Dealing with Dealers

[woodman506]

hello all, i was wondering if there is a way to find out how good/bad/helpful/painful some of the dealers are in my immediate area. I tried to do a search of forum members in my surrounding area to inquire about dealers, but came up dry.

This info will make my decision easier to make the right choice for selecting the right brand.

thanks, you guys are a great help!!

[PMA]

Good luck

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[MIKE R]

Talk to local farmers. Most will give their thoughts freely on the dealer. Talk to a few and you will know exactly which dealers are good and bad.

[tractchores]

I tried searching online, if they're bad usually there are some complaints. You can also get a sense if you spend a little time there, but make sure to talk to their service departments as that's where you'll have most interaction. A good facility with happy employees is a good sign. In my case the sales person allowed me to spend some time with the mechanic and in the shop and ask them some questions. They were happy to answer my questions (a good sign) and educated me a bit on the tractor I was looking at. If someone tries to keep you away from the service dept that's a bad sign!

[unbidden]

The old joke, opinions are like A... well I won't get into that. JMHO, go to the dealers in person and get a real feel for what they have to offer. Have a good idea of what you need prior to speaking with them.

[oldnslo]

Drive around your neighborhood and look at what brand of equipment is in peoples yards or in the field. This usually a good indicator of what dealerships are good and which ones are not. I did a lot of traveling for work and this was usually a very easy way to tell what brand of tractor was common in a given area which to me would point to a good dealership.

Note: In a large farm environment I would not expect to see many, kubotas or kiotis, etc since they do not make the high horse power tractors.

[Turbys_1700]

Find out how long they have been in business...
The longer, typically the better...

[bigbull338]

as said go visit an talk to the dealers an thir shop.you can get a feel for the dealership pretty quick.

[tractchores]

By the way it is worth noting that the amount of time your tractor spends at / in a dealer should be very minimal if you buy a good name brand and something that's been either well maintained or is newer. Most maintenance tasks can be done easily yourself and/or have long enough intervals that its not a big deal. A good dealer is important, but it wouldn't make me choose a tractor I didn't love if you get my drift.