractor for. However, I would recommend something like a Kubota B7800 or JD 3120. So if budget is a concern consider buying used & get something a little bigger. You won't regret it.

Good Luck,

Vic

 

[GLLinMO]

The biggest challenge in buying a used CUT is finding a decent one. I almost bought the "older used larger ag tractor", but my storage space is limited to a compact size. If you have the time to look and learn, used is a very viable option.

By the way - do you own ad '75 H2 Kawasaki?- nice classic bike!