New vs. Used: What's your experience?

[yankee7]

Bought both tractors with cash (rich I ain't) and had to spend wisely. The first was an older Deere 770 with FEL for okay money, not great, but sold it after two years for about the same. While I owned it the work it did saved me thousands.

The second I had time to look around. I found a Kubota L35 set up the way I wanted with the exception of a backhoe thumb, I'll add that later. It had it all, soft side cab, QA front and rear, front remotes, push button on joystick control, 2 backhoe buckets, a tiller and a snow pusher (the snow pusher's for sale). Yes it was 4 years old, but only 272 hours. I haven't found anything close to the deal I got, before or since. There are plenty L35's for sale, but not with cab and QA and frt remotes on a low hour, one owner machine.

It's a gamble buying anything that someone else had a chance to screw it up first, but careful shopping can help. So does the fact that we're talking tractors, built for the long haul.

What you describe is the type of deal that I would probably fall for myself, if it was nearby and I could get someone knowlegeable to help me check it out. Before I made the decision to buy the new L3400, I had found a used JD (I forget the model right now) package with FEL, BH, snow blower, blade, and trailer that I probably would've bought except that I didn't have the financing set up at that point. After missing that one, I searched for several weeks but never found anything like it. No doubt if I waited long enough something similar would appear, but likely not in my neighborhood so I would have to amke a considerable journey simply to see the machine. At that point I'd be inclined to buy it since I traveled so far...not the best reason to make a decision. So for me in my situation buying new is the best bet. But maybe after I become an "expert" like you guys the next one will be used.

 

[RobJ]

Used and used. Bought my L for $5k, 1000 hours, 4' RC, 5' FM. It was 100% mine the day I loaded it on the trailer. Read no payments, interest free or not. Maybe I've put a little over 100 hours on it since I got it. It sees use when I need it. I actually seek out a decent beater, usually just a little to fix it up, and save lots of money on the purchase. But this excludes buying used from a dealer, they still want way to much.

Buy a new tractor and not have any problems? There is a place called tractorbynet.com that says many new owners have problems to.

 

[the bear]

i have never bought a new tractor bought several used ones kept up grading horse power should have started with 85 + hp but never regreated buying one ive had mostly fords 3000, 4000 and 5600 all great tractors still use the 5600 every day never a lick of problem just the usual maintaince and in th 12 or so years ive owned it ive put in two clutches and three front spindle [ packing too heavy of bales] and one water pump, my kubota has also served me well m8950dt which i use to feed with in the winter get arround better in the winter with four wheel assist the only thing i find with the kubota is its a little thursty for fuel. in my experience used has done the job for me let someone else eat the deprication at a 1000 bucks a hp plus options its pretty costly to buy new hope this helps [ don ] the bear

 

[Soundguy]

Got a question on your 5600. Have you ever used a 5000? If so.. how do you feel about the hyds improvements on the 5600?

thanks

soundguy

i have never bought a new tractor bought several used ones kept up grading horse power should have started with 85 + hp but never regreated buying one ive had mostly fords 3000, 4000 and 5600 all great tractors still use the 5600 every day never a lick of problem just the usual maintaince and in th 12 or so years ive owned it ive put in two clutches and three front spindle [ packing too heavy of bales] and one water pump, my kubota has also served me well m8950dt which i use to feed with in the winter get arround better in the winter with four wheel assist the only thing i find with the kubota is its a little thursty for fuel. in my experience used has done the job for me let someone else eat the deprication at a 1000 bucks a hp plus options its pretty costly to buy new hope this helps [ don ] the bear

 

[deere755]

I have bought both. I guess it just depends on the deal. My last purchase was a John deere lawn tractor. I was looking at one with 40 hours on it but was able to buy a brand new one on sale for a $200 more and a full 4 year warranty. One of the worst purchases I made was a brand new boat in 1990, it was the biggest lemon I ever owned.

 

[RCT]

I just bought a used 2004 Cub Cadet 2138 and am very pleased with it. I got it from a local dealer who completely serviced it and delivered it for free. I originally went in to get a new 1045 because I only had $2,000 to spend, but when I told them I was getting the 1045 instead of a 2000 series because of price, they told me they had just gotten the 2138 in on trade. The dealer showed me all the service records and gave me 30 days free parts and service if something went wrong. Needless to say, I put a bunch of hours on the tractor that first month and I am now up to about 50 hours on it and I am completely satisfied. I have put about $100 worth of parts into it since I bought it, but $35 of it was for blades and the rest was just to take of some things that annoyed me more than anything else. I replaced the front bumper that was badly scraped up, and replaced a couple of bolts, bushings, etc that were not broken, but didn't look that pretty.

 

[chh]

New or a discounted dealer demo only. I have bought used ones too many time that where just a headache somebody was unloading. I have had 15 or 16 tractors over the years here on the ranch. 4 were new and 2 demo's and the price far outwieghed the headaches for someone trying to make money with them. Shop smart, shop hard, and pay cash. You would be suprised by the deals you can work that way.

 

[RCT]

I would agree would chh. I bought a bunch of crap from Craigslist until I got up enough to get something good. But, I bought them all knowing what I was getting, junk. I only expected them to last a season and most did.

 

[Kubota Luver]

i would go with new first because of the warranty u can get and secound because u kno how the machinery has been used.